Italy lost 535 medium enterprises in the decade 2003-2012. The figure emerges from the Mediobanca-Unioncamere annual survey, which states that the change represents the balance between 3556 entries and 4091 exits.
In the same period, 637 companies exceeded the size thresholds, becoming medium-large companies. The business combinations had a marginal impact on the growth in size (0,6% of companies in each year).
If transfers to different categories are excluded, liquidations and terminations due to bankruptcy proceedings caused 52,9% of the losses, i.e. the closure of 450 companies, against just 126 newly established ones.
As for the average turnover, in 2012 it stood at 44,3 million euros, up 27% compared to 2003 (+9,4% in real terms). The average employment per firm instead decreased in both average (from 149 to 146 units, -2,3%) and median (from 115 to 112, -3,6%) terms. In terms of profitability, the Roi in the two-year period 2011-2012 was equal to 7,1% (+1% on 2009). Roe reached 4,7% in 2012 (+2,3% on 2009).
The taxation of medium-sized enterprises also continues to be punitive with an average tax burden of 2003-2012 on enterprises with a positive pre-tax result of 43,7%, or about 11 percentage points above the average of large enterprises (33%) . In 2012, 759 of the 3463 medium-sized enterprises closed with a negative group result.
As for the prospects, the study shows that out of a representative sample of medium-sized Italian industrial companies for 2014, 45% of these companies expect an increase in turnover (against 38% in the final balance in 2013) and 38% an increase in production ( it was instead 34% who recorded it for last year). The export propensity of medium-sized companies is decidedly high, so much so that the share of exporting companies was close to 83% in 2013.
For the current year, the decisive contribution that foreign sales will be able to provide to company results is confirmed, while the domestic market trend will be weaker (only 27% of companies expect an increase in domestic orders compared to 2013, against 17% of those who predict a decline).
Last year, investments by medium-sized enterprises concentrated on IT equipment (68%), IT software and services (63%) and machinery (61%) with companies that will continue to focus primarily on these assets also during 2014.
The demand for credit in the first half of 2014 also proved to be sustained, but 31% of those intending to use it in 2014 expect to encounter greater disbursement difficulties compared to 2013. of medium-sized enterprises: over 72% of them have never considered moving production abroad.
