While resilient of facing crises of recent years, Italian companies continue to show signs of suffering, in a context characterized by uncertainty and economic slowdown. Among these “lights” there are missed payments, which started to rise slightly again (+0.2%) in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023, both for SMEs and for large companies (but not for micro ). However, the trend is not uniform in the various sectors: if in industry non-payments grew both in 2023 (+0.6%) and in 2024 (+0.2%, going from 7.9% in 2022 to 8.7% currently), in construction, the sector with the highest level of unpaid invoices (12.6%), are down by 1.4%. They remain stable in services. From a geographical point of view, in 13 regions out of 20 a decrease was observed, while they grow in Sicily (+1.4%), Valle d’Aosta (+0.7%), Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+0.4%), Umbria (+0.3%), Lazio (+0.1%).
Non-payments for businesses start to rise again
These are some of the findings that emerged from study dthe Cerveds on the payment habits of Italian businesses, relating to second quarter 2024.
“Payment data is an important indicator for understanding the health of our business system – commentto Carlo Purassanta, Executive President of Cerved -. The data shows a slight increase in missed payments for SMEs and large businesses and a decrease for micro ones. Furthermore, there are notable differences between the different production sectors: the steel industry marks the largest increase (+3.2%), followed by information and entertainment (+2.9%), energy and utilities (+1.6%) . Decreases were recorded in large-scale consumption (-3.0%), in agriculture (-2.3%) and in chemical-pharmaceuticals (-1.9%). All this highlights a heterogeneous situation in the Italian economic system which requires a timely and in-depth analysis of the data”.
Cerved Observatory takes photographs
At a geographical levelcompared to the second quarter of 2023, missed payments grow in Sicily (+1.4%), Valle d’Aosta (+0.7%), Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+0.4%), Umbria (+0 .3%) and Lazio (+0.1%), while in the other regions they are decreasing. In absolute figures, it is in the South that historically, and still today, the highest levels of unpaid invoices are recorded: 18.5% Sicily, 14.1% Calabria, 13.2% Lazio, 13% Puglia, 12, 9% Sardinia, 12.5% Campania.
Another data kept under observation concerns payment times: based on the registered invoices, Cerved collects information on the days agreed between the customer and the supplier and on any delays in the payment. The study finds a general reduction in actual payment times for SMEs (by approximately 2.5 days) and for large companies (by approximately 1.5 days). This is due to a shortening of both contractual terms and delays. In any case, the general phenomenon remains whereby large companies, thanks to greater bargaining power, can count on an average of 64 days to make their payments, against 54 of the small ones and 42 of the very small ones.
The main evidence
THEand micro-enterprises, for their part, they seem to have achieved an improvement in contractual conditions, now having on average two more days available compared to two years ago. Their average delay is stationary (around 10 days), but higher than that of SMEs and, marginally, of large ones. The average figure, however, hides an extreme variety: in the group of micro-enterprises there are in fact relatively numerous both those that pay with a serious delay (4.8% of the total, a higher percentage than that observed in the other size classes), and those that are punctual ( 56%, much more than in SMEs and large companies).
At a geographical level, almost 7% of companies in the South pays seriously late compared to the agreed terms (over 60 days) against a national average of 4.7%. In the Center the percentage is 4.5%, in the North West 3.5% and in the North East 3.1%.
