Almost half of Catalan SMEs expect to increase sales by 2025

There are geopolitical storm clouds on the horizon, but Catalan SMEs expect to improve results for 2025. Almost half of small and medium-sized companies expect to improve sales next year, with an average increase of almost 10%, according to data collected by Pimec. What they also expect to rise are the prices of their products and services, an increase that almost 70% of Catalan SMEs expect to make. "2025 will start strong," defends its president, Antoni Cañete.

The good forecasts for company results are accompanied by investment plans, with 34% of those surveyed by the employers' association assuring that they will increase spending, especially that destined for the purchase of new machinery, the incorporation of digital technologies or the improvement of infrastructures. Also, a third of Catalan SMEs foresee an increase in their workforce.

"It is a scenario of moderate optimism," says the president of the Pimec SME Observatory, Oriol Amat, who points to pressure on profit margins, the increase in labor costs, excessive bureaucracy or difficulties in filling vacancies as challenges for companies. Likewise, Catalan SMEs recognize that the uncertainty they face continues to rise, a trend that has been maintained for years, especially due to the increasing geopolitical conflicts, although it is not yet at the same levels as during the pandemic.

Next year will also be an important year for Pimec, which will face elections for its governing bodies during the first quarter. Cañete will end his first term at the head of the employers' association. It was in February 2021 when he was elected president, replacing a historical figure like Josep González, who had held the position for 24 years. Cañete's intention, chosen by González as his successor, is to run for a second term: "I committed to two terms and my commitment to the entity continues, if the partners deem it appropriate."

Pimec has closed this fiscal year with a turnover of 24 million euros and 146,000 members, 6% more than last year. This 2024 has been the year in which the employers' association celebrated its 50th anniversary. Its embryo was the Sociedad d'Estudis Financers, Econòmics i Socials (SEFES), born as a response to the union movements that shook the Baix Llobregat in the last year of the dictatorship. For next year, in addition to the elections, the employers' association has projected a budget of 24.5 million euros and plans to complete the comprehensive renovation it has carried out at its Barcelona headquarters, on Viladomat street.