Business demography in the provinces of Treviso and Belluno as of 09/30/2023

Source: press office Presidency of the Chamber of Commerce of Treviso Belluno|Dolomiti

President Mario Pozza’s comment

The Treviso-Belluno figure on business demographics for the third quarter of 2023 is strongly affected by a major administrative proceeding of ex officio cancellations that has kept the offices of our Business Registry busy for several months – warns the President of the Treviso-Belluno Chamber of Commerce, Mario Pozza – The proceeding concerned numerous sole proprietorships, for failure to carry out management acts in the last three years, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 247/2004: more than 1,600 sole proprietorships were cancelled in the province of Treviso, and more than 170 were cancelled in that of Belluno.

In both provinces, these cancelled sole proprietorships belonged mainly to the construction and retail sectors – the president explains – moreover, more than half referred to foreign entrepreneurs.

Inevitably – Pozza continues – these office cancellations create a significant discontinuity in the business stocks: in Treviso the stock stands at 78,099 active business locations, in Belluno the active locations are 13,542: numbers that we CANNOT compare with previous quarters.

One can, however, attempt a partial demographic balance sheet  – explains the President – since the process of ex officio cancellation only concerned sole proprietorships, we can limit ourselves to considering the dynamics of the active in the other legal forms (partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, etc.). With this shrewdness, net of the statistical disturbance generated by the cancellations, we are able to show a slight decline in the numbers on a yearly basis (September 2023 compared to September 2022): by -68 active establishments for Treviso and by -44 active establishments for Belluno.

In the province of Treviso, the largest year-on-year declines (again net of office cancellations) are in wholesale trade (-109 sites), food and beverage activities (-46), retail trade (-45), ICT services (-34), wood furniture (-33), and engineering (-30). Offsetting on the positive side are professional activities (+75), financial and insurance activities (+74), agriculture (+66), and construction (+53).

In the province of Belluno, the drop of -44 business sites is spread more evenly among manufacturing (especially engineering), trade (both wholesale and retail), accommodation and catering, and professional activities. Positive counter-trends include agriculture, construction and financial and insurance activities.

The number of dependent local units continues to grow due to the now well-known processes of multi-localization or business acquisitions/incorporations: in Treviso, from September 2022 to September 2023, local units increased from 18,872 to 19,172 (+300), in Belluno they increased from 4,544 to 4,633 (+89).

It is a phenomenon – Pozza comments – that we have been seeing for quite some time and that needs to be explored within the framework of broader reasoning on the reasons for the attractiveness of our territory (which actually attracts investment) and at the same time on the defense and enhancement of our distinctiveness.

Business demographics in the provinces of Treviso and Belluno: main evidence

According to data released by Infocamere, there were 78,099 active business establishments in the province of Treviso as of September 30, 2023 (-1,701 units compared to June 2023 and -1,728 units compared to September 2022).

In the province of Belluno there were 13,542 active business locations (-188 units compared to last quarter and -276 units compared to last year).

The result is affected by the substantial number of ex officio cancellations of sole proprietorships made by the Chamber of Commerce Business Register in the third quarter of this year (over 1,600 for the province of Treviso and over 170 for the province of Belluno).

This “cleaning” operation inevitably affects the size and dynamics of active businesses in the two provinces and adds to the “normal” trend of provincial business demographics.

Looking at the office cancellations in the third quarter of 2023, more than half involved, for the province of Treviso, construction (34.3%), retail (20.3%) and manufacturing (13.3%, fashion system and engineering in particular). Of these cancellations, 57.1% involved firms led predominantly or exclusively by foreign nationals.

For the province of Belluno, about half of the office cancellations related to sole proprietorships in the construction (25.4%) and retail trade (24.3%) sectors. 46.3% of the Belluno area’s terminations involved firms that were (predominantly or exclusively) foreign-owned.

Since the ex officio cancellation procedure concerned only sole proprietorships, a partial demographic balance can be proposed, limiting ourselves to considering the dynamics of assets in other legal forms (partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, etc.). With this shrewdness, net of the statistical disturbance generated by the above-mentioned cancellations, we are able to show a slight decline in the numbers on a yearly basis (September 2023 compared to September 2022): by -68 active offices for Treviso and by -44 active offices for Belluno.

In the province of Treviso, the most significant year-on-year declines (again net of office cancellations, considering the trend of active in legal forms other than sole proprietorships) concern wholesale trade (-109 locations), restaurant activities (-46), retail trade (-45), ICT services (-34), wood furniture (-33), and engineering (-30). Offsetting on the positive side are professional activities (+75), financial and insurance activities (+74), agriculture (+66), and construction (+53).

In the province of Belluno, the (net) decline of -44 business locations is spread more evenly among manufacturing (especially engineering), trade (both wholesale and retail), accommodation and catering, and professional activities. Positive counter-trends include agriculture, construction, and financial and insurance activities.

Employee units (branches), on the other hand, continue to grow both in the province of Treviso (+300 units year-on-year) and in the province of Belluno (+89). At the end of September, there were 19,172 active local units in the province of Treviso and 4,633 active branches in the province of Belluno.

The stock of active artisan enterprises is also affected by office cancellations, considering that 36.6% of sole proprietorships in Treviso and 41.9% of those in Belluno have artisan enterprise status. Therefore, even the new stock of artisan firms (22,097 for the province of Treviso, 4,562 firms for the province of Belluno) cannot find terms of comparison with previous quarters. Performing the same unbundling operation done on total firms for the artisans as well, we can show that in the while the stock of artisans’ sole proprietorships flexes by -614 in Treviso and by -79 in Belluno, the stock of active artisans’ establishments with other legal forms falls by -31 units in Treviso and by -17 units in Belluno. The bulk of the decline, net of sole proprietorships, is concentrated in manufacturing activities: there are -46 firms in Treviso and -19 in Belluno, with the metalworking sector in particular falling. Bucking the positive trend for Treviso are artisan firms active in construction, which grew by +21 net of sole proprietorships.

See the data attached (…)