Just under 40% of companies in Slovenia had on-time payments, up from 36.2% a year ago and above the European average of 39.1%, according to the rating firm's Payment Study.

Meanwhile, the percentage of companies with payments delinquent more than 90 days dropped 0.2 percentage points to 2% in 2012.

This has been coupled with a reduction in moderate late payments (up to 30 days late) and payments late between 30 and 60 days.

In the sectoral comparison, health services are the best payers, followed by depositary institutions and investment firms.

Textile and paper companies meanwhile top the list of the worst payers.

Slovenia places in an intermediate position compared to other countries analysed, but is still a long way from the top performers in Europe.

The study, carried out for Slovenia by rating firm I and released on Monday, included 15 European and six non-European countries.