Clairfield International in Italy, in collaboration with the Italian stock exchange, recently published its annual report on the state of Italian business and unearthed some surprises regarding geographical activity. Rome, Cuneo, and Naples showed the greatest increase in activity. Milan is second in absolute value, while Trieste is emerging as a player in the small category.

Clairfield studied the 2017 financial statements of more than 53,000 corporations with revenues over EUR 5 million.

“What was especially noticeable was the improvement in performance of large public companies,” says Filippo Guicciardi, CEO of Clairfield Italy. “2017 was a very good year for Italian industry thanks to a mix of incentives and economic recovery. The signs of an economic slowdown in the latter part of 2018, together with the partial cancellation of incentives and the end of the ECB’s Quantitative Easing, do not, however, bode well for the same positive results in 2018/2019. For this reason, more than ever, companies must focus on growth and acquisitions to be stronger in the market and face the possibility of new turbulence with less anxiety.”

The report was published in Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian).