Database of Companies in France: Top Industries and Biggest Players

The ratio of proprietorships and corporations is balanced

Out of all companies registered in France, 43.1% are registered as proprietorships and 42.4% as corporations.

Almost half of corporations operate in finance, insurance, and real estate (49.3%), and 18.6% operate in services. Services are the most represented industry among proprietorships (41.4%).

The most common SIC Code among corporations is real property lessor followed by holding companies. In the case of proprietorships, real property lessor is at the top of the list followed by health practitioners' offices.

36.3% of companies registered in France operate in services. Second is the finance, insurance, and real estate sector (28.4%), followed by retail (11.1%). According to our latest records (as of April 2022), services generate more than EUR 975B in sales per year - that represents 19.2% of all sales generated by French businesses. Manufacturing companies, while accounting for only 2.8% of all companies registered in France, generate more than 17% of all sales.

More than a fifth of all companies in France operate under the real property lessors SIC Code (21.9%). This unusually large share can be explained by the fact that by French law, anyone who rents out furnished property has to register and formally operate as a business. In France, more than 35% of the property is rented. Out of the 2.3M entities under this SIC Code, 1.98M entities generate less than EUR 100,000 a year.

The second most represented SIC Code is a membership organisation with a share of 4.8%. Entertainment and recreation services are third with a share of 3.8%. 47.7% of all companies in France operate under the top ten SIC Codes.

Paris has the highest number of registered companies

789,000 companies are registered in the Paris department, representing 7.45% of all companies in France. Bouches-du-Rhône is second with a share of 3.63%. Rhône is third with a share of 3.03%. Hauts-De-Seine is a clear leader in terms of sales. According to our latest records (as of April 2022), companies registered there generate more than EUR 721B per year (14.21% share). Paris-based companies are second with sales of more than EUR 690B (13.61%), but employ almost twice as many people (2.7M) compared to Hauts-De-Seine (1.5M).

The city of Paris is home to 788,000 companies (7.4%). The second city with the most registered entities is Marseille with more than 163,000 companies (1.5%) followed by Lyon with 110,000 companies (1%).

Manufacturing companies are some of the largest companies in France. According to our latest records (as of April 2022), PSA AUTOMOBILES SA is the dominant carmaker with annual sales of EUR 50.1B (the company merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on 16/01/2021 to form Stellantis). The French electricity producer and distributor ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE is second with sales of more than EUR 44B. The aircraft manufacturer AIRBUS is third with annual sales of more than EUR 39B.

The consulting company CAPGEMINI is the largest employer in France with more than 212,000 employees. RENAULT, a major car manufacturer, is second with more than 117,000 employees. SOCIETE CIVILE DES MOUSQUETAIRES is third with more than 112,000 employees.