According to Iberinform, a subsidiary of Spain’s Crédito y Caución, there were 2,835 insolvency proceedings to June, down from 3,067 in the first half of 2018, for a monthly average of 567 this year – the lowest since Iberinform started issuing the estimates in 2016.


Meanwhile, a total of 27,088 new companies were set up in Portugal in the first half – a monthly average of 4,515. Although in the month of June there was a year-on-year drop of 20.9 percent, this was the only month that saw a negative change.


By sectors, electricity, gas and water had the most reductions in the numbers of insolvency, down 64.3 percent. By contrast, there were increases in telecommunications, up 33.3 percent, agriculture, hunting and fishing, up 20.5 percent, manufacturing, up 15.9 percent and transport, up 10.6 percent.


Lisbon continues to have “significant weight” in terms of the location of new companies – accounting for 32.5 percent of the total - although that marks a reduction of 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier. Porto was second with 18.2 percent, up 0.3 of a point.


The most notable achievement in terms of ranking was that of Aveiro, which accounted for 4.9 percent of new companies, up from 4.4 percent a year earlier.