European companies wrote off a record €350 billion in bad debt last year, more than the annual GDP of Austria, Denmark or Finland.
“It is the highest level of bad debt losses so far, and the forecast is bleak. Three per cent of all receivables; think of the net profit margin of companies in Europe and that is a big part of it”, said Lars Wollung, CEO of Intrum Justitia, Swedish credit management company.
He now splits the continent’s companies into three groups – the virtuous in the Nordic region, those suffering in the south of Europe, and a new group caught somewhere in the middle consisting of the likes of France, the Netherlands and Belgium. “What is interesting is the polarisation of Europe, and we see how that polarisation has been magnified”, he added.
The countries with the highest payment risk last year were Greece, Croatia, Portugal and Bulgaria, while those with the lowest were Finland, Sweden and Norway.
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