The fact of being located in the French overseas departments (DOM) rather than in Metropolitan France shapes the behaviour and performances of companies. In this respect the ultra-peripheral nature of these territories has particularly large impacts. The distribution of corporate performances and their breakdown by growth pattern show strong similarities with those observed in Metropolitan France, due to the predominance of enterprises with fewer than 10 employees in both economies. From this point of view the DOM -apart from French Guiana - are not particularly unlike the vast majority of French departments. However, big differences are observed. Some are linked to accessibility restrictions and the small scale of markets. In terms of financial profile these differences are largely offset by the measures taken to help enterprises in the DOM, most notably partial exemption from social contributions. Over the period 2000 to 2007, DOM enterprises show average margin rates that are close those in Metropolitan France, and financial profitability rates that are sometimes higher. The differences that appear to be inherent to the ultra-peripheral context and which subsist despite measures in favour of DOM enterprises, for example a more marked commercial orientation and lower equipment and value-added per employee levels, do not seem to penalise enterprises over the period observed. Indeed growth in activity was more dynamic overall in the DOM, with DOM-based enterprises showing a supplementary increase in growth at comparable size and activity.