What's new

The risks and opportunities of virtual offshoring

The cultural changes the pandemic has brought will continue to shape the economy for years to come. Among these, the normalization of remote work is one of the most consequential. If it can be done from home, could it be done from abroad?
Check the risks and opportunities of virtual offshoring in our latest Focus by Marcos Carias our economist for Southern Europe and Coline Louis, Junior Economist.

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Germany: More insolvencies in the pipeline

Coface's Northern Europe economist, Christiane von Berg, examines Germany's "hidden insolvencies" in our Focus-Publication.

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Country & Sector Risk Barometer: Q1 2021 Quarterly Update

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

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Universal Registration Document 2020

Coface publishes its 2020 Universal Registration Document and maintains its ambitions and strategy plan to 2023. Download a full copy.

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USA: recovery plan paves way for record trade deficit

In our latest Focus on the United States, Coface's North America economist, Ruben Nizard, analyzes the economic legacy that President Joe Biden's administration must now manage.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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COUNTRY AND SECTOR RISK BAROMETER: Q4 2019 QUARTERLY UPDATE

World trade in the face of political and environmental change.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Coface CEE TOP 500 Companies - 2018 Edition

Analyses show a strong and expanding CEE region with decreasing risks in 2017, which also translated into higher revenues and net profits at the region’s 500 largest businesses. Competition at the top is getting more intense.

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2016 Activity report

2016, working towards the in-depth transformation of our Group. We aim to make Coface the most agile global credit insurance partner in the industry.

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Coface CEE Top 500 Companies - 2016 edition

The CEE Top 500 ranks the 500 biggest companies in the region by turnover. These top players increased their turnover by 4.2% to nearly 593 billion EUR and enlarged their staff by 0.5%.

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Automotive Sector Central Europe

The automotive sector plays an important role in the CEE’s economic activity. Thanks to low labour costs, the educated workforce, geographical proximity to Western European markets, tax incentives and the stabilising legal environment, CEE countries have become attractive destinations for investment by global car manufacturers.

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2014 Activity report

Our IPO (Euronext, Paris) on 27 June 2014 was a success, confirmed subsequently on 22 December by Coface’s listing on the SBF 120 index. Its success proved that investors recognise the soundness of our Strong Commitment strategic plan, our governance, and the quality of our results in recent years.

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Global Country Risk Outlook June 2015

In this panorama, we first set out a study examining the economic situation and outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa. After a long period of gloominess, the economic weather became more favorable despite the Lehmann Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 and the eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

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India: Happy birthday Mr Prime Minister

In May 2014, following 5 weeks of legislative elections, India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadre - Narendra Modi - became Prime Minister.

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End of european milk quotas: a new era for the french dairy sector

Since the introduction of milk quotas in 1984, until their effective ending in 2015, milk production has undergone many reforms. Having regulated the market for over 30 years, milk quotas disappeared on 1st April 2015.

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Insolvencies in Central and Eastern Europe

Challenging macroeconomic conditions have been a determining factor in companies’ business activities in recent years. These challenges included weak growth in domestic demand, due to difficult situations in the labour market and the reluctance of companies to make investments in fixed assets.

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Morocco: credit opinion survey

Corporate payment habits and the proportion of overdue payments they record are a good indicator of the health of an economy. Longer payment terms are an indicator not only of a company’s poor financial health but are also likely to have a knock-on effect on all its suppliers.

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Morocco: the challenge of becoming an emerging economy

Moroccan economy remains resilient during the last world economic crisis and was able to resist to Arab springs. In an increasingly unstable International environment, Morocco remains stable. Implementing an original development model, the country succeed the challenge to accelerate its potential growth when the major big emerging markets slow down.

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What we see in the Asia Pacific region

Coface conducts an annual survey to examine corporate payment trends and experiences in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2014, the survey was conducted in 8 economies – Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as, for the first time, Thailand. The study revealed some key indicators that showed signs of a slight deterioration.

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Panorama Global Country Risk Outlook

In this panorama we first currently have sufficient strengths to explain why we give a negative set out a study examining how the advanced economies are facing up to the challenge of weak economic growth since the Lehman Brothers collapse,that is for the past seven years now!

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Panorama: Overview of Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is back on fast track. After falling into recession in 2012 and 2013 due to sharp fiscal consolidation and sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone, the economy regained momentum reaching solid growth rate of 2.0% in 2014 and should gain speed with 2.5% growth in 2015, according to Coface forecast.

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Company insolvency trends in Brazil

Ongoing economic scenario in Brazil remains sensitive, Coface expects GDP to break even in 2014 and activity should contract by 0.5% in 2015. Industry dropped by 3.2% in 2014 and will probably record another negative year in 2015. The year has just started, but it may reserve some negative surprises.

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Panorama China Payment Survey

Coface conducts an annual survey of payment experience in China. With 80% of the survey respond-ents shared overdue experience and 56.7% of them saw an increase in overdue amount over the past year, the overall payment experience in China remained very challenging in 2014 (...)

