This is how companies see the development of their financial results

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 10. 06. 12:51

The domestic SME sector is planning slightly higher sales and profit growth compared to the beginning of the year, but expectations are still far below inflation: an average increase of 8.6 percent in revenue and 4.4 percent in real profit is likely over the next year. The latest results of the K&H SME confidence index also show that the not very encouraging financial expectations are holding back the investment intention. Currently, 6 out of 10 companies are planning development in the next year, which mainly means IT investments.

Companies do not dare to dream of large-scale sales and profit growth: this is shown by the latest results for the second quarter of 2023 of the K&H SME confidence index, which indicates the expectations of Hungarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for the next year. “The domestic companies expect an 8.6 percent increase in sales revenue and a 4.4 percent increase in profit. The rate of expected revenue growth has hardly changed over the past year, and in terms of profit, there has also been a small correction compared to the 3.3 percent in the previous quarter,” said Zoltán Rammacher, head of marketing and sales at K&H SME.

“After the peak in January, the rate of inflation is continuously decreasing. Most recently, consumer prices rose by 16.4 percent year-on-year in August, which means a 1.2 percentage point slowdown compared to the previous month, so we can hardly expect single-digit inflation in the coming months. In light of this, the companies’ financial expectations cannot be said to be too strong”