MARIGOT, SAINT-MARTIN--Business owners in Saint-Martin are being urged to seek assistance at the first signs of financial difficulty, after figures presented during a CCISM conference showed that all 33 collective insolvency proceedings opened on the territory last year ultimately resulted in liquidation.
Of the 33 proceedings opened in 2025, 31 went directly into judicial liquidation, while the remaining two began as judicial restructuring proceedings before also being converted into liquidation. By comparison, only one preventive conciliation procedure was recorded in Saint-Martin over the past two years, highlighting concerns that businesses are waiting until their difficulties have become too advanced before seeking formal assistance.
The figures were presented during a conference focused on preventing and managing business difficulties, bringing together the CCISM, public agencies, commercial court representatives, legal and financial professionals and organizations involved in business support. The central message throughout the discussions was that financial distress does not automatically mean bankruptcy or closure, and that businesses have several options available when problems are addressed early enough.
The 33 cases were placed in the context of 1,361 business creations during the same period, indicating continued entrepreneurial activity in the territory. The concern, however, is that companies which do fail are often reaching the formal system when there is little room left for recovery. Across Guadeloupe and the Northern Islands, 488 collective proceedings were recorded, approximately 91 percent of which were liquidations.
Business owners were encouraged to pay closer attention to cash flow as one of the earliest warning signs. Under the legal definition discussed at the conference, cessation of payments generally occurs when a company no longer has sufficient immediately available resources to meet debts that have become due. Money owed to a company at some future date does not necessarily count as immediately available cash, even if the amount is substantial.
This issue is particularly important for companies dependent on customers that pay late, including businesses carrying out public contracts. A company can be owed significant sums while still facing immediate payroll, tax, social contribution and supplier obligations. The conference stressed that delayed receivables can therefore create serious difficulties even where the underlying business remains viable.
Once a business begins experiencing missed payments, mounting debts or persistent cash shortages, several forms of intervention may be available. COTEFI, the Territorial Committee for the Examination of Business Financing Problems, can provide confidential mediation and coordination between public creditors and assist in developing a more coherent approach to repayment arrangements. Individual creditor organizations retain their own decision-making authority, but the committee can help bring the different parties together.
The CCISM's CARE unit, the Business Regularization Support Unit, also serves as a first point of contact. It can assess a company's situation, develop an action plan and direct the business toward the appropriate organization depending on whether the difficulty is financial, social, regulatory or administrative.
Figures presented on social contributions also illustrated the scale of the challenge. Saint-Martin has approximately 5,313 active social-security accounts covering employers and self-employed persons, with 68 percent reported as fully current. About 72 percent of self-employed accounts were current, compared with 62 percent of employer accounts. Total outstanding social-security debt for Saint-Martin was placed at approximately €61 million.
Businesses were also informed about confidential preventive legal mechanisms, including an ad hoc mandate and conciliation, which can allow companies to negotiate with creditors before reaching more serious stages. These procedures are designed to help viable businesses restructure obligations while preserving confidentiality. Conciliation may be used where cessation of payments has existed for less than 45 days, another reason businesses were warned against allowing difficulties to continue without seeking advice.
If difficulties become more serious, businesses may enter safeguard or judicial restructuring proceedings. These should not automatically be viewed as the end of a company. The conference emphasized that the commercial court system can provide protection while a viable business reorganizes its debts and operations. Unlike confidential preventive procedures, safeguard, judicial restructuring and liquidation proceedings become public.
In some formal restructuring procedures, debts can be spread over much longer periods, potentially up to ten years, while certain penalties and late charges may be eliminated under the applicable legal framework. Preventive arrangements can also provide negotiated repayment periods before a company reaches that stage.
The broader message from the conference was that business owners should not wait for unpaid salaries, seizures, court summonses or an inability to continue operating before asking for help. The available mechanisms are intended not only to deal with failure, but to prevent viable businesses from reaching the point of failure.
Early action, accurate accounting, regular monitoring of tax and social obligations and timely professional advice were presented as critical parts of managing a business through difficult periods. The greater the delay, the fewer options are likely to remain.
