PAYMENTS: COMPANIES CONTINUE TO SHOW POSITIVE SIGNS
Monday, October 10, 2016The punctuality of payments by Italian companies is improving. Another piece of good news is that serious delays are falling, albeit slightly, one of the main indicators of the state of health of a business. At the moment the percentage of serious delays is 12.6%, down on the same period in 2015 when the level was 13.1%. On the other hand, 35.4% of companies pay on time and 51.5% up to one month late (data updated to the end of September 2016).
A payment situation which, after years of uncertainty seems to have found a positive balance. Certainly compared to 2010 the scenario is still worrying: late payments of more than a month are up 129.1%, whereas payments made on time have decreased by 4.3%.
Once again, at the end of September 2016, companies in the north east are confirmed as the most punctual in Italy in terms of payments, and in fact have improved their performance over the last quarter. 44.4% pay on time, while severe late payments are only 7.4%.
The reverse situation can be seen in the south and islands, where only 22.7% pay on time and 21.4% struggle to pay their debts to suppliers. The situation is also good in the north west (41.7% of payments on time, 8.4% over one month late), and the situation is somewhere in between in central Italy (31.5% of companies pay on time, 15.1% are bad payers).
In terms of sectors, the crisis continues for the retail trade sector. Only 26.2% of companies operating in this sector pay on time, and 20.1% struggle to settle their debts. The opposite is true for financial services, with 46.3% paying on time compared to severe late payments of 9.5%.
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