SMEs slow down but withstand the shock – Corriere.it

Small and medium-sized Italian enterprises, albeit with signs of a slowdown, are withstanding the sequential shocks that have hit the economic system in recent years. In 2022, turnover and added value will grow but inflation and the increase in the cost of debt weigh. the photograph that emerges from the 2023 Regional PMI Report, produced by Confindustria and Cerved, in collaboration with UniCredit, which analyzes the income statements of around 160,000 Italian SMEs. The Report estimates substantial stability in turnover (+2.4%), added value (+1.4%) and EBITDA (+2.9%), which recover the levels of 2019 (+9.1% respectively, + 8.7% and +14.9%). However, these indicators are accompanied by evidence that suggests a possible trend reversal in the next two years, with more significant signs of a slowdown in the central-southern areas which suggest an increase in the structural gap between the northern and southern production systems.

Declining profitability

The first effects of inflation and the increase in the cost of debt are reducing the net profitability and profits of SMEs: in fact, in 2022 a drop in Roe of 0.6% is estimated (from 12% to 11.4%) , with a more marked reduction in the Center and in the South, while the North-East and North-West suffer less. At the same time, the share of SMEs making losses is increasing, going from 12.2% in 2021 to 27.9% in 2022, with more significant effects in central Italy (from 13.4% to 29.8%). On the other hand, bankruptcies decreased on an annual basis (-34.7%) and non-bankruptcy procedures (-49.4%), confirming the continuation of the freezing of closures that has been observed since 2019.