Unicaja Banco has published the report Análisis Económico-Financiero de la Empresa de Castilla y León 2019 (Economic and Financial Analysis of Castilla y Leon Companies 2019), prepared by Analistas Económicos de Andalucía (Grupo Unicaja Banco’s research company).
The preparation and publication of this report falls within Unicaja Banco’s policy to support the business sector and to foster entrepreneurship, and is based on a detailed analysis of the annual accounts presented by over 34,000 companies at the trade registers of Castilla y Leon, corresponding to the financial year 2017 –latest year with information available for all the companies which compose the sample-. This edition includes an advance of the results of Castilla y León companies in 2018.
The report is structured in three large sections: it starts with the review of the economic context in which Castilla y León companies have carried out their activities. It focuses later on their demographic features (nature of the business activity, size and geographical location) and their evolution in recent years. In a second block, the report analyses the companies which, because of their economic and financial behavior, are regarded as Business References, under three criteria: capacity to generate resources (leaders), capacity to increase sales (gazelles) and capacity to obtain a high profitability (high profitability). The third section pays attention to the economic and financial evolution of regional companies during the period 2015-2017, although the core of the examined information is the last year. The economic and financial analysis ends with an advance of the information available for the year 2018. Finally, the ‘Economic and Financial Reports’ of the main aggregates and a ‘Dictionary of economic and financial terms’ are included as an annexes, to supplement the information provided.
The main results of the report are explained below:
Business demographic dynamics
In 2018, the Castilla y León economy has recorded a 2.9% increase in production, underpinned by the positive contribution of all the sectors.
In this context, at the end of the year, 161,983 companies developed their activities in the Autonomous Community, a 0.2% year-on-year increase.
Regarding business density, in Castilla y León there are 67.2 companies per thousand inhabitants, 0.5 more than in the previous year.
With regard to their size, businesses with 10 to 49 employees increased by 4.40%; those with 50 to 200, by 2.8%; and those with more than 200 employees, by 2.5%.
Considering the activity sector, non-commercial services gather 54.5% of the total of companies in the region; commercial services, 23.5%; construction, 14.6%, and industry, 7.4%. The number of companies grew in industry (3.4%), services (0.8%) and commerce (0.3%), while commerce fell by 2.0%.
The territorial analysis shows that Valladolid, with 33,998 companies gathers 21.0% of the total regional, and Leon, 19.3% (31,276), followed by Burgos (16.1%) and Salamanca (13.8%). In comparison with the previous year, Burgos (0.9%), Segovia (0.5%) and Leon (0.3%) registered the main increases in the number of businesses.
The year 2017 saw the creation of 2,731 mercantile companies in Castilla y León. This figure represents 2.9% of the total national. In contrast, the number of dissolved companies reached 979 (4.4% of the total national), of which 6.2% were due to merger transactions.
Business References
With the data for the period 2014-2017, 2,216 companies in Castilla y León meet at least one of the three excellence criteria considered: 1,014 businesses are regarded as leaders (2.92% of the available sample), 670 as gazelles (2.37%) and 577 as high profitability (1.88%). The demanding conditions set are behind the fact that only 12 companies belong simultaneously to the three groups.
Considering their size, medium-sized enterprises have a higher relative weight in the category of leaders (46.0% of the total), exceeding the average distribution of the representative sample, while micro-enterprises excel in gazelles (67.5%), in this case below their sample weight, and in high profitability (87.5%), with a weight similar to that in the sample.
As per sector distribution, the preponderance of industrial companies in leaders (43.6% of the total) and of service companies in gazelles (40.1%) and in high profitability (56.7%) is remarkable.
From a territorial point of view, the province of Valladolid shows the largest concentration of business references in the region (27.6% of the total), with a share of 25.8% in leaders, 27.2% in gazelles and 31.2% in high profitability. Valladolid is followed by Burgos (19.2%), Salamanca (15.4%) and Leon (15.3%).
Finally, according to the population size, 46.3% out of the total of Business References are located in province capitals and 53.7% in other towns. By types, the highest relative weights are observed in province capitals for high profitability companies (56.7%), whereas leaders (58.6%) and gazelles (55.2%) are more represented in other cities and towns.
Economic and financial analysis and advance for 2018
In 2017, sales (business turnover) of Castilla y León companies increased by 6.3% (8.6% in the total national), standing at 4.1% in 2018. With regard to their size, medium-siezed enterprises posted a growth higher than the regional total in 2017 (8.2%). From the point of view of sectors, the largest increase has been registered in construction (13.0%) and services (12.4%). By provinces, the relative growth of sales has been higher in Burgos (11.8%), Avila (9.6%) and Salamanca (9.4%).
The year result in Castilla y León represents 4.3% of the business turnover, a 1 p.p. year-on-year increase, and the 2018 advance reaches 4.7%. Additionally, 68.4% of companies located in the region obtained positive results in 2017.
On the other hand, investment has increased by 3.6%, due to a growth of current investment (6.6%). Outlooks for 2018 suggest a growth of around 2%.
With regard to their financial structure, own funds increased by 7.2%, whereas in borrowed capital, the growth of short-term liabilities (3.1%) has been accompanied by a 2.3% decrease in non-current liabilities. As per their origin, liabilities with credit institutions represent 14.6% of indebtedness, 1.5 p.p. less than in the previous year.
Regarding the performance of the business activity, an improvement has been noticed both in economic and financial profitability, reaching 4.8% and 8.0% respectively. In 2018 it has increased to 5.8% and 8.6% respectively. In relation to economic profitability, the levels reached by medium-sized companies (5.2%) are to be remarked, as well as those of the industrial (5.8%) and agricultural (5.4%) sectors.
