Competitiveness, Attractiveness appeal for Italian companies
Technology, media and tourism.
The compass of the attractiveness of Italian companies is focused on these three sectors. This is revealed by the classifiers K Finance, partner equity markets of Borsa Italiana, based on the (unconsolidated) financial statements of over 49 thousand companies divided into 17 sectors with the still image at 2016. The first result is a summary index, where the lower value is the appeal is higher. second, it has all the good news: after the crisis and the “new normal” Italian companies have become more dynamic, thanks to a more favorable mix of the situation, cultural change and incentives.
Among all, the technology is highlighted. “With respect to other countries,” emphasizes K Finance CEO Filippo Guicciardi, “the Italian entrepreneurial fabric is discovering the potential of this sector, where national champions are emerging. Private equity and venture capital are also looking with interest at this sector “. In the media they mainly attracted television and digital components: the considerable overall growth in revenues (+ 7.4%) allowed the sector to win the second position. The tourism and leisure businesses rank in third place thanks to a 3.8% increase in revenues combined with a good level of profitability and attention to financial management. The black shirt instead goes to the food sector.
«The stability – Guicciardi points out – is a value in a period of crisis but penalizes the results in moments of recovery. It also weighed the limited size of some companies, with exceptions, which does not allow us to grasp all the opportunities offered by an increasingly global market ». By narrowing the focus the automotive leads the turnover rankings with a growth of 9.3 percent. Utilities instead stand out for profitability (but are penalized by a drop in revenues) and technology for financial management.
“The ranking – explains Marta Testi, head of Elite Growth Italy and Europe – highlights the treasure of the Italian economy that exerts appeal to investors and industrial partners. These are realities on which the choices of industrial policy should be increasingly oriented to favor a further development in the wake of initiatives such as the Pir (Individual Savings Plans) and the incentives for the advisory services introduced in the 2018 maneuver that will contribute to fostering greater growth of SMEs ».
On an aggregate level, the sample considered shows strong growth in revenues (+ 3.1%), accompanied by an increase in the number of employees of 360 thousand units (+ 4.8%), a slight increase in profitability (0.1%) and a falling indebtedness. «Now Italian companies – explains Guicciardi – no longer play in defense. Over the years all the slogans associated with our SMEs are losing meaning: small is no longer beautiful, family businesses are no longer reluctant to open their capital, are active in M & A, even abroad, have become less bank -centrics and internationalization is now part of their business
In other words, echoes Testi “are more dynamic, as evidenced by the choices of the companies of the Elite platform of the Italian Stock Exchange: 35% of them were involved in extraordinary finance transactions with a value of transactions of 3.5 billion . In addition, 163 M & A and joint venture transactions were finalized by 91 companies and 60 by private equity or venture capital. Without forgetting the 27 bond issues for a total collection of 805 million and 9 Ipo ».
What will be the most attractive sector of 2018? Guicciardi and Testi have no doubts: «Certainly the industrial sector in the complex, with the mechanics on the front line: after the good results already highlighted by the 2016 financial statements, it will receive a further impu from Industry 4.0».
Source Il Sole 24 Hours
Chiara Bussi
11 December 2017
