Financial support to cover the fixed costs of companies in great difficulty

The government announced a few weeks ago a scheme to cover some of the fixed costs of companies facing great financial difficulty because of the health crisis. Now, the scheme is put in place.

Operational as of March 31, 2021, this new financial support is complementary to the solidarity fund.

Qualified companies

The financial support, paid bi-monthly, is available to companies of a certain size that:

- are prohibited from hosting customers,

- belong to one of the sectors heavily impacted by the crisis or to one of the sectors connected to these sectors,

and companies

- registered before January 1, 2019 which may get the financial assistance allocated for January / February; registered before February 28, 2019 which may get the financial assistance allocated for; and registered before April 30, 2019 which may get the financial assistance allocated for May/June.

- which have a monthly turnover of more than 1 million euros, or which have achieved an annual turnover of more than 12 million euros.

- which suffered a loss of turnover of at least 50% during the period under review and benefited from the solidarity fund for one of the two months of that period (e.g., January or February for the January-February bi-monthly).

- which have a negative gross operating surplus over the period under review.

It is also available to companies, to whom the revenue criterion is not required but which still need to meet other conditions, which have significant fixed costs not covered by the solidarity fund and belong to the following sectors:

- indoor leisure (climbing room, bowling, etc.).

- gyms.

- gardens and zoos.

- amusement parks.

- thermal facilities.

- hotels, cafes and restaurants and tourist residences located in the mountains.

Determination of the amount of aid

The aid is intended to cover the fixed costs of the company which are not covered by its revenue and by public aid (notably the solidarity fund). The calculation of the aid is therefore based on gross operating losses (EBITDA), i.e., on the revenue of the company from which its operating expenses are deducted.

The aid will cover up to 70% of operating losses for companies with more than 50 employees and up to 90% of operating losses for companies with less than 50 employees, up to a maximum of 10 million euros for the first half of 2021.

The request for aid

The company will be required to provide a sworn statement certifying that it meets the requirements and certifying the accuracy of the reported information as well as a certificate from its accountant mentioning in particular the company’s EBITDA for the period of 2 months of 2021 for which assistance is requested, its turnover for each of the 2 months of 2021 of the period for which the assistance is requested and its turnover serving as a p for each of the 2 months of 2019 for the period for which the assistance is requested.