Companies in France 2021 edition
This work provides an overview of the situation faced by companies in 2019. First, it addresses the wide range of situations that companies find themselves in based on the definition of company in the economic sense. Second, it looks at how France's productive capacity changed in the five years leading up to the health crisis. The consequences of Covid-19 pandemic on the business trajectories of French companies in 2020 and the characteristics and dynamics of employment in French start-ups are also analysed in two reports.
Accommodation and food service activities during the 2020 health crisis
Benjamin Bureau, Anne Duquerroy, Mathias Lé (Banque de France), Julien Giorgi, Suzanne Scott (Insee).
In France, accommodation and food service activities were the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. With the industry hit hard by the health restrictions, activity plummeted during the various lockdowns imposed: −71% from March to May 2020, compared to pre-pandemic forecasts, and −63% in November and December.
This collapse of activity was a major blow to the cash flow of companies in the sector,
with more than 8 in 10 posting a negative cash flow in 2020, compared to less than
1 in 2 for all non-financial companies. Thanks to public support measures, VSEs were
somewhat less affected than other companies in the accommodation and food service
activities.
At the end of 2020, the need for financing to trigger economic recovery was slightly
higher in accommodation than in the food service industry. This requirement fluctuated
throughout the year in both these sectors alongside the implementation and easing
of the restrictions, with support measures providing some respite.