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Health crisis: French companies maintained their repayment capacity in 2020
[Crise sanitaire : les entreprises françaises ont préservé leur capacité de remboursement en 2020]

Author

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  • Benjamin Bureau
  • Loriane Py

Abstract

The Covid-19 health crisis unleashed a major activity shock in 2020, as turnover shrank by 4.0% in the small and medium-sized enterprise segment, 6.8% among intermediate-sized enterprises and 10.7% for large enterprises. Despite adjusting intermediate consumption and tapping into government support schemes, businesses recorded a pronounced decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which fell by 16.7% overall. Companies took on debt to cope with the crisis, but also bolstered their cash balances. This was true even among firms in the hardest hit sectors. Hence, on the whole, French companies were able to maintain their debt repayment capacity. However, the overall trends conceal starkly contrasting individual situations. For example, in terms of return on equity, while more than one-third of companies recorded their worst year in five years in 2020, 17% posted their best performances. La crise sanitaire a engendré un choc d’activité majeur en 2020 : le chiffre d’affaires recule ainsi de 4,0 % pour les PME, de 6,8 % pour les entreprises de taille intermédiaire et de 10,7 % pour les grandes entreprises. Malgré l’ajustement de leurs consommations intermédiaires et le recours aux dispositifs de soutien public, les entreprises enregistrent une baisse marquée de leur excédent brut d’exploitation (– 16,7 % dans l’ensemble). Les entreprises se sont endettées pour faire face à la crise, mais ont également renforcé leur trésorerie, y compris dans les secteurs les plus touchés. Dans ce contexte, la capacité à rembourser la dette est globalement préservée. Ces évolutions moyennes cachent néanmoins des situations individuelles très contrastées. Par exemple, en matière de rentabilité financière, alors que plus d’un tiers des entreprises enregistrent en 2020 leur plus mauvaise année depuis cinq ans, 17 % réalisent leur meilleure performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Bureau & Loriane Py, 2021. "Health crisis: French companies maintained their repayment capacity in 2020 [Crise sanitaire : les entreprises françaises ont préservé leur capacité de remboursement en 2020]," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 238.
    • Handle: RePEc:bfr:bullbf:2021:238:06
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier Gonzalez & Anne-Marie Rieu-Foucault, 2021. "Health crisis: In response to the health crisis, large French groups adjusted their spending and contained their net financial debt in 2020 [Face à la crise sanitaire, les grands groupes ont ajusté," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 238.
    2. Bureau Benjamin, & Duquerroy Anne, & Giorgi Julien, & Lé Mathias, & Scott Suzanne, & Vinas Frédéric, 2021. "What Individual Data Tells us about the Covid-19 Impact on Corporate Liquidity in 2020," Working papers 824, Banque de France.
    3. Vinas Frédéric, 2020. "Outstanding loans to enterprises increased sharply in France in the first half of 2020 [Une forte hausse des encours de crédits aux entreprises en France au premier semestre 2020]," Bulletin de la Banque de France, Banque de France, issue 232.
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