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The construction sector is a cornerstone of the EU economy. It contributes around 9% of the EU’s GDP and provides direct employment to 18 million people and indirectly supports 24.2 million jobs. This sector in the EU is made up of approximately 5.3 million businesses, with over 99% of them being small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

This highlights its significant role in driving economic growth and providing employment opportunities across Europe. But, its impact extends beyond economics, addressing critical social, climate, and energy challenges.



KEY CHALLENGES FACING THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR IN EUROPE.

Improving Environmental Sustainability

Aging Building Stock: Many buildings in Europe are old, leading to high energy consumption.
Implementing new technologies and methods to improve productivity and sustainability.
Low Renovation Rates: Increasing the rate of renovations is crucial to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.

According to Arthur D.litte, the renovation of 35 million buildings by 2030 presents a tremendous opportunity for the European construction sector. This ambitious goal is part of the EU’s broader strategy to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, aligning with the European Green Deal.

Promoting Energy Efficiency.
Reuse and Recycling: Encouraging the use of recycled materials and reducing waste can help create a more sustainable construction ecosystem.



Complexity of Supply Chains

Dependence on Energy-Intensive Inputs: The construction sector relies heavily on materials like steel, glass, aluminum, cement, and various chemical products, which are energy-intensive to produce.

Supply Chain Management: Improving the efficiency and sustainability of supply chains is essential to reduce the overall environmental footprint.

Workforce Availability and Skills

Construction requires a large workforce, but there is a shortage of skilled labor.
Aging Workforce: Many experienced workers are retiring, creating a gap that needs to be filled.
Attracting Younger Workers: Making the construction industry more attractive to younger generations through training programs and career opportunities is vital.

The large-scale skills partnership for construction under the EU Pact for Skills is a crucial step towards addressing the evolving needs of the construction sector. By aiming to train at least 30% of the workforce by 2030.

While the major construction and public works companies are well-equipped to carry out this transformation, subcontractors and the whole fabric of SMEs and ETIs remain under pressure. Access to training is much easier for these companies, as is investment in cleaner vehicles (because a major part of the construction industry’s carbon footprint lies in the transport of materials).

Bouygues Construction, for example, communicates extensively on this point with the implementation of a “climate strategy”. The roll-out of their in-house “Climate Action” training program continues, with 43% of employees already trained.



FOCUS ON THE SITUATION IN EUROPE

According to ING’s latest report, the European construction volumes are expected to see a decline of about 1.5% this year due to high interest rates and rising building costs. This is a down on ING’s previous forecast (-0.5%), mainly because of revised Eurostat data. However, the outlook for next year is more optimistic.

The production of building materials is beginning to show signs of recovery, likely driven by improvements in supply chains and increased demand for renovation and infrastructure projects.

Renovation is becoming a focal point in the construction sector. 

Beyond new homes or new infrastructures, the RMI market (Repair, Maintenance and Improvement) is also key in the construction sector. “RMI market remains under pressure as cost of living continues to impact people’s large expense decisions”, explains Gael Umano, UK Risk Underwriter & Deputy Group Risk at Cartan Trade. RMI data is important to follow to better understand current trend and impact it can have on the smaller and medium size construction firms. 

According to Eurostat, from 2021 to 2026, the building renovation market in Europe is estimated to increase by 55.6 billion $.

Despite the temporary disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, the outlook for residential energy efficiency and sustainability upgrades could be promising. However, Cartan Trade is rather cautious about the short-term impact of the easing of interest rates and the ending of certain government subsidies (such as the PTZ in France).


FOCUS BY COUNTRY

The varying trends in house prices across the EU.
Poland and Spain have seen significant increases in the prices of newly built homes recently.
In contrast, France and Germany are experiencing declines in house prices for both new builds and existing homes.
The Netherlands has also seen a slight decline in new house prices in the first quarter of this year.

The housing market in many EU countries is experiencing a resurgence in prices after a period of decline.
In Poland, the prices of existing homes increased by over 4% in the first quarter of the year.
Similarly, Spain and the Netherlands saw house prices rise by 2% during the same period.
On the other hand, Germany, facing a more sluggish economic situation, experienced a decline in house prices by 1.1%.



According to Christophe Pennellier, Senior VP & Chief Risk Officer of Cartan Trade, the construction market remains under pressure and highly exposed to insolvencies (it was the sector that saw the biggest increase in insolvencies in 2024, particularly in France).
Indeed, the consumer market is still sluggish, pending the interest rate cut that is stifling the market. But the expected easing of interest rates will only allow for a very slow recovery in activity.
A significant upturn in building permits over a considerable period will be necessary to foresee a recovery of the entire sector.

