Results of non-financial corporations in 2019 Q1

Abstract

On information from the Banco de España Central Balance Sheet Data Office Quarterly Survey (CBQ), activity at non-financial corporations remained expansionary in 2019 Q1, although some indicators point to a certain degree of deceleration. Employment continued to rise, but also at a slower pace than in 2018. In this setting, corporate profitability ratios held steady, while borrowing costs declined again, prompting a further slight widening of the spread between return on investment and the cost of debt. Debt ratios rose somewhat, reversing the downward pattern of recent years. Lastly, the decline in borrowing costs and the growth in profit led to a further decrease in the debt burden ratio, down to all-time lows in the CBQ historical series. The article includes a box that analyses certain aspects of the recent performance of SMEs in Spain, drawing on qualitative data taken from the ECB’s survey on access to finance of enterprises (SAFE)