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The country’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are going through difficult times: SMEs are mostly reporting falling order backlogs. Yields are also under pressure. Almost half complained about a drop in earnings, in retail it is even more than half. “The hope of a recovery in the earnings situation after the corona crisis has evaporated,” says the climate barometer of creditor protection agency Creditreform, which was published yesterday. 1,400 companies were surveyed for this. In the winter months of 2022/23, the increase in energy prices slowed down SMEs, and there were increases in earnings, if at all, in the service sector.
Increases are not to be expected in the coming months either. Traders are the most pessimistic. “Against the background that the earnings situation was already very tense, this development is a warning sign,” says Creditreform Managing Director Gerhard Weinhofer. Only twice in the past ten years have companies been more pessimistic in the spring assessment.
At the same time, sales “rather declined”. There is also a decline in equity: for almost a fifth it is less than ten percent. There is good news for the employees: so far, more companies have been shedding rather than hiring staff, but in the coming months more workers are to be hired again or at least retained.
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