Optimizing Mid-Sized Businesses – Forvis Mazars Research

Mid-sized businesses are vital to Europe's economy. They deliver key products and services, and provide employment for many millions of workers. They are also a vital cog in the wider economy. They support smaller and larger enterprises, promote innovation and build long term capital value for their owners.

Forvis Mazars has supported the growth of mid-sized companies for many years, and we take a deep interest in what really drives this key segment of the market. To further our understanding, we analysed the financial data from 72,000 European mid-market companies over a four year period from 2012 to 2015, assessing them both by business model and by four key performance indicators which determine a company's long term sustainability and capital value and its profitability, return, liquidity and strength.

Our key findings include:

There is considerable variation in the performance of Europe's middle market companies, with a large gap between the best and worst performers within all business models.

The type of business model adopted, and its position in the market place, have a significant influence on a company's performance.

Most businesses have extremely low levels of liquidity.

The performance of a business can be significantly improved in the space of four years, with almost half of the poorest performing companies moving up one or two tiers over this time.

IP-owning businesses have the highest return on total assets, with the best performing companies in this category having a return on assets of at least 22 percent.

Please download our in-depth report and guides below for access to all of our findings, and our recommendations for helping mid-sized companies to achieve their full potential.