Italian wine, less revenue and more debt. But investments are holding up

If it is not a crisis, it is very close. Revenues are falling in real terms, i.e. adjusted for inflation, debt is growing while investments are holding up.
This is the picture of the Italian wine sector that emerges from the survey "Bilanci 2023, governare l'incertezza" ("Budgets 2023, governing uncertainty") conducted for Corriere Vinicolo, house organ of the Italian Wine Union, by Luca Castagnetti, partner of Studio Impresa.
The survey involved around 800 Italian wine companies that are highly representative of the sector given that they realise a turnover of 13.5 billion euros.

"A healthy sector," reads the survey, "capable of producing value also in 2023 but which is suffering heavy setbacks determined by exogenous factors and market changes.
According to the weekly magazine of the Italian Wine Union, the decrease in revenues and the growth in debt are in fact among the main trends to be monitored also in the near future in order to reverse the traits - that can be glimpsed - of a possible structural crisis.

Among the fundamentals surveyed by Luca Castagnetti, those of revenues stand out, which in 2023 grew by 1.5% on 2022 but which, deflated, recorded a drop of 3.8%; profitability appears to be in partial recovery but with an EBIT at -6.3% on 2019; good growth was recorded on tangible fixed assets, as well as added value, which recovered compared to last year. The net financial position, after a positive series, has instead worsened in the last two years: 24.7% last year and 28.05% in 2022.

Also weighing on the accounts of Italian wine cellars," they add to the Corriere Vinicolo, "are the financial charges, which, with the soaring interest rates, have undeniably contributed to greying the picture for the sector. The balance sheet dossier reported by the newspaper of the Italian Wine Union is completed by an analysis by size bracket, the 5-year performance of cooperation, the results region by region and a comparison between the agricultural world and industrial enterprises.

"In this regard," they comment at the UIV, "the need to work on international promotion in order to broaden demand becomes decisive, with the CMO programmes becoming more essential than ever for the development of companies in key foreign markets.