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Business bankruptcies in France in Q3 2026: two in three proceedings begin with judicial liquidation

In the third quarter of 2026, Altares reports 14,652 collective insolvency proceedings, two in three of them direct liquidations: the figures and the consequences.

By Nicolas Morillot Co-founder of Scalon
The short answer

According to Altares, a French business-data provider, 14,652 collective insolvency proceedings were opened in the third quarter of 2026, up 0.5% from a year earlier. This total combines liquidation, reorganization and safeguard proceedings; two in three are direct liquidations. When a business can no longer pay the debts that have come due, the court opens a reorganization if the business can keep operating, and otherwise a liquidation.

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Published on October 23, 2026

Key figures
14,652
Proceedings opened in Q3 2026
Liquidation, reorganization and safeguard proceedings combined, +0.5% year over year (Altares)
2 in 3
Direct judicial liquidations
9,744 proceedings out of 14,652 start with a liquidation, without a reorganization
nearly 75%
Businesses with fewer than 3 employees
10,960 proceedings involve very small businesses

In this article

What is a bankrupt business?#

A bankrupt business has reached "cessation of payments," meaning it is insolvent. It no longer has enough money on hand (its "available assets") to pay the debts that have come due (its "liabilities currently due"). The court then opens a judicial reorganization (redressement judiciaire) if there is a chance the business can keep operating, and otherwise a judicial liquidation (liquidation judiciaire), which stops operations and sells the assets.

Liabilities currently due are debts that must be paid now: invoices, wages, taxes and social contributions. Available assets are cash and funds available under credit lines. A building or a machine does not count: a business can own assets and still be unable to pay its debts.

In the third quarter of 2026, two in three proceedings start directly with a judicial liquidation, according to Altares. The statistic counts proceedings opened, not businesses that have disappeared.

How many businesses go bankrupt in France, and in which sectors?#

Altares counted 14,652 proceedings opened in the third quarter of 2026. That is 0.5% more than a year earlier, after increases of 6.4% in the first quarter and 5.4% in the second. Over twelve months, the total is close to 72,000.

The breakdown of the quarter's proceedings
  • 9,744 direct judicial liquidations, or 66.5% of openings (−1.2% year over year);
  • 4,576 judicial reorganizations (+4.2%);
  • 332 safeguard proceedings, stable;
  • 10,960 proceedings against businesses with fewer than 3 employees (+2.9%), nearly 75% of cases.

So bankruptcies mostly hit very small businesses. Most are placed in judicial liquidation as soon as proceedings begin, without first going through reorganization. This does not mean that a business with fewer than three employees is more likely to go bankrupt: the figure only describes the proceedings opened.

Altares reports above-average year-over-year increases in the following sectors in the third quarter of 2026:

  • fast food: +15.8%;
  • food retail: +15.3%;
  • bars and drinking places: +13.4%.
Another sector with a sharp rise: repair activities

Repair activities (personal services): about +29%, a broad category, with no separate figure by trade here.

These percentages compare the number of proceedings with last year's, for France as a whole. They do not give the share of the sector's businesses that go bankrupt, or the bankruptcy risk of a specific customer.

To check a prospect or a customer, look the company up in the Bodacc (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the French official bulletin of civil and commercial announcements), which publishes opening judgments. Look at the date and the type of proceeding, then check whether the business location is still open: a reorganization can allow the business to keep operating. If this customer owes you money on an unpaid invoice, the deadline for declaring the claim is explained further down.

The 2024 context: why bankruptcies rose

The year 2024 serves as a benchmark. The Direction générale des entreprises (DGE), the French government's business directorate, reports 66,000 business failures that year, including 32,000 businesses with at least one employee. It speaks of "a level far above the average of previous years."

The DGE offers a possible explanation: a "catch-up effect." Low-performing businesses kept afloat by emergency aid may have defaulted later than they otherwise would have.

Counting a sector's businesses: don't read bankruptcies as closures#

Are you sizing a market, for example the restaurants of a region? The number of bankruptcies will not tell you how many locations remain open. It counts proceedings started during a period, and some businesses keep operating after a reorganization.

A proceeding also targets a company, which may have several locations. For a local market, the location is what counts: the place where the business operates, the one a sales rep visits.

To count the business locations you can contact, start from a dated count of the active locations in your area: check when it was last updated and what the source calls an active location. The Scalon Observatory publishes this census of local businesses, with its edition date. The local addressable-market calculator then applies that count to your area.

Bankruptcies are still useful: they flag sectors under strain. A rise of nearly 16% in proceedings in fast food is a signal to watch. It does not say whether a specific restaurant will close, or how many restaurants are still serving.

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Bankruptcy, business failure, closure: what the statistic really counts#

A business failure is not a closure. For Insee (France's national statistics office), business failure begins when a judicial reorganization proceeding is opened against a business in cessation of payments.