CARTAN TRADE KEY FACTORS TO EVALUATE BUYERS’ FINANCIAL HEALTH

Gael Umano highlights several key factors that Cartan Trade, as a credit insurer, analyzes for large construction companies:

Dependency to legacy contracts : Assessing the financial health of the company through the weight of legacy contracts, especially those with fixed prices, can pose significant challenges in a high or medium inflation environment.
A very recent case in the UK: ISG which filed for administration on the 19/09, blaming those legacy contracts for its failure. This is the largest construction bankruptcy in the UK since Carillion in 2018. ISG was around £2bn of turnover and about 2,000 employees.
◆ Level of Debt: High levels of debt in the construction sector can be particularly challenging when interest rates remain elevated.
◆ Structure of growth: Numerous construction companies are chasing growth at the expense of margins.
◆ Quality of the Order Book: The quality of a construction company’s order book is crucial, especially in terms of how contracts are negotiated (Fixed-Price or Inflation-Indexed Contracts).

In the years ahead, it will be also important to keep a close eye on the level of investment committed to transforming these companies and tackling their main challenges, as well as their level of debt.

By evaluating these specific factors, Cartan Trade can better analyze the financial resilience of construction companies and provide meaningful highlights to our customers to secure their trading. 

Contact us for more about our credit insurance solutions.

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Featured, Press Area

On 2 May, Cartan Trade announced the appointment of Sébastien Guidoni as its new CEO. With over 23 years’ experience in transformation and acceleration acquired in a wide variety of roles within major insurance groups and start-ups, this appointment promises to accelerate growth and open up new perspectives for the company









Sébastien Guidoni shares Cartan Trade’s new roadmap with us.

When I joined Cartan Trade a few months ago as COO, and now as CEO, I was impressed by how quickly the company has grown after just 2 years in existence and by the strong commitment of the teams, whom I would like to thank once again. The performance of the first start-up phase has been remarkable and market demand has exceeded our expectations.

Cartan Trade is now firmly established in four major European markets: France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Benelux countries. The company is led by a solid team, ready to support its future growth.

Our mission is to democratise credit insurance by offering our customers, whatever their size, additional cover to secure their growth by transferring part of the risk of payment default by their buyers.

Market traction is strong and our pipeline is well-stocked with more than €10 billion cover committed, which gives me confidence in our ability to succeed in 2024. The new roadmap for the coming years has been validated by our shareholders, who have thus renewed their confidence in the project.

After this initial start-up phase, our current challenges are those of a company in a scale-up phase that is planning to grow over the next 3 to 4 years. Our ambition is to build a platform that can simultaneously control its growth, its claims ratio and its EBITDA, with the stated aim of demonstrating the scalability of our model.

Together with my Comex colleagues Alice de Brem (Sales and Marketing), Christophe Pennellier (Risk, Claims & Collection) and Julien Madec, who joins us at the beginning of July as CFO, we will have to constantly choose how to use our resources effectively to invest in the company in a sustainable way.

We also intend to strengthen our teams. Recruiting new talents will be essential, in all our business areas – sales, risk, finance – but also in data, where we aim to build an innovative and agile ecosystem.

Data is an area I know well. Building an ecosystem by coordinating several solutions requires effort. Although it’s still a little early to talk about it, data will play an increasingly important role at Cartan Trade. 

To lead the development in Europe, Cartan Trade’s Executive Committee is supported by a strong Leadership team. It is made up of our regional directors: Anne Smadja for France, Matthew Wells for the United Kingdom, Paolo Cioni for Italy, and Xander Nieuwenhuijsen supported by Alice de Brem for the Benelux countries, as well as Gael Umano, deputy Head of Risk. With their teams, they are committed to developing Cartan Trade in their respective markets, supporting our customers and brokers locally in their day-to-day challenges and building sustainable portfolios.

Our priority is to continue our international development in our 4 markets before considering new expansions. Major product innovations are also in the pipeline and will be unveiled in due course.

I am convinced that Cartan Trade has all the necessary pillars to demonstrate the scalability of its model and thus convince many uninsured companies to place their trust in us.

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Launched 2 years ago and led by Eric Lenoir, Cartan Trade has established itself in the credit insurance market by adding capacity through a new, simplified, innovative and relevant product offering.

This project was completed in record time. Cartan Trade now has a solid, recognised team, with proven credibility in France, Benelux, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Today, Cartan Trade is opening a new chapter in its history with an ambitious new plan for the coming years.


In this context, the Board has decided to appoint Sebastien Guidoni, COO for the past 6 months, as CEO of Cartan Trade.
Sébastien’s mission will be to complete the acceleration phase of Cartan Trade with the challenge of successfully scaling it up.







