The number of companies incorporated in the first quarter fell 5.9% compared to the first three months of last year, while insolvencies grew 3.1%, reported Informa D&B this Thursday, 9th.
The data was released today through a thermometer from the commercial and financial information company and shows that 14,750 companies were created in January, February and March this year, the equivalent of 928 fewer constitutions compared to the same period last year.
Informa D&B records that this decrease in the creation of companies “occurs in most sectors of activity”, the main exceptions being the construction sectors (up 4.5%, with 92 more incorporations), information and communication technologies (+7.5%, with 77 more incorporations), business services (2.2% more and 58 more companies) and energy and environment (2.3% increase, one more incorporation).
Construction, business services and information technologies have shown “consistent growth” in the creation of new companies since 2020, despite the latter’s decrease in 2023.
Conversely, the sectors with the biggest drops in the creation of new companies were agriculture and livestock, land transport and food retail.
Vila Real and Angra do Heroísmo were the exceptions and saw an increase in the number of companies incorporated, unlike the other districts and regions.
Company closures in the first quarter totaled 2,663, “a provisional record, but corresponding to a third (-33%, 1,325 fewer companies)” of the number of closures in the same period last year.
In the 12 months ending in March – that is, between April 2025 and March this year – 13,929 companies closed, 12% less than in the same period last year.
The barometer records that this drop in closures over the 12 months “was transversal to all sectors of activity and regions”, with emphasis on retail (-19% and a reduction of 408 closures).
Conversely, the closure of another 119 non-specialized retail companies by mail order or via the internet and another 40 footwear manufacturing companies meant increases of 270% and 47%, respectively, in the annual comparison.
As for insolvencies, after a downward trend observed in 2025, the number of these processes grew by 3.1% in the annual comparison.
In total, 531 companies initiated insolvency proceedings in the first quarter, compared to 515 in the same period last year.
“However, this increase was seen in only half of the activity sectors, highlighting construction (+27%; +15 insolvencies) and real estate activities, which doubled the number of companies with new insolvency processes (+100%; +11 insolvencies)”, details the barometer.
The Informa D&B barometer is sourced from publications of corporate acts carried out on the Ministry of Justice’s Citius portal, and covers entities based in Portugal, not including individual entrepreneurs.
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