Managing Director
Intrum Justitia gives advice to self help with liquidity problems by Darmstadt – late payments may, 2012. Intrum Justitia, Europe’s leading provider of credit management services, again started their annual survey of 7,800 companies in 28 European countries. The results were now published in this year’s European payment index (EPI 2012) 2012. The EPI 2012 proves that the participating companies strongly suffer from liquidity problems. Intrum Justitia to show, that the economic situation of the companies in the European countries both in terms of liquidity problems as well as debt write-off is very different. While they are in Germany and the countries in Northern Europe to a good financial level, they have big problems in southern and Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, the ongoing economic and financial crisis in this country takes its toll: about 10 per cent more companies in Germany give – in contrast to the survey of the past Year – indicating that the recession has led to problems with liquidity. Bernard Green, Managing Director of Intrum Justitia in Germany, is of the opinion that the differences within Europe, which is apparent in the EPI of the past year, were reaffirmed by the this year’s survey.
He also indicates that alarmingly many companies in countries such as Greece, Portugal and Spain due to late payments of cash-flow problems have. The debt write-downs continue to increase in several countries. In Greece, Bulgaria and Romania revenue is depreciated per 20 euros more than a euro as losses”, green commented on the results of the current survey. The latest study by Intrum Justitia shows that 43 percent of companies in Germany with liquidity problems as a result of late payments have to contend. This value is however still far outbid by the survey results from Greece (well over 90 percent), Portugal (over 80 percent) and Spain (approx. 80 Percent). Therefore the European company debt depreciation reached the new record level of 340 billion euros according to the study by Intrum Justitia, 47% of European companies indicated less confidence than before, that the banks would support them, while only 5 percent of the companies reported to have to have more confidence.