Ceasing operations means something different. Insee describes it as "the total stoppage of a business's economic activity." It also specifies: "Not every cessation of operations involved a business failure."

Two consequences for reading the figures:

  • a business can end its activity without any collective proceeding being opened (safeguard, reorganization or liquidation);
  • a business undergoing insolvency proceedings does not always disappear, since the purpose of reorganization is to keep it operating.

The statistics do not all cover the same types of proceedings. Altares counts direct liquidations, reorganizations and safeguards; the Insee definition cited here refers to reorganization. Before comparing figures, check that they count the same proceedings over the same period.

Judicial reorganization or judicial liquidation: what the court decides#

The court decides on one question: can the business keep operating?

Judicial reorganization begins if there is a chance the business can keep operating. The reorganization proceeding begins with an observation period of no more than 18 months, during which the business continues operating. It can lead to a reorganization plan lasting no more than 10 years that lets the business keep operating and may provide for the sale of one or more business lines.

If recovery is manifestly impossible, the court converts the reorganization into a liquidation.

The judicial liquidation procedure ends the business's activity. The liquidator sells the assets to pay the creditors, either as a whole in a sale plan (plan de cession) or through separate sales. The court may authorize a temporary continuation of the activity, for example when a sale is possible.

Simplified judicial liquidation for small companies

Small companies can go through simplified judicial liquidation. Three conditions apply: no real estate, no more than 5 employees over six months, and no more than €750,000 in revenue excluding taxes.

The safeguard procedure (procédure de sauvegarde) comes earlier. It is for a business facing insurmountable difficulties that is not yet in cessation of payments, and only the head of the business can request it. It can also lead to a safeguard plan lasting no more than 10 years.

Conciliation, an out-of-court agreement negotiated with creditors, remains possible if the business has been in cessation of payments for less than 45 days. In practice, though, liquidation dominates. To find out which proceeding applies to your customer, check their opening judgment in the Bodacc.

Management, employees, creditors: how the proceeding affects each#

Service-public describes the following rules for the judicial liquidation of a company. Separate rules apply to sole proprietors.

  • Creditors, for example a supplier with an unpaid invoice, declare their claims to the liquidator within two months of the judgment's publication in the Bodacc. The judgment halts individual lawsuits brought by creditors to recover payment (the stay of individual legal actions) and stops interest from accruing, except on loans with terms of one year or more.
  • The head of the business loses control: the judgment transfers their authority to the judicial liquidator until the liquidation is closed. If the company is dissolved for insufficient assets, its debts are wiped out. Creditors can, however, pursue the head of the business in cases of tax fraud, concealment of assets, or personal or criminal penalties.
  • Employees are dismissed by the liquidator, within 15 days following the liquidation judgment (21 days if a job-protection plan, the plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi, is drawn up). Their unpaid wages and other compensation are covered by the AGS, the French wage guarantee scheme funded by an employer contribution.

Have an unpaid invoice? Find your customer's judgment in the Bodacc, then note its publication date and the liquidator's name. Declaring your claim means notifying the liquidator of the amount your customer owes you; the Service-public page on judicial liquidation describes the procedure.

Need the list of companies in receivership or judicial liquidation? We send it with the contact details available, for the scope you choose.

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Business bankruptcy: the 45-day deadline and the filing with the court#

As soon as the business reaches cessation of payments, the head of the business has 45 days to declare it to the court. The French government's Service-public page on declaring cessation of payments details the steps. This step used to be called the dépôt de bilan (balance-sheet filing).

The four steps of the declaration, the suspect period and the sanctions
  1. Fill out the form declaring cessation of payments (cerfa form no. 10530). The head of the business indicates a choice between reorganization and liquidation on the form, but the court decides.
  2. Attach the supporting documents. For a request to open a judicial liquidation, Service-public cites in particular the itemized statement of receivables and debts. A cash-position statement less than one month old is also required; the Service-public page gives the full list of documents.
  3. File the application with the clerk's office (greffe) of the competent court. The commercial court (tribunal de commerce) handles commercial businesses and businesses in the skilled trades; the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire) handles independent professional practices and farming businesses. Since January 1, 2025, twelve cities have had an economic activities court (tribunal des activités économiques, TAE) instead.
  4. Wait for the opening judgment. The court sets the date of cessation of payments, then opens the proceeding.

The suspect period (période suspecte) runs between that date and the judgment, 18 months at most. Certain acts carried out during that time are annulled, such as the payment of an invoice not yet due.

Delay has a price. Beyond 45 days, the court can impose a ban on managing a business, for 15 years at most. The penalty is not automatic: the court examines whether the head of the business knew of the situation and deliberately delayed.

The head of the business is not the only one who can petition the court. A creditor, the Urssaf (the French collector of social-security contributions) for example, or the public prosecutor can also request the opening of a judicial liquidation or a reorganization.

Sources#

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