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Panorama Latin America

Latin America is a major producer of commodities and recent drop in oil prices is impacting countries of the region in different ways. Some of them may benefit from lower international quotation, others are negatively impacted already in the short term and finally a third group could be affected in the medium term only (...)

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France, a favourable country for the development of start-ups?

Development of start-ups: what are the keys to success?

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France: Trend in business insolvencies

This barometer presents the new trend in business insolvencies. We are reviewing the results for 2014 and the first orientations for 2015 with insolvencies for January. After two consecutive years of growth, the number of insolvencies over 2014 had decreased by 2.9%.

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Panorama Poland construction sector

The construction sector in Poland has undergone turbulent times. After the booming period related to increased demand for housing construction as well as massive public investments thanks to organizing the Euro 2012 football championship, the sector experienced a significant deterioration

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Middle East and North Africa Panorama: What progress after the arab spring?

How do the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) economies perform after the social and political turmoil caused by the socalled “Arab Spring” late in 2010? Have social and economic demands of protesters resulted in a healthier economic outlook in these countries? The panorama will focus on hydrocarbon sector for the GCC countries and on the textile sector for the North Africa region. It will also assess the latest trends in construction, tourism and automotive sectors across the MENA region to evaluate possible corporate risks.

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Panorama Turkey: Insolvencies

Company insolvencies in Turkey: Rise in exchange rates and slowdown in domestic demand affected payment performance. Impaired profitability made payments difficult. Focus on some sector risks : Metal, Automotive, Food, Chemical, Construction, Retail, Textile & apparel.

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Panorama LATAM : Growth picking up at countries of Pacific

Over the years Latam has begun to be associated with economic growth, new middle class, poverty reduction and controlled inflation.

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Panorama Coface: Insolvencies barometer

The number of insolvencies at the end of October stood at 63,002 companies, a figure down by - 0.9% over the last 12 months. This is the lowest level recorded since August 2013 (...)

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Panorama : Should we be afraid of “low-flation”?

The term "deflation" seems to be on everyone's lips in Europe these days, not just on those of economists. The buzz around the term is not surprising, as Eurozone inflation has been falling for the past three years. France is no exception (...)

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Panorama sector, European pharmaceutical companies : is austerity fatal ?

This end of year panorama starts with the risk assessment of 14 sectors in the three regions we monitor.

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Panorama Poland insolvencies

Poland is a headline example of the country that didn’t record recession in recent years. However, in micro terms companies insolvencies have been on...

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Panorama Country Risk - World Trade: a Sluggish Spell?

This publication is the October 2014 Coface Panorama country risk, and includes a study about World trade, which is stagnating in the first halfyear 2014 and is struggling to recover nearly 6 years after the start of crisis...

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Country Essentials 2014

A concise overview of country economic facts, clearly structured and brand new: Country Essentials from Coface

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Panorama United Arab Emirates : A remarkable recovery after the debt crisis but financing needs still high

How wealthy is the UAE economy after the debt crisis? Figures indicate that after contracting around 5 percent in 2009, the UAE economy recorded gradually solid growth rates. The economy is expected to grow by 5 percent in 2014, after expanding around 5.2 percent in 2013.

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China : carrot-and-stick

Since the beginning of the year, the Chinese government has continued its effort to carry out various items on the reform agenda, particularly on...

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Panorama Russia: The russian economy towards glaciation?

The Ukrainian crisis has occurred in a context of significant weakening of the Russian econ-omy. In 2013, Russian growth fell to 1.3% after an average GDP progression of 4.8%between 2000 and 2011.

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European airlines: forced to change

«European carriers have been hit by aggressive competition from Middle East and Asia and, they are among the least profitable in the world»

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Panorama Brazil Insolvencies: Activity does not take off

Activity in Brazil remains lackluster, inflation stands above the target , interest rates are among the highest in the world, confidence remains at a low level across a variety of indexes and the well-known low investment ratio continues to deteriorate. What is the impact on companies' payment capacity?

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Romania: Will economic growth come back to strong performance?

After five challening years Romania’s economic performance proved that it has become one of the leaders of the European recovery and exceeded expectations with GDP growth rising by 3.5% in 2013. However, the slowldown of the growth in 2014 shows another picture.

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Adriatic/Balkan Top50

For the third time, Coface is publishing the Adriatic/Balkan Top 50. The companies are ranked based on their turnover in 2013. The economic problems of the region in the last few years have also taken their toll on the top players: Total turnover declined by 1.2% to EUR 39 billion, and profits decreased dramatically by almost 16% to EUR 702 million.

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Panorama Country Risk - The British recovery : miracle or mirage

Thanks to vigorous growth since the second quarter of 2012, we anticipate the UK economy to get back to its pre-crisis level in the third quarter of 2014.

