The pandemic significantly affected the operation of small and medium-sized enterprises in Cyprus, forcing the vast majority to make changes in the way they operate.
Eight out of ten small and medium enterprises that took part in a survey conducted by the research office of the company Retail Zoom on behalf of the General Assembly. POVEK, in cooperation with the Bank of Cyprus, recorded a decrease in operations, profits and liquidity.
The main conclusions of the business survey are the following:
Turnover, profits, and liquidity decreased significantly. 83% experienced a decrease in turnover and profits (58% large and 25% some decrease) and 84% decrease in liquidity (57% large and 27% some). In about 1/3 of the companies the turnover decreased by 11-30%, however it is noteworthy that at 4/10 it decreased much more, by 41-60%. In terms of profits, about 1 in 3 companies recorded a decrease of 41-60%.
-Comparatively, fewer companies have reduced the number of their employees. 55% did not make any staff changes, but 21% made a large reduction and 20% a reduction. Four out of 10 companies lost less than 20% of their total employees. The reduction in staff was more pronounced in the catering/entertainment sector.
-61% of companies proceeded to change the way it operates, with a shift to online sales (24%), a new way of organizing their operations (21%) and the introduction of the delivery service (19%). A smaller number upgraded their services (14%), reduced staff (13%), introduced new products/services (12%) and reduced salaries (9%). However, one in three companies (28%) did not make any changes and is operating as before. Finally, 11% of the companies in the sample were forced to suspend their operations due to the pandemic.
-The shift to online sales and delivery paid off. 79% saw online sales increase by up to 30%, and the highest increase in total sales was received by the delivery service. 69% had sales growth, with the highest percentage having increased their sales up to 30%.
-Most companies said they needed government or other financial support for digital business upgrades.
80% of businesses said they were dissatisfied with the measures to support the economy during the pandemic.
Survey
The survey involved 541 small and medium-sized enterprises, coming from the retail and wholesale trade, catering and entertainment and technical professions, and which by 70% employ from 2 to 9 people, 18% only 1 person and 12% from 10 to 49 people.