729 judgments of opening of collective proceedings

A strong increase, but less that it could have been: last year, 61.595 opening relief or liquidation judgments delivered to enterprises, which should add 1.425 judgments in respect of the backup (see opposite), indicates, preview for "Les echos", balance sheet annual failures of companies published by Altares, specializing in information on the companies. "If this volume is comparable to the historical figure registered in 1993 the last year of recession in France, ed., he enrolled on a trend of barely stronger than that registered in 2008", note Altares: 11.4 for remedies and judicial winding-up, when 2008 had registered an increase of 10.9 over the previous year. "In January a year ago, we would rather bet on an increase of 20 ", said Thierry Millon, responsible for analyses of Altares.

Difficulties amortized

The implementation of the stimulus package has, in fact, depreciated difficulties, including advance tax rebates (tax, VAT, tax credit research...). Premium a case, which has supported the activity of automakers, has indirectly supported activité des des automobiles automobiles subcontractors. In the end, the more moderate increase than expected failures appears in connection with the activity recorded by national accountants: If the year 2009 will remain in the annals with a historic recession since the second world war, only the first quarter saw a decline in GDP, after three quarters of decline in 2008. The beginning of economic recovery reflected in corporate defaults: in the fourth quarter of last year, they recorded a first decline of 0.4 over the same quarter of 2008, with 15.729 judgments of opening of collective proceedings. Industry, which has experienced throughout 2009 an increase of 15.8 failures (and same 25.2 excluding agri-food), recorded on the end of the year a decline of 4.8 of procedures. Among the sectors that suffered most from the crisis are also the financial and insurance ( 36), real estate ( 24.8), road transport of goods ( 20.5), ser-vices of accommodation ( 20.2) or the business services ( 12.9). Commerce appears more spared ( 7.7), while the drinking places fell even of failures (-9), after an increase of 30 in 2008. "The decline of the VAT in cafes and restaurants also served to cover cash deficits", said Thierry Millon.

Fragile structure of SMEs

At a time when the Government wants to grow the SMEs, the balance 2009 failures shows also that their organization and their financial structures are fragile. While the number of winding-up and adjustments decreased for companies of 200 employees and more (-16,9 ), he has strongly increased for smaller companies, particularly for those with 50 to 99 employees ( 61.7). "This will perhaps be part of the beneficial effects of the crisis: some business leaders have gained experience in operation cockpit, allowing them to better address the resumption", said Thierry Millon. If Altares did not forecast for 2010, Thierry Millon anticipates a stabilization of failures. "The first quarter will be difficult, and there are particular uncertainties on the consumption of households." "Certain sectors which had resisted well as trade could suffer", he said.