MADRID, 8 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The number of new commercial companies rose 1.7% last April compared to the same month in 2022, reaching a total of 8,623 companies, its lowest figure this year, according to data released this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the upturn in April, the creation of companies chains four consecutive months of promotions, although April was the most moderate of those registered in the first four-month period.

For the constitution of the 8,623 companies created last April, just over 280.5 million euros were subscribed, which is 0.8% less than in the same month of 2022, while the average subscribed capital, which stood at 32,538 euros, decreased by 2.5% year-on-year.

While the creation of companies increased, the dissolution of companies decreased in April, 7.4% compared to the same month in 2022, to a total of 1,540. In this way, every day of the month of April 51 companies closed their doors in Spain.

Of the 1,540 companies that closed last April, 82% did so voluntarily, 7.9% due to a merger with other companies and the remaining 10.1% for other reasons.

18.6% of the mercantile companies that were created in the fourth month of the year were dedicated to commerce and 15.7% to real estate, financial and insurance activities.

As regards dissolved companies by main economic activity, the highest percentages are also found in commerce (19.2%) and in real estate, finance and insurance (17.1%).

For its part, the number of commercial companies that increased capital increased by 2% in April, to 2,258 companies. The capital subscribed in these increases reached 1,531.1 million euros, a figure 54.7% higher than that of April 2022, while the average capital was 678,109 euros, 51.6% more.

In the first four months of the year, just over 40,000 companies have been created, a figure 9% higher than that of the same period in 2022. For its part, the number of dissolved companies has increased by 1.3% up to April.

MADRID AND CATALONIA LEAD THE CREATION OF COMPANIES

The communities that created the greatest number of companies last April were Madrid (1,868 companies), Catalonia (1,825) and Andalusia, where 1,505 companies were created. The regions that incorporated the fewest companies in the fourth month of the year were La Rioja (27), Navarra (51) and Cantabria (56).

Eight regions created more companies in April than in the same month of 2022, especially Castilla y León (22%), Comunidad Valenciana (18.6%), Asturias (18.3%) and Castilla-La Mancha (10.6%) , the only four communities with double-digit increases.

Among the decreases, the most pronounced were recorded by Extremadura (-29.7%), Galicia (-23.9%), Cantabria (-22.2%), Navarra (-16.4%) and Aragón (-11 .8%).

Considering the dissolved commercial companies, the communities with the highest number of dissolutions in April 2023 were Madrid (516), Andalusia (249) and Catalonia (132). On the contrary, the autonomous communities with the fewest dissolved mercantile companies were Navarra (3), La Rioja (7) and Cantabria (13).

Five communities increased their number of business dissolutions last April in the interannual rate, mainly Castilla y León (30.9%) and the Balearic Islands (14.8%), and nine reduced them, especially Navarra (-50%), La Rioja (-46.2%) and Castilla-La Mancha (-41.3%). For their part, the communities of Aragon, Cantabria and Murcia did not experience any variation.

In monthly terms (April over March), the formation of new companies plummeted 28.6%, its biggest monthly drop in an April since 2020, when the pandemic led to the paralysis of non-essential activities for more than a week.

For its part, the number of business dissolutions decreased by 34.1% in April compared to the previous month, a monthly decrease similar to that experienced in the same month of 2022 (-35%).