Cerved Group Score (CGS): what it is and how to read the risk classes

In short: the Cerved Group Score (CGS) is the score with which Cerved measures, according to Cerved, the probability that a company will default in the following twelve months. It is calculated by statistical models based on financial statements, sector and payments, in ten classes grouped into four areas of increasing risk. It is an automatic score, not a rating issued by an analyst.

Veryfy is not affiliated with Cerved Group S.p.A. and does not sell Cerved reports: this guide describes Cerved's services as presented on their public pages, consulted on 01/11/2026.

What the Cerved Group Score is

Cerved explains that credit risk assessment can take place in a completely automatic way, and that in this case creditworthiness is defined by the score: a quantitative analysis based on statistical models that use historical information on the company, such as financial statements, sector of activity and payment habits.

Cerved's models first calculate partial assessments on individual factors, then integrate them to arrive at a single judgement: the Cerved Group Score, which according to Cerved's definition “represents a judgement of the company's creditworthiness” and takes into account all the partial assessments. Cerved states that its scores are issued for all Italian companies.

You will usually come across a reference to the CGS in three situations: in a Cerved report that a colleague or supplier has passed on to you, in the documentation of a bank or partner that uses Cerved data, or on the Credit Direct page, where Cerved states that the Standard Report expresses a reliability assessment through the CGS and the Fido Certificato.

What the CGS is made of

In the article in which it presents the score, Cerved describes two main assessments plus a third component added in 2020:

• Cebi-Score 4, the economic-financial component: it combines a score calculated on the company's financial statements with a systemic component made of structural, macroeconomic, territorial and sector variables.
• Behavioural score: it summarises the market signals that can affect the probability of default. It includes public-source data, such as negative events affecting the company, its shareholders and related companies, and proprietary data such as the regularity of payments drawn from Payline, Cerved's database on the payment habits of companies. Cerved describes it as the most responsive component, the one that signals first a change in risk.
• Forward-looking component, introduced during 2020: it brings prospective elements into the assessment, based on sector analyses, macroeconomic forecasts and characteristics of the individual company such as solidity, resilience and operational flexibility.

The CGS classes and risk areas

To make the judgement readable, Cerved summarises the CGS assessments on a scale of ten classes, grouped into four areas of increasing risk. In its research reports Cerved calls the areas as follows, in this order:

1. Safety area
2. Solvency area
3. Vulnerability area
4. Risk area

In the Cerved PMI Report 2016, class R3 is indicated as “the one with the highest risk”. The full table of Cerved's ten classes is published as an image in the article on the CGS: if you have a report in hand, the class and area are written there, and it is best to read them together with the date of the assessment.

How to read a class in practice

• Look at the area first, then the class. The area tells you which part of the scale the company is in; the class refines the position within that zone.
• Remember the time horizon. Cerved defines the CGS on the probability of default in the twelve months after the assessment. It says nothing about what will happen in three years, and it does not concern your individual contract.
• Check the date. A score is a snapshot: a report from six months ago does not take into account what has happened since.
• Read the negative events next to the class. Protests, proceedings and adverse records often explain why the class is what it is. If they are not clear to you, there is a guide on protests, adverse records and insolvency proceedings.
• Compare it with your exposure. A calm class does not make a very large supply safe relative to the size of the customer, and a class in the vulnerability area does not rule out a small order paid in advance.

CGS impact and the forward-looking version

Cerved calls CGS impact the Cerved Group Score enriched with the forward-looking component. According to Cerved, this component includes, under given assumptions, forecasts for the main macroeconomic variables, for risk by territorial group and sector, and for the three-year revenue growth of sectors, at a very detailed level of activity.

The same concept appears in the products: on the Credit Direct page, Cerved describes a Standard Report Forward Looking that estimates the evolution of creditworthiness by simulating two future scenarios. In its research reports, Cerved uses the “Cerved Group Score Forward Looking” as a forward-looking risk index to simulate scenarios for SMEs. In practice: the classic score looks at today's situation, while the forward-looking version tries to estimate how it would change under different scenarios.

Score or rating: they are not the same thing

In everyday language people say “the Cerved rating” also for the CGS, but Cerved's sources distinguish two different tools.

In the ESMA register of credit rating agencies, Cerved Rating Agency S.p.A. (formerly Cerved Group S.p.A.) is listed as registered, with an effective date of 20 December 2012. On the agency's scale, class A1.1 describes a company with “minimal” credit risk and C2.1 a company with extremely serious problems and “maximum” risk. The boundary between the two groups falls between B1.2, the last Investment Grade class, and B2.1, the first Speculative Grade class.

The practical consequence: if a bank asks you for “the rating”, ask whether it means an automatic score such as the CGS or a rating issued by a registered agency. These are different documents, with different costs and timeframes.

What to do if you do not have access to Cerved

The CGS is read inside Cerved products, such as the reports sold on Credit Direct. If you are not a Cerved customer and need a similar assessment of a counterparty, you have three options:

• Buy a single Cerved report: how the platform works is explained in Cerved Credit Direct: how it works, and the prices of the latest public list are in how much a single Cerved report costs.
• Use a pay-per-use report with rating and credit line: the Veryfy Verification report costs 19€ VAT included, with no subscription, and includes a credit rating, an estimated operating credit line, beneficial owner, shareholders and directors, protests and insolvency signals, and comparison with companies in the sector. The Veryfy rating is not the CGS: it is a different indicator, to be read with the same caution. How to read any credit rating is explained in a company's credit rating: how to read it before working with it.
• Start from what is free: what you can see without paying, on Cerved and elsewhere, is collected in free Cerved reports: what you can see without paying and in free reliability reports: what is really free. Veryfy's free anti-scam check checks VAT number, email, website and IBAN, but gives no rating or credit line.

If the Cerved report you found also shows a credit line amount, the guide on the Cerved Fido Certificato explains how to use it.

Veryfy is not affiliated with Cerved Group S.p.A.; Cerved, Cerved Group Score and Credit Direct are trademarks of their respective owners.

Sources

• Cerved, “Credit risk: the Cerved score becomes forward looking”, 18 July 2022 (accessed 2026-11-01)
• Cerved, Cerved PMI Report 2016 (accessed 2026-11-01)
• Cerved, Cerved PMI Report 2022 (accessed 2026-11-01)
• Cerved Credit Direct, Credit reliability and financial statement analysis of companies (accessed 2026-11-01)
• Cerved Rating Agency, Methodology and Credit Rating (accessed 2026-11-01)
• Cerved Rating Agency, About us (accessed 2026-11-01)
• ESMA, list of registered and certified credit rating agencies (accessed 2026-11-01)