1. State of the Restructuring Market

1.1 Market Trends and Changes

State of the Restructuring and Insolvency Market

There were 27,359 insolvencies in France as of the end of September 2021, down 25.1% from the same period in 2020, and down 47.9% from September 2019. Such reduction is relatively stable across all sectors, including those most severely affected by the health-related restrictions, such as accommodation and food services (down 44.2% year-on-year) and trade (down 28.1% year on year).

Fewer Insolvencies for More Opportunities

At the end of 2021, corporate bankruptcies (for most company sizes and in most sectors) were at their lowest level compared to the pre-COVID-19 figures from 2019, with a 50% drop in insolvency proceedings and a 10% decrease in pre-insolvency situations. This was largely due to the temporary impact of government emergency measures and support, including:

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic and associated economic downturn, the number of companies facing the prospect of insolvency, or being struck off the Register of Companies, is increasing daily. Whilst the rules on striking off have been relaxed by Companies House where late delivery of accounts etc has been caused by COVID, these are only temporary measures. Indeed, the compulsory striking off process has recently resumed for companies that Companies House don’t consider are currently operating, so it may be that normal practice isn’t far away.