(ANSA) - MILAN, APRIL 23 - 82 water bottling companies operate in Italy for an aggregate turnover in 2019 of 3.8 billion euros. The major operators also sell soft drinks (carbonated drinks, juices, iced teas, non-alcoholic aperitifs) and the five largest represent 65.8% of the total. There are six foreign-controlled companies, for a turnover of 1.5 billion. The area of the Center, South and Islands hosts the largest number of companies, that is 32, but the largest turnover refers to the 23 companies in the North West (about 2 billion). It emerges from the new report of the Mediobanca Research Area on the packaged water sector, which aggregates the economic-financial data, for the three-year period 2017-2019, of 82 national companies with a turnover in 2019 of more than one million euros.
In the three-year period 2017-2019, aggregate sales grew by an average of 3.9% per year, domestic sales by 2.9%, and those abroad by 6%. The total export share is worth 32.7% of turnover, for a value of 1.3 billion, leaving the remaining 2.5 billion to domestic turnover. The larger companies (48%) and those with foreign control (55.5%) have significant foreign sales shares, while for the Italian medium or small companies the foreign market is not very relevant (between 2% and 6% of sales). The sector's Ebit margin was 9.6% in 2019, a clear reduction from 13% in 2017. (ANSA).