In the first quarter of 2013 Italian companies to start a bankruptcy procedure there were 3.500, up 12% every year. They also rear up agreed, which mark an increase of as much as 76%, with a boom in the "blank" ones introduced by the new sector law. The data was published today by Cerved, a group specializing in business analysis and credit risk assessment models.
In the first three months of the year, around 23 companies have started one insolvency proceedings or liquidation voluntary (+7% on year). 19 performing companies (without previous insolvency proceedings) have decided to voluntarily close their operations, an increase of 5,8% compared to the same period of 2012.
From a territorial point of view there is a trend reversal. The North East, where the number of bankruptcies had been declining since mid-2011, saw a real surge in procedures (+24%). In the North West the increase was 15%. Slightly lower rates in Central Italy (+9%), in the South and in the Islands (+3%).
Despite this, in May the composite index of business confidence Italians rose to 79,8 points, from 74,9 in April. This was communicated by Istat, explaining that the increase in the overall index is due to the improvement in business confidence in all sectors, with particular reference to market services.
The manufacturing business confidence index increased from 87,9 in April to 88,5. Assessments on order books and production expectations improve respectively from -45 to -44 and from -4 to -2, while the balance relating to assessments on inventories goes from -1 to 1.
The analysis of the climate of confidence by main groupings of industries indicates an improvement in the indicator in all the main groupings of industries: in particular, in consumer goods it rises from 89,3 to 91,4, in intermediate goods from 86,7 to 88,4 and in capital goods from 86,5 to 87,1.
The construction business confidence climate index rose from 78,4 in April to 81,8. Assessments on construction orders and/or plans and expectations on employment improve (the balances increase from -52 to -49 and from -17 to -13, respectively). The data relating to market services companies grew significantly, from 68,4 in April to 76,5.
Opinions improve (from -32 to -25) and, less significantly, expectations (from -15 to -12) on orders; expectations on the trend of the economy in general also improve (from -56 to -42, the balance). In the retail trade, the confidence climate index rose from 78,1 in April to 80,5. The index increased both in large-scale distribution (from 68,8 to 70,3) and in traditional distribution (from 88,6 to 91,4).
