Source: press office of Unioncamere Veneto – Eurosportello Veneto

RETAIL TRADE - According to the VenetoCongiuntura survey, retail sales in the Veneto region grew by 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. The survey was conducted on a sample of 368 enterprises with 3 employees or more.

From a year-over-year perspective, sales trends were mainly influenced by food products, growing by 8.3%. Supermarkets, superstores and department stores (+1.9%) and non-food items (+0.4%) experienced more limited growth. Both smaller shops (+3.4%) and medium-sized and big ones (+1.9%) registered positive trends.

Selling prices grew (+1.4%) especially for food products (+5.6%), while non-food items remained stable with a 0.2% increase, and small retail centers showed the most significant growth (+2.3%).

Orders improved (+2.2%) on an annual basis, mainly thanks to food products retail trade (+8.3%).

Employment turned positive: wage-earners increased by 2.7% compared to the same quarter in 2009, especially in supermarkets, superstores and department stores (+3.5%) and in food products retail trade (+3%), while non-food sector retail trade remained stable.

Forecasts
Entrepreneurs' confidence worsened: the balance between those who are expecting a growth and those forecasting a decrease in their turnover is -11.3%, compared to -3.2% in the previous quarter. Estimated orders decrease (-13.6% compared to -11.1% in the previous analysis) as well as estimated employment rates (-9.7% compared to the previous -8.5%). Selling prices are expected to grow as well (+22.1%).

SERVICES - According to the VenetoCongiuntura survey, services in the Veneto region register positive variation in the fourth quarter of 2010 both year-over-year and compared to the previous period. The survey was conducted on a sample of 735 enterprises with 3 employees or more.

Positive trends in the service industry are mainly due to tourism (+2,5%) and innovative and technological services (+1,8%).
On the other hand, transport, warehousing and logistics decreased (-0.6%).

Sales prices grew by 1.6% in the innovative and technological services, by 0.5% in the tourism sector. Transport remained stable. Employment performed well in the tourism sector (+1.1%), it held firm in the transport sector but slightly decreased in the innovative and technological services (-0.3%)

Forecasts
Entrepreneurs' expectations are still negative, though less pessimistic, for the next six months: the most concerned sectors are tourism (it is -17.9% at present, still better than the -19.5% in the third quarter) and transport (-13.8%, much worst than +4.4% in the previous quarter). As for employment, expectations are low: innovative services -2.3% (it was -4.9% in the third quarter), tourism -5.6% (-15.1% in the third quarter), transport -11.9% (-4.8% in the third quarter).


Gian Angelo Bellati, director of Unioncamere Veneto:

«After an adjustment period, consumption in the internal market recovered in all businesses, from small to big ones. Constantly growing technological services confirmed that companies in the Veneto region are highly innovative: they make investments to avoid losing competitiveness.

The positive side is represented by widespread growth of employment and a 2.5% growth in the tourism sector.

Expectations by entrepreneurs in the services sector, though better than in previous quarters (except in the transport sector), are not yet positive: nevertheless, slight improvements in expectations suggest that companies' confidence might rise over the next months. Employment trends and moderately encouraging forecasts show that many companies managed to bounce back». 


INFORMATION PURSUANT TO ART. 5 OF RESOLUTION nr. 256/10/CSP BY THE ITALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY AGCOM:
The VenetoCongiuntura survey on some sub-sectors of services was carried out by Unioncamere Veneto. The sample is located in the Veneto region, stratified by province and sector and composed of 735 companies who replied (out of 2,530 total contacts). The sample under study is statistically representative of local companies in the services sector with 3 employees or more, registered in the Registro Imprese of the Chambers of Commerce of Veneto region. Data were gathered by Demetra sas with the CAWI mod_survey and CATI Yaacs system in the period between 3 January and 4 February 2011. The whole document can be found at www.agcom.it