2020 is now behind us, but the pandemic continues to bite and with it the crisis triggered by Covid-19. From an economic point of view, the global pandemic emergency has weighed down budgets and quotations, compromised investments, jeopardized employment. For some sectors, however, the past year has turned into a driving force for growth. Just think of pharmaceutical companies, which have increased investments by 10% to respond to the needs of the pandemic, or companies active in e-commerce, streaming, large-scale distribution and the food sector, for which lockdowns and waiting of a vaccine has meant a sharp rise in turnover and profits never seen in "peacetime". Three names above all: Amazon, whose revenues soared by 37,6% last year, Alibaba, which did even better (+37,9%), and Netflix which thanks to our evenings lying on the sofa watching movies and TV series recorded revenue growth of +24%.
The Mediobanca Research Area has analysed the impact of the pandemic on the 2020 financial statements of almost 200 large multinationals with annual turnover exceeding 3 billion euros, total revenues of over 8 trillion and 21 million jobs worldwide. The report clearly shows how the pandemic has hit some sectors hard, while the effect on others has been more than positive.
GDO AND WEBSOFT: THE RECORDS OF 2020
Last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, multinationals saw their revenues drop by 3,1%. A percentage that however represents an average between those who won and those who lost. Among the first are websoft, which grew by 19,5%, and large-scale retail multinationals, whose turnover recorded an increase of 8,5%, driven by online sales (+115%). Food (+7,9%), electronics (+5,4%) and pharmaceutical companies (+3,0%) also performed well.
On the contrary, it was the oil multinationals (-32,9%), the aircraft manufacturers (-26,8%), the fashion (-17,3%) and automotive groups that suffered the most from the crisis. (-12,1%).
INVESTMENTS AND EMPLOYMENT
Turnovers also affected investments, which fell by an average of 2% compared to 2019. Even on this issue, however, there is a large gap. Those who have seen their revenues rise have also increased their investments. This is the case of websofts (+32,3%), pharmaceutical companies (+10,1%), but also digital payments (+11,9%) and pharmaceutical companies (+10,1%). With reference to the latter, “many multinational pharma companies have concentrated their resources on the research and testing of vaccines and antivirals for Covid-19, also with public support, both economic and regulatory. In their financial statements, however, the companies do not clearly provide details of the specific investments aimed at researching the anti-Covid-19 vaccine; their R&D expenses overall increased by 4,8% in 12M 2020/19, representing 17,2% of total revenues for the period”, reads the report.
Investments by the Electronics (+6,7%), Food (+6,1%) and Telecommunications (+2,3%) groups also grew. "The Giants of the Web have confirmed their ability to adapt and flexibility even during this crisis, making full use of their digital skills and the potential of big data", comment the experts of the Piazzetta Cuccia Study Area.
On the other hand, significant declines were recorded by the fashion multinationals (-30,6%), by aircraft manufacturers (-26,4%) and by the Oil&Gas giants (-25,3%) "which reacted to the crisis by postponing their projects in order to be able to re-propose them in the future in a normalized scenario”, underlines Mediobanca.
In terms of employment, websofts are still the winners, recording a growth of the workforce equal to 29,6% (and in particular of Amazon, which recorded an increase in employees of 63%).
THE GEOGRAPHY
At a geographical level, the Chinese dominance continues. The Asian giant was the first to experience the effects of the crisis, but also the first to emerge from it, recording a growth in revenues of 2020% and employment of 11,2% at the end of 8. The USA are holding on, while the European multinationals suffered the most, experiencing a drop in turnover of -14,5% and employment of -0,9%. In this context, Italy does even worse (-29,0%) due to the absence of large operators in the new economy and high tech.
THE BAG
If the real economy has not yet embarked on the road to recovery, the stock market seems willing to put the crisis triggered by Covid behind it. After the sharp decline recorded in the first quarter of 2020, the total capitalization of the major multinationals as at 26 March 2021 is 15,4% higher than the prices at the end of 2019.
Running are not only websoft (+37,4%), but also electronics (+41,9%). Last November's announcement of the first anti-Covid vaccine also rewarded pro-cyclical sectors, especially the Automotive (+39%) although sector sales have not yet reversed course. Stock market performance for aircraft manufacturers (-25,6%), for the Oil&Gas giants (-13,9%) and for multinational beverages (-10,1%) dropped by double digits.
