Craftsmen and small Norman companies not all equal to the economic slowdown

How are small businesses and Norman craftsmen? To this question, the Order of Chartered Accountants of Normandy attempts to provide answers via its SME image barometer presented at the start of the week.

“These daily actors that are SMEs and VSEs constitute the vast majority of our customers and we can, thanks to their VAT teledeclarations, analyze the evolution of their turnover,” explains Franck Nibeaudo, the president of the Order who uses the data of a sample of 24,000 Norman companies to analyze the health of these actors of the local economy which represent a third of jobs in the region.

In the head peloton of the French regions

And overall, the barometer points to a slight decline in economic activity at the end of last year, around 0.1 % compared to the last quarter of 2023, even if, over the whole year, their turnover increased by 0.5 %. This places Normandy in the leading peloton of the French regions. With disparities according to the departments since if the round increased by 1.1 % in the last quarter, the Eure drops by 1.4 %, a sign of an economic dynamism not necessarily well distributed.

Note that these figures do not take into account inflation (around 2 % on average over the year after INSEE). This therefore does not in fact guarantee an increase in activity, nor profits. “However, the year 2024 started pretty well, all sectors combined,” analyzes Franck Nibeaudo. “But from the end of the first half of all, we could see a compaction. “The President of the Order obviously points to a particular event to explain this slowdown:” The dissolution and everything that followed created uncertainty. For business leaders, but especially for the consumer, for families. The reflex is to save more and reduce expenses, apart from those which are constrained … “

“Previously, we were able to save businesses”

This explains in particular that not all sectors are placed on an equal footing. Where garage owners (+ 4.3 %) or pharmacists (+ 3.8 %), or even bakers (+ 1.6 %), see their turnover increase compared to 2023, restaurateurs and hoteliers (- 1.3 %), as well as retail in clothing (- 2.1 %) drop. It is even more glaring for the construction sector, all activities combined, like masonry which wins (-5.2 %) due to a drop in the number of sites, both for communities and among individuals.