CLOSING IN PROFIT (0.434 MILLION EUROS), 17 NEW FOREIGN INVESTMENTS FOR 34 MILLION EUROS ( 46%).

PORDENONE 27 April 2023. It is a record of investments for Finest S.p.A., which closes the year 2022 with almost 34 million euros made available to 17 internationalization projects of companies in North-East Italy, + 46% compared to the previous year and bringing the current portfolio of the Italian Northeastern Financial Company over 100 million euros.

These are the numbers that have been brought in approval to the shareholders's meeting today from the President of the financial institution for the internationalization of the Italian North East, Alessandro Minon. "We close this exercise with positive numbers and with the awareness of having honoured the commitment of public utility of our Society - comments the President on the sidelines of the Assembly; - in a context of increasing complexity, with tragic events such as the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which deprived our companies, and consequently also Finest, of the vast market connected to the Russian Federation, we were able to support our businesses towards closer and safer markets, following the current trend of nearshoring and friendshoring. Today more than ever, the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic Sea and the Med countries represent the beating heart of the internationalization process for North-East Italian companies and Finest, with 30 years of expertise and investment in these markets, is a decisive financial and institutional instrument in the hands of the productive fabric of Triveneto" confirms Alessandro Minon.

In the year just approved, the most attractive investment markets were France (23%), Poland (19%), Romania (14%), Croatia and Kazakhstan (11%), Austria (9%) Serbia (8%) and Tunisia (6%). The Company reaches this year 420 million total investments since its establishment to date, distributed in more than 650 transactions as a financing partner alongside the local companies.

Among the most internationalized sectors supported by Finest are mechanics/electromechanics and construction/construction (12%), agribusiness and wood/furniture (11%), plastics and metallurgy (10%), utilities and textiles/clothing (6%). Thanks to the intervention of Finest, the total investments in internationalization of the member companies reached 2.3 billion euros.
"Among the reasons that push a company to internationalize today, the reducion of production costs and labor are between the less important: they engage the process rather as a form of "insurance" on their value chains. Our member companies choose to acquire a foreign supplier to ensure the maintenance of flows of goods and services necessary for the production of the parent company, or acquire a competitor to strengthen their foreign market shares; develop a new production plant in countries where they can find raw materials more easily, starting a foreign subsidiary that becomes the main supplier of semi-finished products for the parent company; finally, they choose to actively oversee a market by producing directly on site and simplifying logistics and warehouse management. In short, our current portfolio tells us of an advanced internationalization process ongoing, strategic and forward-looking: a sign of a maturation of our productive fabric, which has included, among other things, the great added value of opening up its capital, taking advantage of the presence of institutional partners such as Finest in its shareholders" concludes Alessandro Minon.