French army company goes bankrupt after canceling contract with Ukrainian army

The oldest French arms company, Verney-Carron, which signed a contract worth €36 million in November 2023 to supply weapons to Ukraine, has gone bankrupt, according to BFM TV, Report informs via Izvestia.

"The arms manufacturer Verney-Carron from St. Etienne announced on Tuesday its insolvency and filed a petition for bankruptcy proceedings against it, while negotiating with a potential buyer," the publication said.

It is specified that the company has been incurring huge losses for several years. Thus, in 2023, their losses amounted to €4.54 million with a turnover of €5.45 million.

On February 12, the Saint-Etienne Commercial Tribunal will meet on this issue. Cybergun, which has been a shareholder in Verney-Carron since 2022, has invested €12 million in it.

An official statement from Cybergun reveals that a search has been initiated for an industrial partner to sponsor the arms company for several years. The document states that negotiations are already underway with a major player in the small arms industry for this purpose. Its identity is yet to be disclosed.

Earlier, on January 4 last year, the Bank of France presented a report according to which more than 55,000 companies closed in France in 2023, the highest figure since 2017. The figure is calculated based on the average number of bankruptcies and liquidations of private companies over the past year.