FRANCE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Anne-Sophie Noury, Alicia Bali and Saam Golshani, White & Case
By contrast, the restaurant, IT consulting and agricul - ture sectors remain in deep difficulty. The automotive sector also remains under restructuring pressure: sup - pliers face intense global competition as carmakers pursue lower-cost sourcing strategies, and several high-profile cases entered reorganisation proceed - ings. The chemicals industry, historically energy- intensive, is likewise under strain, with companies restructuring in response to rising energy prices and heightened Chinese competition. Finally, healthcare and social care providers, particu - larly nursing homes and childcare operators, suffered a sharp rise in insolvency cases: +56% for nursing homes and +75% for childcare operators. Heavy debt loads, high staffing costs and the lingering impact of COVID-era financing strategies have pushed several actors into distress. The changing profile of insolvency is also evident in the size of the companies affected. While very small businesses continue to represent the bulk of proceed - ings (firms with fewer than three employees accounted for more than 70% of the cases in the first quarter of 2025), the failures of larger companies are becoming more frequent and more visible. In the first quarter alone, 64 companies employing more than 100 people entered insolvency, a 28% increase compared with the previous year. The resulting concentration of job losses in a limited number of proceedings explains the sharp increase in the employment impact of insol - vency statistics. Second quarter of 2025 The second quarter of 2025 confirmed that France remains at a historically high level of insolvency cases, but it also brought the first tangible signs of stabili - sation. In total, 16,586 insolvency proceedings were opened between April and June, representing a very modest increase of 1.3% compared with the same quarter of 2024. Although the level remains heavy in absolute terms – well above the pre-COVID bench - mark of 2019 – the relative stability of new filings is significant. On a rolling 12-month basis, the cumula - tive number of insolvencies remained above 68,000 cases, but the trajectory of the past three months sug - gests that the upward curve is flattening.
The quarterly pattern itself reveals an interesting dynamic. April was still marked by a strong increase (+8% year on year), yet the following months tem - pered that trend: May neutralised the rise, and June even showed a decline in defaults (-2% compared with June 2024). This sequential evolution prompts cautious optimism that the second half of 2025 could see a more marked slowdown in insolvency activity. The profile of affected companies continues to evolve. During the second quarter of 2025, 58 firms employing more than 100 people entered insolvency, represent - ing a 29% increase year on year. By contrast, small and mid-sized enterprises employing between 20 and 99 people showed relative improvement, with fewer failures reported in this category. Geographic trends were also uneven. While many regions recorded a slower pace of new cases, areas such as Pays-de-Loire, Centre-Val-de-Loire, Nou - velle-Aquitaine and Occitanie continued to see rising defaults. By contrast, Île-de-France showed the first signs of improvement, with a year-on-year decline of around 2% in insolvency cases. Sectoral developments in the second quarter high - lighted contrasting fortunes. The restaurant indus - try suffered another difficult period, with traditional establishments recording a 21% increase in failures compared with the previous year. This was largely the result of weak household demand, high energy bills and increased labour costs. Transportation, insurance and financial activities, and the IT consulting and agri - cultural sectors, were the most severely hit, with a marked increase in insolvency cases. The automotive and manufacturing sectors contin - ued to weigh heavily on insolvency statistics. Sup - pliers entered reorganisation, facing both domestic pressures and global price competition, while manu - facturers struggled with soaring energy prices and aggressive Chinese competition that is reshaping the European landscape. However, statistics from the second quarter of 2025 confirm that both the construction and retail sectors are getting better, with decreases of 5% and 2%, respectively, compared with the same period last
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