Four companies out of ten are confident in the recovery. 37,3% of medium-sized Italian enterprises, which in ten years have decreased by 433 units, expect an increase in turnover for 2013 (against 26,6% in the final balance in 2012) and 34% an increase in production (against 22,1% for last year).
The Mediobanca and Unioncamere survey, presented today in Rome, photographs the effects of the crisis on companies. Nonetheless, the 3.594 medium-sized enterprises remain competitive and alone capable of generating 15% of the added value of the Italian manufacturing industry and 16% of national exports. The propensity to export of medium-sized companies remains very high, so much so that the share of exports came close to 90% in 2012, with an incidence of sales abroad equal to 51% of the total turnover.
For the current year, the decisive contribution that foreign sales will be able to provide to company results is confirmed, foreign orders will increase for 49,9% of companies; while the performance of the internal market is estimated to be weaker, only 13,6% expect an increase compared to 2012, against 31% of those who expect a decline. On the employment front, the survey predicts that about one fifth of medium-sized enterprises will expand their workforce between 2012 and 2013; this year the expansion of the employment base abroad will be greater for about half of the companies for those that have production plants outside the national borders.
In 2013, investments by medium-sized companies will continue to concentrate on the three main assets they had focused on in 2012: IT equipment (72,3%), machinery (69,3%) and IT software and services (68,6%). 2013%). The demand for credit in the first half of 50 proved to be sustained. 43,8% of medium-sized companies stated that they wanted to apply for bank loans, not only in response to the need to manage ordinary activities (in about 36,7% of cases), but also to make new investments (13,3%) or implement those already started (XNUMX%).
The survey shows that the perception of difficulty in accessing credit persists: this is reported by 43% of those who intended to resort to it in the initial months of 2013, against 37% of companies which in the last six months of 2012 had addressed to the banks. On the employment front, the use of social safety nets is also reduced: in 2013 they will be used by 34% of companies against 44% in 2012. Around 18% of companies will in any case adopt alternative instruments to safeguard employment: solidarity contracts, changes to working hours and staff retraining. The financial structure of medium-sized companies is financially solid with equity sufficient to finance fixed assets (61,3% against 45,7% on average for the period 2002-2011).
