The second year of the pandemic leaves behind a rebound in the delinquency problem for more than 20% of companies, especially micro and small ones. This is pointed out by the Default Observatory about 2021 prepared by the employers Cepyme. Through a survey of 650 companies, the report also concludes that the situation has improved compared to a year ago for only 6% of SMEs; for the rest, it either stays the same (73%), or it gets worse (21%). According to Europa Press, the entity attributes this increase in defaults from other companies to the slowdown in recovery and the aftermath of the covid crisis.
When the debtor is the public administration, the picture changes slightly. In this case, only half of the companies consulted ensure that delinquency is at the same levels as at the end of 2020 or above (10%), although close to 45% indicate that they have not worked with the administration in the last anus. Thus, barely 4% of SMEs have detected that in the last year the administration has improved their payment rate on time.
In this sense, 2% of the companies that are victims of this situation fear having to close for this reason; 5% are convinced that they will end up being insolvent; 4% point to a reduction in its structure; for 10% it will mean more need for capital; and for 18%, an increase in financing costs. Likewise, this increase in delinquency will also affect them in the loss of clients (12%) or in the reduction or loss of margins (30%).
“The delay in the payment of invoices especially affects smaller companies, which have greater difficulties in accessing credit and suffer more from delinquency as they are suppliers, on many occasions, of other larger companies,” says Cepyme, which also points out that the total amount of debt between companies with delinquencies continues to increase “worryingly”.
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However, with these same data on the table, Cepyme states that the average payment period (PMP) of Spanish companies stood, in the last quarter of 2021, at 81.4 days, compared to 82.2 that were registered in the same period of 2020. In addition, the percentage of invoices issued with late payment was 69.7% of the total, and this percentage was almost one point higher than a year ago. “This evolution does not hide – the organization clarifies – that delinquency remains stable, at very high rates, and continues to be a serious problem for companies, which puts their liquidity at risk and compromises their viability, especially for smaller ones. “.
The construction Y real estate development, together with the industry textile, remain the activities with the longest payment delays, reaching 97.7 and 89.5 days of average payment periods, respectively. On the contrary, the sectors of food distribution Y chemical are consolidated as the activities with the least delays in their payments, with 68.3 and 77.4 days, respectively. By communities, Murcia it presents the longest average payment period, with a total of 93.3 days; Aragon, The Rioja Y Castile and Leon they are the ones that register a greater increase, between 3 and 1.7 days of difference; Y Aragon (67.7 days), Cantabria (71.9 days) and Catalonia (73.3 days) present the lowest average payment periods, although in all cases above the threshold established by law (60 days).