In May, 9,570 new companies were founded in Spain, the highest number since 2007. Compared to May 2020, the number has more than doubled: then 3,792 new companies were started.
The Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) published the figures on Thursday. In concrete terms, it means a business start-ups increase of 152.4% compared to May of the previous year.
Exceptionally low
€333.2 million was subscribed for the creation of the 9,570 companies in May, more than double the same month in 2020. The average subscribed capital, meanwhile, which stood at €34,822, fell by 8.7% year-on-year.
The INE notes that in May last year, the number of companies formed that increased or dissolved their capital was “exceptionally low”. This was mainly due to the declaration of the first state of alert. With the year-on-year growth in the month of May, there have been four consecutive months with positive figures. A rise that started hesitantly with growth of 3.1% in February, followed by growth of 61.8% in March. April saw an exceptional increase of almost 300%.
Company closures
According to data from the INE, the number of dissolved trading companies in May was 1,720, 256.8% more than the 482 in the same month of 2020. This means that in each day an average of 55 businesses in Spain closed their doors. That represents a drop of 7.5%, the lowest drop in five years.
Of the 1,720 companies that closed last May, 78.8% did so voluntarily, 6.4% by merging with other companies and the remaining 14.8% for other reasons. The number of trading companies that increased capital in May rose 98.4% year-on-year to 2,518.
In terms of dissolved companies, all regions saw the number increase compared to May 2020. Cantabria was the Community where company closures increased the most, by 1.100% per year, followed by Castilla-La Mancha (+733.3%) and Castilla y León (+681.8%). The smallest increases occurred in the Basque Country (+147.7%) and in the Balearic Islands (+156.8%).
Sectors
Of the trading companies established in May 20.8% engaged in trading and 15.6% in real estate, financial and insurance activities. Of the dissolved businesses, 20.4% engaged in trade and 16.6% in construction.
Regional differences
There were large differences by sub-region, Madrid (2,231), Catalonia (1,890) and Andalucia (1,627) had the highest number of commercial enterprises created in May. Sub-regions with the least number of companies created were La Rioja (38), Cantabria (76) and Navarra (93).
Madrid (507), Andalucia (266) and the Valencia region (149) had the highest number of dissolved trading companies in May. The fewest businesses disappeared in Navarre (5), La Rioja (13) and Asturias (22).
