SMEs: in Italy 5,000 new enterprises in 2016

Milan - In 2016, the number of SMEs in Italy increased to a significant degree, thanks especially to the growth recorded by micro-enterprises. This was highlighted in the latest edition of the Cerved Report. A first trend reversal took place in 2015, whereas, in 2016, a further increase was observed: there are now more than 5,000 new enterprises. This increase has brought the number of small and medium-sized enterprises to a total of 145,000.By analyzing economic and financial indicators, in addition to greater revenues, value added and improved gross margins, it is evident that SMEs have considerably increased their investments, which, compared to tangible fixed assets, grew from 6.2% in 2015 to 7.8% in 2016. As stated in the Report, this figure is a clear indication of the soundness of this growth, also considering the fact that this tendency is widespread among enterprises of all sizes and in all sectors, including those that in the past had shown fluctuating trends, such as the building sector."The number of SMEs has started to grow again and profitability is approaching pre-crisis levels, with an upswing that has very solid financial and profit bases. However, we need to increase the productivity of our enterprises and accelerate the growth rate, which still lags far behind that of the other leading European countries," Marco Nespolo, Managing Director of Cerved commented. "To this end, it will be crucial to exploit the potential of the Industry 4.0: the technological transformation of production processes implies the possibility of automating many tasks while providing new opportunities for creating high value-added jobs." The Italian economy has been severely affected by this long period of recession and stagnation, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, which, from 2007 to 2014, decreased from 150,000 to 136,000 (-10% of the production system). A trend reversal took place in 2015, which was confirmed and strengthened in 2016. Moreover, there is also a growing tendency among SMEs to invest. In fact, Cerved estimates that new potential investments could amount to 100 billion Euros. According to an analysis of economic-financial indicators, small and medium-sized enterprises have successfully strengthened the current trend, achieving better results also compared to large-sized enterprises. SMEs have recorded a growth in turnover (+2.3%), added value (+4.1) and gross margins (+4.1%). The most significant data is related to the tendency to invest: during 2016, SMEs showed a strong acceleration in investments, which reached 7.8% with regard to tangible fixed assets, with positive trends in all enterprise sizes and in all sectors, including those that in the past had shown fluctuating trends, such as the building sector.