The problem is structural and has remained practically unchanged since 2019. Small and medium-sized companies are the most affected.
In Portugal, 26.3% of non-financial companies face a situation of technical bankruptcy, according to the most recent data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). This portrait, which reflects companies with negative equity, turns out to be practically unchanged in the last five years and exposes structural challenges for the national business community, especially in the case of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs).
In 2023, Portugal had 1,526,926 companies in operation, of which 512,751 were non-financial companies. Of these, more than a quarter had negative capital, a slight rise compared to the previous year. The problem is structural: in 2019, the proportion of societies in this situation was 25.2%, increasing in the following years due to the economic impact of the pandemic, explains .
SMEs represent the largest share of companies in difficulty, corresponding to 26.3% of global negative capital in 2023, while large companies weighed just 4% in this indicator. Furthermore, the net results of non-financial corporations have been consistently negative for more than a third of companies, worsening financial stress. In 2023, 41% of companies recorded losses, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to 2022.
The most affected sectors are accommodation and cateringwith 40.7% of companies in technical bankruptcy, and transport and storage (34.3%). The sectors with the lowest proportion of companies in difficulty are industry and energy (21.8%) and agriculture and fisheries (22.3%).
Another alarming indicator is the financial autonomywhich reflects the ability of companies to finance themselves in the medium and long term. In 2023, this index remained stable at 0.43 points, with large companies presenting an indicator of 0.39 and SMEs at 0.45. Sectors such as transport and storage, information and communication, and accommodation and food stand out for their low level of financial autonomy.
