The data presented in this study come from the information held in DUNTRADE® PROGRAM and are elaborated by CRIBIS D&B. In particular, payment assessment is based on the analysis of those companies for which a D&B Paydex value is available, where D&B Paydex is a statistical indicator that assesses the historical performance of payments to suppliers, and provides a reliable profile of a company in terms of whether or not it is a good payer.

1. Payment Study 2012:
main results
CRIBIS D&B Marketing Dept.

2. © 2012
Milan, 05/10/2012
Payment Study 2012
“Growing up in change:
payments, DSO, and business
performance”
① INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

3. © 2012
Payment Study
In the 8th edition of Payment Study were analyzed payments practices of
13 European countries:
• Italy,Germany, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherland,
Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Austria (NEW), Slovenia (NEW)
and Hungary (NEW)
and 6 extra-european countries:
• China (NEW), Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States, Mexico and
Canada.
The main sources of information used in this study were payment data
from the CRIBIS iTRADE Program and the D&B Paydex Score for
Italy, and from the D&B Worldwide Network DUNTRADE program
for other countries.
3

4. © 2012
Payment analysis
For the 19 countries were examined payment behaviour in relation to:
 Payment practices 2011 by six payment class:
• By due date
• Up to 30 days
• 30-60 days
• 60-90 days
• 90-120 days
• Over 120 days
 Trend of payment practices by payment class, 2007–2011
 Payment practices 2011 by company size
 Payment practices 2011 by product sector
 Ranking of the best and the worst micro-sectors records
4

5. © 2012
Payment Study
2012
② Payment practices in ITALY

6. Payment practices in Italy
© 2012
by payment class, 2007-2011
80.0%
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
60.0%
40.0%
 ………………………
20.0%
0.0%
By due date Up to 30 days 30-60 days 60-90 days 90-120 days Over 120 days
6

7. Trends in punctual payments and
© 2012
payments over 90 days late, 2007-2012
Prompt Payments Over 90 days
50.8% 49.6%
46.0% 45.7% 46.6%
43.7% 42.2% 43.0%
40.8% 41.9%
39.2%
37.5%
3.8%
3.3%
3.0%
2.3%
1.9%
1.1% 1.0%
0.8% 0.6% 0.6% 0.5% 0.8%
2007 2008 2009 I Q 2010 II Q III Q IV Q I Q 2011 II Q III Q IV Q I Q 2012
2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011
7

8. Payment practices in Italy
© 2012
by type of company, 2011
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Italy Micro Small Medium Large
By due date 45.7% 48.3% 38.8% 25.1% 13.1%
Up to 30 days 48.6% 45.4% 55.7% 70.2% 82.4%
30-60 days 3.6% 3.8% 3.5% 3.0% 3.3%
60-90 days 1.3% 1.5% 1.3% 1.0% 0.7%
90-120 days 0.5% 0.6% 0.5% 0.5% 0.4%
Over 120 days 0.3% 0.4% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1%
8

9. © 2012
Payment practices in Italy
by product sector, 2011
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Agriculture,
forestry, Transport, Finance
Mining Construction Manufacturing Wholesale Retail trade Other services
hunting and distribution services
fishing
By due date 54.7% 50.1% 41.3% 43.7% 44.5% 43.2% 45.9% 52.5% 52.3%
Up to 30 days 39.0% 44.5% 53.8% 51.3% 49.1% 50.6% 46.0% 42.1% 42.7%
30-60 days 3.6% 3.5% 3.3% 3.0% 3.9% 3.7% 5.0% 3.3% 3.0%
60-90 days 1.7% 1.5% 1.0% 1.2% 1.4% 1.5% 1.9% 1.2% 1.2%
90-120 days 0.7% 0.1% 0.4% 0.5% 0.7% 0.6% 0.8% 0.6% 0.5%
Over 120 days 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3%
9

10. © 2012
Variations in payment practices in Italy
by product sector, 2011 vs. 2007
Agriculture, forestry,
hunting and fishing
76
Other services 74 Mining
72
70
Finance services 68 Construction
66
Retail trade Manufacturing
Wholesale Transport, distribution
Avg D&B Paydex'07 Avg D&B Paydex '11
10

11. © 2012
Punctual payments in Italy
by geographical area, 2011
Italian average
45,7%
11

12. Payment practices 2011 in Italy
© 2012
Comments (1/3)
"Payment behavior in 2011 shows an improvement compared with 2010. Punctual
payments reached 45.7%, compared with a figure of 37.5% in 2010. This
improvement has not been enough to bring us close to levels seen before the
financial crisis in 2007, where companies paying on time exceeded 50%, and we
need to read between the lines to correctly understand the underlying trends,
which unfortunately are not always positive."
1) Institutionalized delays
"First of all, a part of this improvement is due to the fact that late payment is
"institutionalized", in that it has been incorporated into contractually defined
payment terms. A qualitative survey carried out by CRIBIS D&B in March 2012 of
more than 500 Italian credit managers showed that 90% of those interviewed had
received requests to increase payment terms, and 62% of those interviewed cited
these requests to increase payment terms as one of the biggest problems their
companies have had to face over the last year. This "institutionalization" of late
payments is serious if you consider that it will be difficult for suppliers to go back
to shorter terms once longer payment terms have been agreed to."
12

