What's new

Focus: Are corporate balance sheets in Spain and Italy ready for the COVID-19 shock?

Spain and Italy will be amongst the economies hardest hit by COVID-19, contracting by 12.8% and 13.6% respectively in 2020, according to Coface’s forecasts. Taking a closer look at the health of Spanish and Italian corporate balance sheets should help identify pockets of vulnerability where widespread defaults are more likely to materialize.

Read More

Focus: Corporate insolvencies in Europe - temporary framework amendments kick the can down the road

The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are of an unprecedented scale in Europe. The twin supply-demand shock has resulted in the halting of production (at least partially) in many companies as employees cannot go to work and in a fall in consumption because of mobility restrictions. The decline in revenues has deteriorated companies’ cash positions, fostering an increase in payment delays – and, ultimately, payment defaults.

Read More

Country & Sector Risk Barometer: Q2 2020 Quarterly Update

From a massive shock to a differentiated recovery

Read More

Country risk assessment map - June 2020

New edition of the country risk map. Consult, download and print the map of the 162 countries assessed by Coface.

Read More

Sector risk assessment infographic - June 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

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

In the context of weaker activity in China due to the health crisis, Coface’s latest survey on business payments in China shows a deterioration in payment behaviour in 2019. 66% of surveyed companies reported payment delays. The length of payment delays remained stable at 86 days in 2019. Nevertheless, sectors that have been hit the most by lockdown measures will have to delay payments in order to survive in 2020 and the number of corporate insolvencies should increase (...)

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 & Sector Risk Barometer: Q1 2020 Quarterly Update

COVID-19: heading towards a sudden global surge in corporate insolvencies

Read More

Poland Payment Survey: reduced payment delays, but a challenging outlook

Despite the economic slowdown, Coface’s latest survey on business payments in Poland shows that payment delays have systematically shortened since 2017 - but the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the Polish economy remains to be seen.

Read More

Country & 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

Corporate insolvencies in France: fewer in number, larger in size

Corporate insolvencies fell by 3.3% in France during the first ten months of the year. After a difficult first quarter, due in particular to the repercussions of the “yellow vest” movement, they have been steadily declining since May 2019. As a result, the number of corporate insolvencies is expected to decline over the full year, for the fourth consecutive time. However, Coface expects a slight rebound of insolvencies in 2020 (+0.9%), for around 52,000 proceedings, mainly due to the expected slowdown in the construction sector that was largely driven by public works in 2019.

Read More

The global automotive industry and enhanced regulations: a very steep path ahead

The global auto sector is facing several challenges including enhanced and stricter regulations against environmental risks in the context of a slowdown of the global economy.

Read More

Germany Payment Survey 2019: Turn of the tide

This is the third edition of Coface’s survey on payment experience in Germany, done this summer, with 442 participating companies located in Germany. Our survey highlights that Germany is in a changing phase. The pressure on companies due to international competition is getting stronger. This is one of the reasons why German companies have increased their average credit period from 29.8 days to 35.9 days between 2017 and 2019.

Read More

Eurozone economic slowdown: Evidence from Coface’s activity indicators

Since the start of 2019, the signals warning of a slowdown in world growth have multiplied. While all economists agree on this downward trend, following the cyclical peak reached in 2017, there is now a question mark as to the scale of this slowdown, especially in the eurozone. While some commentators are suggesting the likelihood of a recession in 2020, most economists are predicting “only” a slight downturn.

Read More

Global outlook for the agri-food sector within a protectionist environment

The agri-food sector (alongside the ICT sector), has been at the heart of the global trade war, aggravated by the fact that China’s retaliation measures have often targeted US soybean imports. As a consequence, the US agri-food sector, notably American soybean exporters are negatively impacted by this situation.

Read More

Sector risk assessment map - October 2019

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