Company activity lost steam in the third quarter of the year. Its net ordinary result grew by 0.7%, compared to the 13.1% increase recorded in the same period of 2023. As highlighted by the Bank of Spain, personnel expenses and financial expenses contributed negatively to its expansion – with rates growth of 4.6% and 14.5% – weighed down the figures. For its part, the increase in Gross Added Value (GVA) by 2% and the increase in financial income by 22.4% pushed them between the summer months. The regulator highlights the poor performance of the energy sector, whose growth rate fell by 4.7%; but above all the industry, whose activity contracted by 34.3% compared to a year ago. The deterioration was especially significant in the oil refining subsector. On the opposite side, the good performance of commerce and hospitality stood out, but also of transport companies and the evolution of holdings, with a variation rate of 34%.
On the other hand, the net turnover decreased by 2.4% in the first three quarters of 2024, compared to the 7.9% drop registered in the same period of 2023. This behavior is mainly conditioned by the decrease in the turnover of the energy sector (-19.3%), which has a high weight in the central balance sheet sample. In fact, it is the only sector in the sample with negative rates in the period analyzed. The total sample without the energy sector presents an increase of 1.7% in its turnover.
Regarding the asset profitability ratio, the Bank of Spain indicates that it stood at 5.5% in the first three quarters of 2024, compared to the 5.6% registered in the same period of 2023. This evolution The downward trend is only observed in the industry sector, since the rest of the sectors experienced increases in profitability. If the refining subsector is excluded, the industry would also show a slight increase.
The Bank of Spain has also published the 2023 annual Central Balance Sheet monograph, which contains economic and financial information from the Integrated Balance Sheet Central (CBI), made up of nearly 620,000 companies. In conclusion, the statistics reflect that the net ordinary result and the profitability of assets grew in 2023 despite the decrease in turnover. Specifically, the ordinary net profit of the companies increased by 7.5% during fiscal year 2023, a lower growth than that obtained in 2022 (38.9%).
However, the net turnover experienced a decrease of 0.7%, mainly due to the fall in sales prices in branches related to energy and fuels, which decreased significantly compared to 2022.
Finally, the profitability of the asset in 2023 showed an increase compared to 2022, reaching values higher than those recorded in the years immediately prior to the pandemic for the first time.
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