13. Payment practices 2011 in Italy
© 2012
Comments (2/3)
2) Heterogeneity of behavior
"The second aspect, on the other hand, regards the heterogeneity between the
types of behavior. For instance, rather different conditions are observed based on
company size. Micro companies (the most common in Italy) account for the
highest concentration in the punctual payment class, with 48.3% in this category.
The opposite is true for large companies (less common but with higher supply
volumes), which in only 13% of the cases analyzed respected contractual
arrangements with their suppliers in terms of agreed time limits. The situation is
similar on a sector-based level, where in the Agriculture and Financial Services
sectors, prompt payments were seen in over 52.5% of cases, meanwhile other
sectors, such as Large Retailers, where acquisition volumes are huge, companies
pay on time in less than 22% of cases."
13

14. Payment practices 2011 in Italy
© 2012
Comments (3/3)
3) Greater attention to Credit Management
"Finally, alongside these negative aspects there is surely also a positive element,
which is the greater attention paid by companies to the management of
payments, business credit, and more in general, working capital. In recent years,
companies have in fact invested much in procedures and tools which allow weak
signs of worsening in the reliability of a company to be quickly intercepted, as well
as to keep a close eye on the capacity of the client portfolio to generate revenues,
to intervene quickly with preventive actions and actions that limit risk, and above
all, to predict cash flow. The cost to companies may not be insignificant, but we
believe it will bring benefits, even once the financial crisis is over. To find
confirmation of this greater attention, it is worth considering that participants in
our Dun Trade system - the first information sharing solution in Italy on payment
behavior and the widest source of information on commercial payments - have
grown exponentially since the start of the financial crisis, more than doubling the
number of payment experiences within our system."
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15. © 2012
Payment Study
2012
Payment practices:
INTERNATIONAL COUNTRIES

16. Payment practices in Europe
© 2012
by payment class, 2011 (1/2)
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
The United
Europe Belgium France Germany Spain
Netherlands Kingdom
By due date 37.8% 41.6% 46.7% 33.4% 74.7% 26.3% 41.1%
Up to 30 days 53.2% 51.9% 49.9% 60.6% 23.7% 64.2% 41.9%
30-60 days 4.0% 3.5% 1.8% 3.1% 0.6% 5.2% 4.8%
60-90 days 2.0% 1.9% 0.9% 1.4% 0.3% 2.1% 2.8%
90-120 days 1.3% 0.9% 0.5% 0.7% 0.3% 1.2% 2.7%
Over 120 days 1.8% 0.3% 0.2% 0.8% 0.4% 1.0% 6.7%
16

17. Payment practices in Europe
© 2012
by payment class, 2011 (2/2)
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Portugal Poland Switzerland Austria Slovenia Hungary Italy
By due date 21.8% 34.5% 55.3% 33.3% 36.2% 40.8% 45.7%
Up to 30 days 57.6% 49.8% 43.0% 62.1% 53.7% 51.4% 48.6%
30-60 days 7.0% 2.9% 1.0% 2.6% 5.9% 3.6% 3.6%
60-90 days 4.4% 2.0% 0.4% 1.0% 2.0% 1.8% 1.3%
90-120 days 3.7% 2.2% 0.2% 0.5% 2.2% 1.7% 0.5%
Over 120 days 5.5% 8.6% 0.1% 0.5% 0.0% 0.7% 0.3%
17

18. © 2012
Punctual payments in Europe, 2011
European average
37,8%
18

19. © 2012
Comparison between on time payments and payments
over 90 days late for European countries, 2011
19

20. Variation in on time payments in Europe,
© 2012
2008-2011
100.0%
2008 2011
80.0%
74.7%
60.0%
54.4%
50.9% 49.6%
46.7% 47.0%
45.7%
40.0% 41.6% 41.1%
39.1%
40.0% 37.8%
35.1% 34.5%
33.4%33.4%
28.4%
26.3%
23.4% 21.8%
20.0%
0.0%
Europe Belgium The France Germany United Spain Portugal Poland Italy
Netherlands Kingdom
20

21. Variation of late payments of more than
© 2012
90 days in Europe, 2008-2011
12.0%
2008 2011
10.8%
10.0%
9.4% 9.2%
8.9%
8.0%
7.2%
6.4%
6.0%
6.0%
4.4% 4.4% 4.4%
4.0%
3.1%
3.0%
2.7%
2.5%
2.2%
2.0% 1.5%
1.2%
0.8%
0.7% 0.7%
0.0%
Europe Belgium The France Germany United Spain Portugal Poland Italy
Netherlands Kingdom
21

22. Payment practices by payment class
© 2012
Extra-european countries, 2011
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Taiwan Hong Kong Cina Mexico Stati Uniti Canada Europe Italy
By due date 69.3% 34.5% 33.1% 59.3% 51.0% 44.9% 37.8% 45.7%
Up to 30 days 27.1% 52.8% 50.3% 37.3% 37.1% 48.8% 53.2% 48.6%
30-60 days 1.8% 7.6% 5.8% 1.8% 3.0% 3.6% 4.0% 3.6%
60-90 days 0.8% 3.0% 2.9% 0.7% 2.3% 1.7% 2.0% 1.3%
90-120 days 0.4% 1.3% 2.5% 0.5% 2.1% 0.8% 1.3% 0.5%
Over 120 days 0.6% 0.8% 5.4% 0.4% 4.5% 0.2% 1.8% 0.3%
22

23. © 2012
CRIBIS D&B Community
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contact us
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