Lisbon, Oct. 8, 2025 (Lusa) - The creation of new companies continues to rise in Portugal, reaching 40,465 by September, 2.4% more than in the same period in 2024, while company closures and bankruptcies continued to fall, it was announced on Wednesday.
According to the business database service, Informa D&B Barometer, released on Wednesday, more than half of the sectors recorded growth in company creation, with real estate (+22%; +860 creations), construction (+13%; +607), business services (+4.8%; +316) and agriculture and other natural resources (+20%; +229).
Construction and real estate continue to grow strongly, with 3,457 new residential and non-residential building construction companies and 3,143 real estate purchase and sale companies established by the end of September, which, compared to the same period last year, corresponds to an increase of 435 (+14%) and 556 (+21%%), respectively, according to Informa D&B.
"These two activities are the ones that have seen both the largest increase since the beginning of the year and the largest number of company creations, reflecting both the dynamism of the real estate market and the business response to the housing crisis," it says.
Informa D&B also points out that "among the increases in the creation of new companies, the sub-sectors of short-term accommodation (+42%, +259 companies), agriculture and livestock (+25%, +242 companies) and general retail (+42%, +226 companies) also stand out".
Among the sectors with declines in business creation, Informa D&B highlights transport (-30%%; -802 business creations), especially in Greater Lisbon, which continues to slow down and strongly impact the indicator, retail (-8.5%; -307 business creations), especially in the food sector, and general services (-3.0%/-178 business creations), with a notable decline in health, sports and wellness activities.
With regard to company closures, Informa D&B reports that by the end of September, 7,910 companies had closed across the country, which corresponds to a decrease compared to the same period last year.
The decline in this period is across all sectors of activity, with the accommodation and catering sectors (-21%, -377 closures), retail (-16%; -350 closures) and business services (-15%, -333 closures) standing out, says Informa D&B.
With regard to insolvencies, Informa D&B states that 1,502 companies had initiated insolvency proceedings by the end of the third quarter of this year, which corresponds to a decrease of 5.2% (-103 insolvencies) compared to the same period last year, after two years of consecutive increases in this indicator.
Half of the sectors of activity recorded a decline in insolvencies, but this decline was particularly concentrated in manufacturing (-26%; -113 insolvencies), particularly in textiles and fashion (-37%; -98 insolvencies), which had recorded successive increases in the last two years.
Insolvencies also fell in the general services (-21%, -25 insolvencies) and construction (-9.8%, -20 insolvencies) sectors.
On the upside, Informa D&B highlights business services (+32%; 37 insolvencies) and transport (+31%; +26 insolvencies).
The Informa D&B Barometer is a monthly study that provides data on the incorporation, dissolution and insolvency of Portuguese companies, as well as on legal proceedings, all analysed by sector and region. This barometer allows the evolution of the Portuguese business fabric to be monitored and relevant phenomena to be identified, offering a detailed view of the country's economic dynamics based on a database of companies.
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