PwC, ASE present survey on funding of SMEs

Gazzetta team
PwC, ASE present survey on funding of SMEs
Restructuring of excessive borrowing facing a big part of Greek enterprises is one of the basic targets of a new strategy plan, Economy, Development and Tourism Minister George Stathakis said on Friday.

Addressing an event on funding of small- and medium-sized enterprises, organised by PwC in cooperation with the Athens Stock Exchange, Stathakis stressed that the ministry's aim was to mobilize both equity capital and funding tools, the need to facilitate borrowing and increasing funding possibilities. Finally, another goal was to boost research and innovation among SMEs.

During the event, PwC and the Athens Stock Exchange presented a survey titled "Funding of SMEs -Need for a new Architecture". The survey coincided and harmonized with a recent plan presented by the European Union over a Capital Market Union and focuses on "unlocking" funding possibilities and to boost growth with the creation of a really single capital market.

Socrates Lazaridis, chief executive of the Athens Stock Exchange Group, addressing the event said that "given the fact that all surveys converged that funding needs were around 13 billion euros by 2020, the fastest and more efficient way to fund Greek enterprises was to create a Listed Funds sector able to to take advantage of global liquidity. Additionally, the success of a bank recapitalization plan, currently underway, will bring a relation between the Greek economy and the investment community back to to fore, offering another opportunity to exploit the capital market as a funding source for SMEs".

The survey showed that around 650,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises employed around 86 pct the country's workforce, producing 50 pct of GDP. During the crisis, revenue, profits and capital of Greek SMEs suffered a big decline while funding weakened. Estimated funding needs of SMEs totaled 13 billion euros by 2020, of which around 7.0 billion euros were equity capital and subsidies. Another 7.0 billion should be raised from banks to support SMEs currently under financial pressure.

The survey recommended a new architecture for the funding system of SMEs based on three pylons: creating a Greek-listed Business Capital Fund, creating a solvency registry for enterprises and promoting a general coordinator of European programmes for the coordination, management and promoting of so-called "soft" funding.