Market Monitor - ICT industry - Italy

市场监测

  • 意大利
  • 电子/计算机技术

2016年06月16日

The IT spending capacity of SMEs in Italy remains subdued. This may be a consequence of still restricted access to bank loans for smaller businesses.

  • The modest rebound is expected to continue
  • SME investments into IT still low
  • Payments take between 60 and 90 days on average

The ICT sector accounts for 1.6% of the Italian economy, with approximately 75,000 companies and 460,000 employees. In 2013 and 2014, ICT sales contracted as the Italian economy was in recession and public as well as private spending decreased. In line with the modest GDP rebound in 2015 (up 0.8%), the Italian ICT market grew 1.0% to EUR 64.9 billion in 2015, according to the industry association Assinform. All subsectors contributed positively, with the exception of the telecommunications network services, which decreased 2.4% due to a decline in prices. Voice data centres and cloud computing (up 28.7% to EUR 1.2 billion) and the Internet of Things (up 13.9% to EUR 1.8 billion) recorded the highest growth rates. In 2016, ICT sales are expected to increase further, by 1.5%.

In the business-to-business segment, it is mainly larger companies that are investing in IT, accounting for more than 60% of the total domestic IT expenses. That said, the IT spending capacity of SMEs remains subdued, a consequence of still restricted access to bank loans for smaller businesses and lack of resources. This also seriously limits SME investments into cloud computing. The consumer segment could be positively influenced by the diffusion of new appealing ICT devices and the growing importance of e-commerce business, which is still at an early stage in Italy compared to other European countries.

Some of the main domestic IT distributors have started to introduce their own brand products (tablets/smartphones) in the market in order to increase margins and counter the fierce competition in the ICT retail and distribution segments. However, in most ICT segments margins have improved over the last 12 months. Payments in the ICT sector generally take 60-90 days, payment experience has been good so far and the level of notified non-payments is low. ICT insolvencies decreased over the last six months, and are expected to level off in the coming months. Overall, the amount of business failures is rather low compared to other Italian industries.

Our underwriting approach remains generally open for ICT, especially for providers of value added IT services with growing market opportunities (network infrastructures, cloud computing) and large wholesalers of IT equipment and software. However, smaller players have to be monitored more closely, as they are more exposed to financial distress related to working capital requirements, especially when depending on large clients and the public sector. Mainly smaller ICT equipment retailers will remain under pressure due to price competition (especially with e-commerce) and slim margins.

免责声明

Each publication available on or from our websites, such as, but not limited to webpages, reports, articles, publications, tips and helpful content, trading briefs, infographics, videos (each a “Publication”) is provided for information purposes only and is not intended as a recommendation or advice as to particular transactions, investments or strategies in any way to any reader. Readers must make their own independent decisions, commercial or otherwise, regarding the information provided. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in any Publication has been obtained from reliable sources, Atradius is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in any Publication is provided ’as is’, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from its use, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In no event will Atradius, its related partnerships or corporations, or the partners, agents or employees thereof, be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in any Publication, or for any loss of opportunity, loss of profit, loss of production, loss of business or indirect losses, special or similar damages of any kind, even if advised of the possibility of such losses or damages.