Sébastien already knows Cartan Trade well and brings over 23 years’ experience in transformations and accelerations acquired in a wide variety of situations within major insurance groups and start-ups. Experienced in both sales and technical & financial management, he has demonstrated in multicultural contexts his ability to articulate, accelerate and deliver ambitious projects in an entrepreneurial way. His approach, both pragmatic and human-oriented, is driven by the desire to build diverse, complementary, and effective teams. 

 

Cartan Trade teams are ready to take on their new challenges (continuing to promote the sales dynamic, maintaining & strengthening underwriting discipline, encouraging & steering profitability while continuing to invest in technology & teams) with the reaffirmed support of its shareholders and individual partners, all of whom are fully committed to supporting the project.


The shareholders and Board members would like to thank Eric Lenoir for his key contribution and express their full confidence in Sébastien Guidoni, and the Cartan Trade’s team to carry out their missions successfully.

New CEO – Press release

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Featured, Press Area
2024, Cartan Trade continues its momentum!

Following the opening of a 4th office in the United Kingdom, Cartan Trade is advancing its European expansion by offering innovative solutions to secure your businesses.

The summary of 2023 :


Success of our Top Up products, improving coverage against unpaid bills, now representing 28% of our policies. Continuous growth of our Unlock 360, a contract with numerous options, as well as our Single Risk solution to secure your targeted need!

In an unstable economic environment, Cartan Trade is proud to provide additional guarantees to the market. Currently, we provide over 12 billion of exposure to our clients and prospects.
And more and more of you are placing your trust in us! Thank you to our clients, partners, and Cartan Trade team members. Best wishes for 2024!


For more information, click here.

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Featured, Press Area

Cartan Trade opens London office  – Matthew Wells, as head of UK & Ireland.

Created at the end of 2021, Cartan Trade is the new credit insurance capacity provider, serving companies of all sizes, both French and European. Attentive to companies’ expectations of transparency, simplicitý and efficiencý of companies, Cartan Trade innovates on the market by offering a perfectly readable products range, whose management is facilitated by a digital path.

On February 15th & 16th, after France, Italy and the Benelux, Cartan Trade, the new credit insurance provider in France and Europe, opened its offices in London and Manchester.
 
Matthew Wells, head of UK & Ireland, together with the Executive Committee of Cartan Trade (Eric LenoirAlice de BremChristophe Pennellier…) officially opened the branch in United Kingdom.
 
Thank you to the many brokers for the warm welcome and the confidence in Cartan Trade products!

 

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Featured, Press Area

Cartan Trade launches UK operations, opens London office and recruits Matthew Wells, as head of UK & Ireland   

“UK is a very competitive market, but we are confident we can bring a new strong added-value offer, able to protect the top line of small companies in a time where treasury is key. We just hired a key professional, Matthew Wells, who used to work for this market and had the network with brokers to leverage our presence in our new offices in London and Manchester.”, shared Eric Lenoir, CEO, Cartan Trade.

“I am happy to take part of this new adventure in the credit insurance sector. All of the Cartan Trade team are excellent credit insurance professionals, therefore we know the level of quality
required but also what can be done to make credit insurance more accessible, more bespoke, easier to use. With so much expertise in the specialist UK broking market, the potential to grow the Cartan Trade portfolio and propose an innovative, digital and disruptive offer having customer experience at the top of our priorities. A challenge I welcome greatly. “, said Matthew Wells, Head of UK & Ireland.

UK press release CT

Note to editors:
Trade credit insurance provides assurance for business owners to trade with existing customers, acquire new customers and expand to new market while ensuring payment of their trade receivables.

More information

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Featured, Press Area

On Tuesday 24 January, the team of CARTAN TRADE was proud to celebrate its first anniversary at the Rodin Museum (Paris), with our partner brokers, whom we warmly thank for their presence.

Before a private visit of this mythical place, where Auguste Rodin’s works are presented in an 18th century setting, Alice de Brem (Senior VP France) and Eric Lenoir (CEO) were able to explain:

– the results of this 1st year,

– the perspectives and investments for 2023.

Cartan Trade, the new Insurtech specialized in covering the risk of non-payment, works on a daily basis to protect your businesses and help to develop your activities.

Thank you to Cartan Trade’s Team, experienced professionals, for their unfailing commitment!

Cartan Trade, One year already !

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Press Area

2022 will remain an important year for us, with the launch of CARTAN TRADE.
Our Insurtech offers companies in France and Europ, additional capacity with a digital customer journey.
 
Eric Lenoir, CEO of Cartan Trade, reminds us the rise of Cartan Trade throughout 2022, its achievements, its products, its service offers and the major projects for 2023 !
 
Many innovative solutions have enabled our clients and brokers in order to obtain guarantees in France and abroad.
We thank you warmly for all these beautiful collaborations, and all those to come.
 
All the team of Cartan Trade is looking forward to sharing with you our new development projects in 2023.

 

Happy new year 2023!

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