Nota de Informação Estatística de 20102010b
Statistics on Non-Financial Corporations from the Central Balance-Sheet Database
October 2010 (1)
The information collected and processed by the Central Balance Sheet Data Office enables the production of a set of statistical indicators on the developments in the activity, and the economic and financial situation, of Portuguese non-financial corporations over the year or at year-end (depending on whether the information is quarterly or annually, respectively). This issue of the Statistical Bulletin publishes new information about:
- The year 2009, derived from the Annual Central Balance-Sheet Database (ACB) collected through the Simplified Corporate Information (IES, in its Portuguese acronym) statements (2);
- The second quarter of 2010, derived from the Quarterly Central Balance-Sheet Database (QCB) collected by the quarterly survey of non-financial corporations (ITENF, in its Portuguese acronym) (3).
Developments in the activity of non-financial corporations from the Central Balance-Sheet Database
The annual results now published for the year 2009 reflect a contraction in non-financial corporations activity, reflected in an GVA year-on-year (y-o-y) change of -2.5%, compared with 2.6% in the previous year. This decrease in the GVA was observed in most activity sectors (Table G.2.5), among which the Industry stands out by revealing the most negative trend (-8.1%). Services, which in 2008 supported the GVA growth, show in 2009 a negative contribution to its variation. By size of corporations, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the ones with the most negative GVA y-o-y rate of change (-3.3%) and, given its weight in the total activity, those with the largest contribution to the decline in the non-financial corporations total GVA.
As for the second quarter of 2010 (4), the information reported by companies in the ITENF presents a reversal of the trend verified in 2009. The QCB corporations GVA registered a 2.6 y-o-y rate of change. This recovery is also visible in the components Output and Intermediate Consumption (Table G.2.1) with y-o-y rates of change, in the second quarter of 2010, of 8.1% and 10.4%, respectively. Although they may reflect primarily the behaviour of large firms, whose weight in the quarterly sample tends to be higher than the one they have on the total population, the most obvious signs of recovery in GVA emerge from Industry, while Services still show a negative growth of GVA.
The days in receivables and in accounts payable for ACB companies (see Tables G.5.2 and G.5.3) stood at 74 days and 76 days, respectively, revealing, for both indicators, an increase over the previous year. In operations with the rest of the world, the accounts payable stand out with a maturity of 59 days.
The QCB average maturity of these operations did not show, in the second quarter of 2010, the trend observed in 2009, with the average maturity level of receivables even presenting a decrease.
Economic and financial situation of non-financial corporations from the Central Balance-Sheet Database
In 2009, the ACB non-financial corporations´ total balance sheet showed an annual increase of 2.7% (Table G.4.1), which represents a slowdown from the previous year (5.5% y-o-y rate of change). Concerning assets, the deceleration was noticed in Other credits granted (2% y-o-y rate of change from 6.8% in 2008) and Non-financial assets (1.9% y-o-y rate of change from 8.4% in 2008), being partially offset by the acceleration in Short-term assets and Financial Investments. Regarding liabilities, the slowdown was felt in debt: in Financial Debt (3.2% y-o-y rate of change from 12.7% in 2008) and Other credits received (3.2% y-o-y rate of change from 6.1% in 2008).
In the second quarter of 2010, the QCB non-financial corporations total balance sheet does not reflect the 2009 deceleration trend, presenting an annual growth of 2.7% from 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2009. The main changes are related to other credits, which rose 2.2% and 5.5% on the assets and liabilities, respectively, and the Non-financial assets, which had a negative y-o-y rate of change of -1.5%.
Finally, the Return on investment (see Table G.5.1) increased slightly in 2009, standing at 5.3% (4.9% in 2008). Similarly, also Return on equity, which amounted to 4.8% in 2009, showed a variation of 1.8 p.p. from the previous year. These changes resulted mainly from a decrease in the Debt Cost in 2009 (2 p.p. compared to 2008, standing at 6.4%), with favourable impacts on the evolution of profit or loss for the financial year and, simultaneously, on the "leverage effect" used in the Return on equity concept (i.e, the effect of the use of debt in the return perceived by investors). In the second quarter of 2010, the favourable performance of return indicators continues, being also associated with better operating performance of the non-financial corporations.
This note was prepared with the information available up to September 30, 2010
Lisboa, 20 October 2010
(1) The Statistical Bulletin of October 2010 includes some changes to Section G. Those are reflected in the opening note of the publication.
(2) The annual statistics are based, since 2006, on information reported in the IES and include common non-financial companies for two consecutive years. The data released now for 2009 comprise over 320 000 companies.
(3) The data reported by nearly 2 000 companies within the ITENF for the four quarters of 2009 and for the first two quarters of 2010, was used.
(4) For quarterly statistics, activity indicators are obtained from accumulated data since the beginning of the year until the reference quarter.
