Coface: the region’s mammoth companies achieved growth in difficult times

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 11. 19. 12:54

The countries of the Central and Eastern European region performed poorly last year: the region’s aggregate GDP grew by just 0.7 percent year-on-year, the weakest figure of the current century. The unfavorable economic climate also left its mark on the performance of the region’s five hundred largest companies; although the total turnover of the affected mammoth companies increased by 2.5 percent to 1,100 billion euros, only half of the companies were able to achieve revenue growth. In addition, their aggregate profit fell by more than 17 percent compared to the previous year, according to the CEE Top 500 analysis published annually by credit insurer Coface. The largest company in the region is the Polish Orlen, followed by the Czech Skoda, and the Hungarian Mol took third place. On the regional list, MVM came in sixth, and Audi Hungaria came in eleventh.

Last year was a stormy year for the five hundred largest companies in the Central and Eastern European region. This is mainly because the region’s economy grew by just 0.7 percent annually, the weakest growth rate of the century. After years of sustained momentum, businesses in the region faced significant challenges due to falling domestic and foreign demand, high inflation, rising costs and geopolitical tensions. This trend continued this year, although domestic demand increased slightly and inflation eased to a lower level, said credit insurer Coface, which has published its CEE Top 500 publication for the sixteenth time this year, which ranks the region’s five hundred largest companies based on their turnover. The study also provides a detailed look at the different sectors, the development of the business environment and risks. The CEE Top 500 publication is therefore an important indicator of regional market trends.

Turnover growth with profit decline

“The Central and Eastern European region faced unprecedented economic challenges in 2023: the combination of high inflation and weakening consumer demand held back even the largest companies,”

said Jarosław Jaworski, CEO of Coface Central and Eastern Europe. He added:

“Despite these obstacles, many companies managed to maintain their turnover, proving their resilience in a difficult environment.”

The total turnover of the half-a-thousand large companies examined in the Coface analysis amounted to 1.1 trillion euros last year, which corresponds to an increase of 2.5 percent compared to the previous year. However, the unfavorable economic climate is characterized by the fact that only about half of the companies were able to record turnover growth, and it is also questionable to what extent this expansion was due to real, i.e. volume growth, and/or price effects. Moreover, their profits decreased by 17.4 percent to 44.91 billion euros compared to the previous year. Probably not independently of this, the number of employees overall almost stagnated, as the number of people employed by mammoth companies increased by only 1 percent to 2.4 million people.
Visszajelzés küldése
Oldalsó panelek
Előzmények
Mentve

Tags: Coface