Results of non-financial corporations in 2017 Q1

Abstract

The productive activity of the overall sample of firms reporting to the Central Balance Sheet Data Office Quarterly Survey saw a moderate expansion in 2017 Q1, similar to that recorded a year earlier. This recovery was greatly affected by the poor performance of some larger firms, which account for a large share of the sample, thus dampening the expansionary trend observed in most firms. Employment also continued to grow in the majority of firms. The notable increase in ordinary profits was driven by the favourable progress of financial costs and revenues, leading to a further increase in aggregate levels of ordinary profitability. However, extraordinary costs and revenues had a negative impact in this quarter, as a result of which net profit contracted with respect to the level reached in the same period the preceding year. The box included at the end of this article shows that the improved profitability of recent years can be observed across all the percentiles of the distribution, although it was higher in those reflecting the situation of less profitable firms, and therefore the dispersion of this variable in the sample has gradually been reduced. In addition, in 2017 Q1 these values had already returned to the levels achieved before the crisis