investeringen

For years, PMV has had a special if not unique position in the investment landscape. When it was founded in 2001, PMV was entrusted with a societal role alongside its financial task. PMV is particularly pleased to note that today, social impact is also increasingly being pursued by private financiers, thus creating a major leverage effect.

This article is based on the intervention of Hugues Bultot, founder & CEO of Univercells, during the panel discussion at the EIB – National Bank of Belgium Webinar “Investment for a sustainable recovery in Belgium” on 30 April 2021.

Since 2016, the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) has conducted an annual survey on Investment and Investment Finance (EIBIS). This includes interviews with some 13,500 firms from the EU27 Member States, the UK and the US, of which around 480 are Belgian in 2020. The survey covers both SMEs and larger corporates in main economic sectors, offering qualitative and quantitative information about their investment activities, financing needs and the difficulties they face.

The EIBIS 2020 was conducted during the spring/early summer of 2020, right after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on EU firms and elsewhere has been substantial, leading to large revenue losses and changes in investment strategies. Therefore, assessing business needs and setting priorities is crucial for a rapid and solid recovery of the EU.

In this context, the current note analyses and discusses the answers given by Belgian firms on their investment activities, such as objectives, obstacles, drivers, and financing conditions. These answers are compared with the responses of the other surveyed companies in the EU to identify areas for potential improvement and target setting for Belgium.

The actual policy measures taken by the different governments focus mainly on the liquidity needs of the companies. The actual situation of the companies reveals the increasing solvency challenges. Some 20% of the companies who were healthy before the crisis, are now facing huge difficulties. Fiscal measures are needed to restore and pump up the solvency. This can be done via the company tax: recuperation of fiscal losses, self financing, deductibility of risk capital, tax credit for the increase of own funds. But the mobilisation of risk capital and savings is also needed via the launching of a COVID-19-taxshelter, a new version of the “Cooreman - De Clercq” stimulus in favour of investment in equities, the creation of quasi-own funds. Of course, an increased deductibility for investments or an acceleration of amortisations could be also helpful.