oh stock Public companies’ debt fell by 9.9% in 2023, a drop of 2.438 billion euros, reveals a report by the Technical Unit for Budget Support (UTAO).
“The debt stock recorded by the group of public companies that make up the SEE (State Business Sector) —126 companies out of a total of 142— decreased by 2,438 million euros (-9.9%) in 2023, compared to the previous year, from 24,588 million euros in 2022 to 22,150 million euros in 2023,” reads the document with the economic-financial assessment of the State business sector.
According to the unit headed by Rui Baleiras, “this result was not achieved in a uniform manner, due to the different contributions of the different categories of public companies.”
On the one hand, the largest contributions to this reduction in the global debt stock came from non-financial public companies (-2,662 million euros) and reclassified public companies (-2,482 million euros).
The groups of public financial companies and non-reclassified public companies “recorded increases in the stock of debt amounting to 225 million euros and 44 million euros, respectively.”
UTAO also highlighted that “the business segments that present the best profitability indicators (public financial companies and non-reclassified public companies) were those that increased their debt and vice versa, although they are not the ones that accumulate the largest debt stocks.”
The universe of the State’s business sector is made up of 142 companies, but only 126 of them report financial information in the system.
This year, according to a UTAO survey, total revenues increased more than total expenses. And, according to the report, EBITDA (operating profitability) increased by 939 million in 2023 compared to the previous year: it went from 1,834 million in 2022 to 2,773 million in 2023 and in net results the year-on-year improvement was 700 million, recovering from 55 million in 2022 to 755 million in 2023; financial companies accounted for an increase of 532 million, non-financial companies improved by 169 million (“with this indicator still remaining at negative values for this subset of companies”, and in reclassified companies it improved by 123 million (also still negative).
Source: Observadora
