LAWN – In the province of Prato The climate of confidence among tertiary companies declines with respect to the performance of their economic activity and revenues also decline, while the ability to react to financial needs remains stable. The study involves an audience of 13,902 companies active as of 31 December 2023, of which there were 616 new registrations and 1085 cancellations.
These are some of the main data processed by Format Research for Confcommercio, about the state of health of the Tertiary sector in the second half of 2023, in comparison with the first 6 months of last year. The report also contains a forecast regarding the performance in the first half of 2024.
To carry it out, a large sample of associated companies belonging to the trade, tourism and services sectors were interviewed.
The first question, the one relating to entrepreneurs’ confidence in the performance of their economic activityrecorded a slight decline in the second half of 2023 compared to the previous period, while the data signals a slight growth for the following one.
In the period examined, the revenuesdeclared to be decreasing by 31.4% of those interviewed, but here too the future forecast is that of a tepid recovery capacity.
Furthermore, on the way down overall employment in tertiary companies compared to the first six months of 2023: a negative dynamic declared by 14.8% of the sample, but the forecast for the first six months of the current year promises limited new growth.
The data on the prices charged by suppliers to businesses: they are clearly increasing in the period considered and will continue to rise further, albeit with smaller volumes.
Finally, the ability of companies to cope with their own situation was substantially negative, but stable in all three periods taken into consideration. financial need.
“Evidence – comments the President of Confcommercio Pistoia and Prato, Gianluca Spampani – which are certainly the result of a period of suffering that concerns the entire international horizon, due to the increase in energy costs, raw materials, interest rates, and the inflationary trend. It is a situation that also requires greater support from local administrative levels. Net of all this, it is equally clear that the territory needs a new push in terms of competitiveness to support activities, those of the tertiary sector, which are crucial for the stability of the entire territorial economic fabric. To do this, the recipe remains the one we have been trying to carry out for some time: collective work, strategic vision, managerial management skills”.
