Company openings and closures: renewable companies in the first half of the year in France

2024-09-23 00:46:28

Does industrial innovation stop in France? The announcements of the limits of activity in the industry and the capacity progressed faster than those of new company openings in the first half, even if the latter remained abundant, according to the expert company Trendeo.

From January to June, Trendeo recorded 61 announcements of closures of factories or workshops with more than 10 employees, usually during the judicial liquidation, an increase of 9% compared to six months the first of 2023, refers to AFP Yves Cousquer founder of Trendeo. .

At the same time, the company recorded 79 announcements of the opening of new industrial sites, a decrease of 4% compared to the first half of 2023.

The net balance remains positive

The balance of the net is positive, with 18 more openings announced than the limits of activity, but it is down by 30% compared to the first half of 2023 (a balance of 26), the company added on the day Sunday. The Trendeo Barometer has been one of the tools for monitoring the country’s innovation efforts since 2017.

Rising trends in the summer, notes Yves Cousquer: in July-August, 5 new companies announced for 10 closures.

These figures confirm the trends in the general statistics published by the Banque de France according to which commercial insolvencies increased in August, reaching all categories combined their 2019 level, that is to say before the pandemic- the disease, with the record of 50% of the commercial companies in the industry in one year, despite the government’s desire to reindustrialize the country.

The Court of Auditors also ruled on Friday “disappointing” the system for finding and operating SMEs with less than 250 employees in difficulty, while these companies represent “the majority of the French manufacturing fabric” .

Among the 10 announcements of industrial site closures recorded during the summer, Yves Cousquer noted a base of SMEs which had been created or acquired between 2015 and 2017, at the beginning of the renewal movement.

The traditional shoes of Chamberlain in Dordogne, the tarpaulin factory and the Karium blinds in Indre, the Kraft Company textile factory in Loire, or the MC International Molds in Saône-et-Loire that announced their closure, have established or received between 2015 and 2017, he emphasized.

Trendeo has also observed the continuation of the movement of labor movements among major industry players since the beginning of the year. Among these, the elimination of 260 positions in France by IBM announced in March, linked to the “optimization of the IT giant’s external divisional service centers”.

Also announced in March: two of the three gearbox production lines of Stellantis in Metz will go to India and Italy. At Bosch, the production of electric power at the Marignier site in Haute-Savoie is being moved to Eastern Europe.

On the innovation side, the beginning of the school year is marked by the inaugurations of sites that have been announced for many years, such as Constellium, which almost doubles the aluminum recycling capacity in Neuf-Brisach (Moselle).

The energy sector is still popular

In fun, Hermés launched its 23rd leather goods and saddle, in Puy-de-Dôme in Riom, with 250 craftsmen, and has three other production projects in progress, in L’Isle-d’Espagnac (Charente ), Loupes (Gironde) and Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes).

The five companies or workshop openings announced in July-August are almost all related to the energy sector or the processing of waste and materials and recycling, which are mostly at the forefront of the energy transition.

Now Hydrovolt (a joint venture between Norwegian Norsk-Hydro and Swedish NorthVolt) has announced a site linked to battery recycling in Hordain which will employ 15 people. Enerdigit, an energy optimization company, is opening a box manufacturing workshop for real-time monitoring of commercial use in Nantes, after raising 20 million euros (20 employees).

TechNature will open a 5,000 square meter factory in Brest, Brittany, in September 2025 for the production of cosmetic products from plants (60 to 80 employees).

And Belgium Galactic took part of the Metex works in Carling Saint-Avold in August for the production of microproteins through the fermentation of mushrooms;