European companies paid with an average delay of 13.06 days in the last quarter of 2017, the lowest figure reached to date, according to the Study on Payment Behavior of Companies in Europe conducted by INFORMA. This figure drops slightly with respect to the previous quarter and from a year ago when it was 13.47 days.
Spain, with 12.52 days of average delay between October and December, behaves better, with a delay lower than the European average, in 0.54 days in this period. Spanish companies pay with less delay than the European average since the beginning of 2016.
According to Nathalie Gianese, Director of Studies of Informa D & B, “although Spain has reduced the positive difference it has in the average delay in payments with Europe to 0.54 days in the last quarter of 2017, the behavior has improved a lot since the close seven days apart in favor of the European average in 2010. ”
Portugal, with 25.83 days of delay, is the country with the worst behavior, although it has been cutting its figures for a year in 1.43 days. Italy is the second, with 17.98 days of delay, 0.64 less than in the fourth quarter of 2016. It is followed by Ireland, with an average of 16.97 days and a decrease of 2 days, the most bulky, and the United Kingdom, with 14.24 days and a decrease of 1.56 days in a year. France also exceeds the European average this quarter, 13.09 days, although it has been down 0.20 days since a year ago.
Below the European average, in addition to Spain, are: Belgium, which reduces 0.22 days in a year to reach 12.30, Germany, which rises 0.20 and remains at 6.54, and the Netherlands, with the second largest decrease, 1.79 days, to close the year with an average delay of less than five days, 4.60.
The difference between the country that pays the worst, Portugal, and the one that behaves best, the Netherlands, is in this fourth quarter of 21.23 days, similar to the 21.22 reached between July and September.
Source: Informa Press Release
