Statistical Press Release – Statistics on corporations in the Central Balance Sheet Database – 4th quarter of 2019
Today, Banco de Portugal publishes statistics, in Table A.19 of the Statistical Bulletin and in BPstat, on corporations in the Central Balance Sheet Database for the fourth quarter of 20191. These data incorporate revisions made since the first quarter of 2019, in line with the statistics revision policy of Banco de Portugal.
In 2019, return on assets (EBITDA2 / assets) of non-financial corporations stood at 7.8%, less 0.1 percentage points (p.p.) than in 2018. Private corporations profitability increased by 0.5 p.p. in trade, 0.4 p.p. in electricity, 0.3 p.p. in transportation and storage and 0.1 p.p. in construction. The head offices and manufacturing sectors decreased by 0.6 pp and other services decreased 0.1 p.p. Public corporations3 showed a 0.5 p.p. decrease in profitability. By size class, SME4 profitability increased by 0.3 p.p. to 7.1% at the end of 2019, and large enterprises’ profitability declined by 0.4 p.p., to 10.0%.
The capital ratio (equity / assets) stood at 38.9%, which corresponds to an increase of 1.3 p.p. from the end of 2018 (Chart 1). This increase was broadly based across all sectors of activity of private corporations, while public corporations decreased by 0.4 p.p. compared to the end of 2018. The share of obtained funding in total assets declined by 0.9 p.p. in the same period, standing at 33.1% at the end of 2019.
The cost of financial debt (financing expenses / obtained funding) stood at 3.2%, unchanged from the previous year (Chart 2). In transportation and storage and other services the cost of debt remained unchanged from 2018. The remaining sectors showed a decrease in cost of debt of 0.1 p.p. compared to the previous year.
The financing expenses coverage ratio (EBITDA / financing expenses) stood at 7.4, which represents an increase of 0.3 from the same period of the previous year (Chart 2). Trade posted the largest increase in this indicator (1.5), standing at 11.9 at the end of 2019. This was the highest value for this ratio, mirroring lower levels of financial pressure.
Next update 16 Jul. 2020
Notes
1 The compilation of the quarterly indicators is based on: (i) for balance sheet variables, average values for the year ending in the quarter; (ii) for profit and loss account variables, values for the year ending in the quarter. The structure of funding is based on end-of-quarter values.
2 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
3 Public corporations not included in the general government sector.
4 Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
