Six out of ten family businesses in the Community say that the sector has overcome the Covid crisis, according to a survey prepared by Empresa Familiar de Castilla y León (EFCL), which today concluded its VIII Regional Congress with a “commitment to the future ». The analysis reflects positive estimates for this year, since 45.5 percent of entrepreneurs plan to increase their sales figures and another 39 will maintain those of the previous year, compared to 15 who recognize that they will register a reduction in their level of business .
In line with these forecasts, nearly 91 percent of employers (nine out of ten) say they will maintain or increase their workforce in 2022 and 70 percent announce that they will increase their level of investment in Castilla y León compared to the previous year .
In spite of this, businessmen give a “suspense to the national economic situation”, to which they give a score of 3.48, a score slightly lower than that of the regional economic situation, which reaches 3.56 points.
In this scenario, inflation is for 44 percent of entrepreneurs the main risk for economic recovery, followed by public debt (24) and the lack of reforms (23 percent). Other risks, although to a lesser extent, are the increase in the cost of financing (six percent) and private debt (four percent).
To deal with the rise in inflation, seven out of ten will increase the sale price of their products or services, while another 20 percent say they are going to assume the drop in profit margin. Only nine percent will apply salary moderation.
Sponsored by Caixabank and EY, the 8th Regional Family Business Congress included a conference by Josep Piqué, former Minister of Industry, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology, who in his speech analyzed the current geopolitical scenario and its impact on business. The psychiatrist Luis Rojas Marcos has offered a talk on how to overcome in times of adversity, specifying that the fundamental challenge we must face is uncertainty.
This second day also featured a round table in which former Secretary of State for Energy Nemesio Fernández Cuesta and the heads of the companies Lonjas Tecnología, Antonio Mateos, and Fortia Energía, Blanca Losada, assessed the change that has occurred in the energy market. In addition, the entrepreneur and Business Angel Mathieu Carenzo, co-founder of Venture Hub, and the president of Grupo Antonio Álvarez, Alberto Z. Álvarez, discussed technology and growth.
The congress was closed by the delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, and by the counselor of the Presidency, Jesús Julio Carnero.
Prior to the Congress, the EFCL partners held their General Assembly 2022, in which the businessman Pedro Palomo, CEO of the Octaviano Palomo group of Companies, has been elected the new president of this organization, which brings together 170 leading family businesses from across the region. in their respective sectors, whose global turnover is equivalent to 19.50 percent of GDP and employ 10.5 percent of the employed population of Castilla y León in the private sector.