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Panorama Country: Brazil

From 2004 to 2008 Brazil had grown, on average, by 4,8% a year, but in the former period, from 2009 to 2013, the average rate declined to 2,7%. The country did not take advantage of the good winds to make important reforms, such as improving the infrastructure and the business climate...

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Panorama Country - Turkey: What to expect in 2014?

If the tensions rise again as it happened in December and January, this may harm investors’ confidence and result in a fluctuation in forex markets. Such a situation would have a negative impact on the corporate sector’s external debt stock which is already at record high level.

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Corporate Payment Trend and Sectorial Risk in Asia Pacific

From the hawk’s-eye view, Asia’s economic growth momentum remained strong in the post-crisis era, with Coface’s forecast pointing to a 6.1% YoY growth for Emerging Asia in 2014.

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Changes regarding SMEs in France and Spain – Insolvency Barometer in France

New barometer of companies insolvencies in France : a lull is observed from January to April 2014, the number of insolvencies falling by 2.3%. This barometer is followed by a comparison between the situation
of SMEs in France and Spain.

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CEE Insolvencies : 2013 was a challenging year for companies in Eastern Europe

The results of a study on insolvencies among the CEE economies, a region experiencing a sharp rise in the rate of insolvencies in many countries during 2013 (e.g. up 39% in Bulgaria and 32% in the Czech Republic).

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Electronics in Asia / Sector Barometer

Focus on the electronics industry in Emerging Asia, a region that has become in a matter of years the world’s workshop for many electronic components.

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Panorama: Which emerging countries will take over from the BRICS?

This panorama first includes a study dealing with new emerging markets. While the 2008-2009 global crisis had highlighted emerging market resilience, gamechanging events have taken place in those emerging countries since May 2013 indeed.

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Which emerging countries will take over from the BRICS?

While the 2008-2009 global crisis had highlighted emerging market resilience, game-changing events have taken place in those emerging countries since May 2013 indeed.

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Reality Check: Corporate Payment Trend and Sectorial Risk in China

The overall payment experience in China has deteriorated in 2013 compared to 2012.

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French Road Goods Transport (RGT): between economic difficulties and structural problems…

If there is one sector that has been hit by the decline in activity associated with France’s “double dip” recession, it is the road goods transport sector. Despite improvements from time to time since 2008 2008, the sector has not been able to find its way out of this slump.

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Textiles - Upmarket positioning and innovation: Key to the success for the French and European textile industry?

You will find in it our usual barometer, which assesses the risks to which companies in fourteen key industrial sectors in emerging Asia, North America and Western Europe are exposed.
We have also included an analytical focus on European textiles. This traditional industry was affected very early by globalisation, and, in particular, competition from developing countries.

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Carmakers : Europe refocusing on emerging markets

This Panorama includes our global sector barometer, which analyses the situation in fourteen key economic sectors in three of the world‘s major regions (European Union, North America and Emerging Asia) through a single credit risk indicator. In Europe, sector risks continue to deteriorate, especially in chemicals due to the remaining difficulties in the European industry, and also in the pharmaceutical branch due to the fiscal tightening measures taken by the governments.

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2012 ACTIVITY REPORT

Jean-Marc Pillu, CEO of Coface: "In 2012, we combined further profitability and growth, while continuing to assist our customers"

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What has happened to the Italian business model?

This panorama contains a study of the Italian economy, which analyses and interrogates both macro- and microeconomic issues. We also present the latest adjustments to our country assessment.

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What has happened to the Italian business model?

This panorama contains a study of the Italian economy, which analyses and interrogates both macro- and microeconomic issues. We also present the latest adjustments to our country assessment.

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Central European companies in crisis: why?

This new Panorama contains the results of our Company Insolvency Monitor from April 2012 to April 2013 and the results of a study on insolvencies among Eastern European countries, a region experiencing a sharp rise in insolvencies rate.

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Focus e-commerce / distribution

Coface releases a series of economic reports and is pleased to announce the publication of its second Panorama sector report. Readers will find in it a global sector barometer which analyses the situation in fourteen key economic sectors. The originality of the analysis is that it is based on aggregating the accounts of 6,000 companies in three of the world’s major regions: the European Union, North America and Emerging Asia.

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Transformation of emerging country risk

In this Panorama, Coface highlights the radical transformation of risks in emerging countries. While traditional country risk (sovereign risk, external vulnerability) has appreciably declined, three new risks are appearing and need to be monitored.

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2013 Coface Country Risk Conference

The 17th Country Risk Conference held by Coface on 22 January 2013 has confirmed the complexity of a situation where, more than ever, the world seems to be «split in two»: advanced versus emerging countries.

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Updates and growth forecasts

The global economic slowdown is confirmed this fall, in line with the recession in the eurozone and the emerging market deceleration.

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2011 Activity report

Jean-Marc Pillu, CEO of Coface: «In 2011, we achieved our goal of refocusing our operations on credit insurance».

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