What's new

Country & Sector Risk Barometer: Q1 2021 Quarterly Update

The United States leads the race to global recovery, emerging markets lag behind.

Read More

Insolvencies in France: +22,000 businesses left dangling

In France, the number of corporate insolvencies in January 2021 fell by 38% year-on-year – exactly the same drop as in 2020. Although the economic & health crisis has not affected all sectors the same way, insolvencies have fallen significantly across the board. However, taking into account government support measures and the drop in turnover by sector, insolvencies in France should have risen by 6.5% in 2020. Learn more about 2020’s “hidden insolvencies” in our Focus.

Read More

The business insolvency paradox in Europe: miracle and mirage

Normally, insolvencies rise when the economy contracts. Yet, in 2020, insolvencies fell in all major eurozone economies. It is safe to assume that government support is keeping many fragile firms alive – are we therefore seeing the “calm before the storm”, with a wave of insolvencies around the corner?

Read More

Middle East & Africa: volatile oil prices lead to varying effects on producing countries, including diversification

The COVID-19 pandemic’s negative impact on global GDP growth and trade volumes caused a sharp decline in oil prices. Coface expects oil prices to remain volatile in the upcoming quarters. Read our forecasts in our latest Panorama.

Read More

Country & Sector Risk Barometer: Q4 2020 Quarterly Update

In spite of a gradual recovery, political risks are on the rise. A year after the first cases of COVID-19 appeared outside China, the uncertainties linked to the pandemic are still considerable despite the announcement of the arrival of several vaccines at the end of 2020. These uncertainties can be summarised in one question: when can we expect herd immunity? This will depend on the speed at which the population is vaccinated and will condition the end of the "stop and go", i.e. successive containment processes that are harmful to economic activity.

Read More

COFACE CEE TOP 500

In 2020, Coface has launched the 12th edition of the Top 500 companies in Central and Eastern Europe - Coface CEE Top 500.
Read the latest CEE Top 500, and find out which companies took advantage of the economic environment, which country businesses are the largest income earners in CEE, and which sector was on top again in 2019. The ranking reflects the region’s economic activity for the previous year, presents a future outlook, describes the economic condition of the 500 largest companies in CEE by their turnover and depicts CEE as a region of prosperity.

Read More

Sector Risk Assessment Map - October 2020

13 major sectors assessed worldwide. Coface assessments are based on 70 years of Coface expertise and on the financial data published by listed companies from 6 geographical sectors. 5 financial indicators are taken into account: turnover, profitability, the net debt ratio, cashflow, and claims observed by our risk managers.

Read More

Country & Sector Risk Barometer: Q3 2020 Quarterly Update

Similar to last quarter, the uncertainties surrounding the forecasts presented in this barometer are very high. They are primarily linked to the global health situation: since June, the pandemic has continued to gain momentum. While waiting for a vaccine and/or a treatment, businesses and households have postponed spending and investment projects, both out of constraint (during the containment period) and as a precaution.

Read More

Germany Corporate Payment Survey 2020: German companies have switched to “crisis-mode” and offer less payment terms

COVID-19 and its effects on the global and German economy is the predominant topic of this fourth edition of Coface’s survey on corporate payment experience in Germany.

Read More

Panorama: Global renewable energies climb despite COVID-19

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the renewables segment of the global energy sector has continued its ascension.

Read More

The Netherlands - Corporate Payment Survey 2020

Payment terms are an interesting case in the Netherlands. Only 42% of participants in the Q1 2020 survey answered that they offer payment terms, and this figure increased only slightly to 48% in Q2 2020. Short-term credit periods dominate the Dutch business landscape, with 85% of companies that offer payment terms requesting a payment within 60 days. Between the first and the second quarter of 2020, the distribution changed, with a decrease in the short- to middle-term period (between 31 and 60 days) and an increase within the very short-term segment (1 to 30 days).

Read More

China Payment Survey 2020: Payment delays will increase further because of COVID-19

Our survey shows a deterioration in payment behaviour in 2019, which ultimately does not bode well for Chinese companies in the context of weaker activity in 2020. Coface expects growth to fall to 1.0%, the lowest level in 30 years, so given the historic correlation between economic activity and payment delays, we anticipate a sharp deterioration in 2020.

Read More

Focus: World Trade - despite a sudden interruption, global value chains still have a bright future

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, global trade has been dragged down by numerous factors. However, as tight border controls begin to ease and producers begin to adapt, the good news is that global value chains still have a bright future.

Read More

Focus: COVID-19 swings the spotlight back onto emerging countries’debt

While the focus, so far, has mainly been on China, Europe and the United States, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be even more severe in emerging economies

Read More

Focus: Can China shield its economy from the impact of COVID-19?

China will likely miss its 2020 growth target due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy.

Read More

COUNTRY AND SECTOR RISK BAROMETER: Q4 2019 QUARTERLY UPDATE

World trade in the face of political and environmental change.

Read More

COUNTRY RISK ASSESSMENT MAP - FEBRUARY 2020

New edition of the country risk map. Consult, download and print the map of the 161 countries assessed by Coface.

Read More

SECTOR RISK ASSESSMENT MAP - FEBRUARY 2020

13 major sectors assessed worldwide. Coface assessments are based on 70 years of Coface expertise and on the financial data published by listed companies from 6 geographical sectors. 5 financial indicators are taken into account: turnover, profitability, the net debt ratio, cashflow, and claims observed by our risk managers.

Read More

COFACE CEE TOP 500 COMPANIES - 2019 EDITION

Analyses show that the favourable economic environment was beneficial for the region’s 500 largest businesses, which translated into higher revenues. However, various challenges caused net profits to decrease. Competition is getting more intense and a higher turnover is required to be classified in the ranking compared to previous years.

Read More

COFACE BALTIC TOP 50 - 2019 EDITION

The Baltic region’s economic growth is strongly driven by domestic demand. The countries benefit from the favourable situation on the labour market as well as rebounding fixed asset investments. Nevertheless, the external environment remains crucial for the Baltic States. The share of exports of goods and services as a percentage of nominal GDP is especially high in Lithuania and Estonia, where it amounted to 82% and 72% respectively last year. In Latvia it was 59%, making dependence on foreign markets a further important factor.

Read More