147 companies were created every day during this year’s first half

During the first half of 2016, Portugal’s six largest corporate sectors presented opposite tendencies regarding the birth of companies as compared to the same period last year: there was an increase in the creation of new companies in lodging/restaurants and construction, while services, retail, processing industries and wholesalers registered a decrease in the same index.

According to the Informa D&B Biannual Barometer, which analyses the births, closings, insolvencies and the payment behaviour of the corporate fabric, during the first half of the current year 20 377 new companies and other organizations were born, 4.0% less than during the first half of 2015. During the same period 6 708 entities closed down, a 1,2% increase. The daily average during this period was of 147 births and 66 closures.
 
During the last 12 months, the company birth/closure ratio was of 2.2 (i.e. 2.2 companies are born for each that closes), which is a slight decrease as compared to 2015 (2.4).
 
Although the total numbers concerning the end of the first semester show a decrease in the birth of new companies and other organizations, the trend is not stable. When the evolution is compared with the same periods of last year, and following a decrease in births from October 2015 to January 2016, this index went back in the black in February, decreased again in March and April, and reversed the trend again in May. In June the number of creations went down 4%. Following 2015’s upward trend concerning closures, and as in births, this phenomenon did not present a uniform trend during the first 6 months of 2016: the months of March, April and May registered less closures, unlike the semester’s other months.
 
Among the districts with the most companies and other organizations, Lisbon has registered the largest growth in new entities, with 278 creations more (+4,7%) than during the first 6 months of 2015. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Oporto district saw its number of creations decrease by 6%.
 
Insolvencies went down in almost all sectors and districts: a total decrease of 24% as compared to the first semester of 2015.
 
The percentage of companies that met their payment deadlines was of 20.1% at the end 2015, 0.5 percent more during the first half of 2016. The European average at the end of 2015 was of 37.5%, with Denmark topping the best-payers ranking: 87% of Danish companies met payment deadlines.
 
Real estate activities stood out

 
The real estate sector stood out during the first semester of 2016, by registering the largest grown in the number of new companies (31.0%) as compared to the same period in 2015. Between 1 January and 30 June , 1 452 real estate companies were born in Portugal, 344  more than those formed during the same period of last year.
 
Just behind real estate activities, the fastest growing sectors in the number of new companies during the first half of 2016 are lodging/restaurants and construction. The latter also registered less closures and insolvencies.
 
The sectors that contributed the most to the decrease in the births of companies and other organizations were retail (-415), agriculture, livestock, fishing and hunting (-277) and services (-230). Services remain the sector with the most new companies and other organizations in absolute terms.
 
The lodging and restaurants sector, despite the increase in new companies, also registers the second largest growth in closures (in absolute terms), which proves that this activity is undergoing a period of renovation.