Already at a record level, bankruptcies are expected to rise again

The BHV will have to let All Saints' Day pass to decide on its fate. The Paris Economic Activities Court examined the financial situation of the emblematic Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville this Friday, three days after it filed for bankruptcy. After a two-hour hearing, the judges decided to postpone until Monday their decision whether or not to open judicial reorganization proceedings.

The challenge: trying to preserve the 700 jobs of the brand, which has seen its turnover plummet after long months of crises and conflicts with its suppliers and the owners of the building. Over twelve rolling months, 72,000 companies have gone out of business, including receiverships, safeguard procedures and liquidations, according to the Altarès firm. A historically high level, even higher than that reached during the recession following the subprime crisis in 2008.

“We have had a series of terrible records. Between the war in Ukraine and then in the Middle East, companies have had to resist incessant crises,” recognizes Thierry Millon, director of studies at Altarès. » READ ALSO - Bankruptcy of BHV: from the failure of the shift towards luxury to the scandal of the agreement with Shein, the long descent into hell of the former Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville The Banque de France, which published its figures on bankruptcies at the beginning of October, made the same observation: "The level of failures, still high, is explained in particular by the degraded economic situation, as well as by the successive shocks and uncertainties which have weakened the financial situation of certain companies.

» The institution stopped mentioning the hypothesis of a post-Covid-19 “catch-up”, to explain the increase in the number of failures after a period where businesses had been artificially kept afloat by government aid and state-guaranteed loans. Risk of a surge in rates If the summer was marked by a slight lull – the number of insolvencies remained almost stable, up 0.5% – the respite may only be short-lived. “This is not a guarantee that we will reverse the trend,” warns Thierry Millon.

The number of failures may continue to increase because the economic situation is not good. » More pessimistic, José Bardaji, director of studies and foresight of the BPCE group, even expects “an acceleration of failures in the short term, in the months to come”. However, not all of them should worry, according to the economist.

“We are seeing double-digit growth in business creation. Naturally, not all of them hold up. It is therefore normal to see an increase in failures alongside the increase in business creation,” he adds.

Machine-translated from French