NPL&REO News

Profits fall sharply at Alpha and NPG on NPL reduction

24 April, 2019

Greek lenders Alpha Bank and National Bank reported a sharp fall in profit in the last quarter of 2018 as they focused on reducing their piles of bad loans.

Alpha, Greece’s fourth-largest lender by assets, reported a net loss from continuing operations of €0.4 million in the October to December period after a net profit of €41.1 million in the third quarter. The lender, which is 11% owned by the country’s bank rescue fund HFSF, attributed the loss to weaker trading gains and higher credit-loss provisions.

Net profit from continued operations at National Bank (NBG), the country’s second largest lender, shrank to €1 million from €8 million in the third quarter as trading losses weighed on its bottom line.

Greek banks are working to reduce their bad debts and meet targets on so-called nonperforming exposures (NPEs) agreed with European Central Bank regulators.

Alpha CEO Vassilis Psaltis said in a statement that reducing NPEs – which include nonperforming loans (NPL) and other credit likely to turn bad – and delivering competitive services were the bank’s priority.

The bank goal is to reduce its NPEs by €14.3 billion by 2021, he said. In the meanwhile, Alpha bank’s NPL ratio dropped to 33.5% of its loan book from 34.1% at the end of September, while provisions for impaired credit rose to €669 million from €296 million in the third quarter.

As for NBG’s, the NPE ratio fell to 40.9% from 42.2% in the third quarter and the lender aims to squeeze it to below 15% by 2021. CEO Paul Mylonas said in a statement that would mean an €11.5 billion reduction by the end of 2021, with €4.5 billion of that coming this year. He also described the new strategy for managing bad loans as front-loaded and more ambitions.

Original Story:Ekathimerini | Reuters
Photo: Alpha Bank
Edition:Prime Yield

Eurozone «not resilient enough» to weather another economic crisis, the IMF warns

23 April, 2019

The eurozone is in better financial shape than a decade ago, but not solid enough to withstand another economic crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told a Paris conference that the currency union «is not resilient enough» to emerge unscathed from «unexpected economic storms»

Lagarde acknowledged that the currency union was now «more resilient» than a decade ago when the global financial crisis struck. «But it is not resilient enough,» she said.

«Its banking system is safer, but not safe enough. Its economic well-being is greater overall, but the benefits of growth are not shared enough,» Lagarde told the gathering, which was organised by the French central bank.

The warning comes as signs are multiplying of slower economic growth, especially in powerhouse Germany and the bloc’s second-biggest economy, France.

On March 29^th, indications of a weak first quarter for the eurozone mounted as a closely-watched survey pointed to March output being dragged further down by manufacturing weakness. Manufacturers in the 19-nation single currency bloc «reported their steepest downturn for six years» as pressure mounted from trade wars and Brexit fears, data company IHS Markit said.

On Wednesday, march 27^th, the European Central Bank added to growth worries when its chief Mario Draghi hinted that interest rates would stay low for longer than previously anticipated, to stimulate growth and inflation.

«Some can rightfully argue that Europe has been slow to produce a fully developed financial ecosystem», Lagarde warned, saying Europe was still wounded from the last crisis.

«These events left painful economic scars on many households and companies, sowing the seeds of economic disparity across member countries and within», she said, adding that «now is the time to give euro area finance another big push».

She called for the eurozone to «show new resolve and complete the banking and capital markets unions, so it can harvest the benefits now and in the future».

On banks specifically, she said «we need a European banking system that can bend in a storm without breaking, we need a banking system that will truly diversify risks across the ecosystem and irrigate growth».

Original Story:France 24 | APF
Photo: FreeImages.com/Szymon Szymonn
Edition: Prime Yield

Non-performing credit grows for the first time in almost 18 months

18 April, 2019

For the first time in almost 18 months, in January Spain’s Non-Performing Loans (NPL) stock increased from the previous month, going 0.2% up to €67.330 million and breaking the downward trend that had been recorded since July 2017, data from Banco de España show.

However, Spain’s NPL volume is now 28% bellow the stock recorded in January 2018, keeping the same homologous trend than the previous months. As for the total credit stock there was also a monthly decrease of 1% in January, standing at €1,141 billion – a 3.5% y-o-y decrease.

According to these latest figures released by Spain’s Central Bank, there has also a slight increase in the NPL ratio, from 5,84% in December to 5,89% in January, with this indicator growing for the first time since January 2018.

Original Story: La Vanguardia | Oscar Gimenez
Photo: Banco de Espana
Translation & Edition:Prime Yield

Greek banks contemplate even more ambitious NPL reduction target

17 April, 2019

Continuing pressure by the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has reportedly reinvigorated Greece’s systemic banks’ efforts to reduce the Olympus-sized «mountain» of «bad debt» burdening their balance sheets, in the wake of the most recent ECB report showing Greece with the highest percentage of NPLs amongst all Eurozone member-states, naftemporiki.gr reports.

According to several sources quoted by “Naftemporiki”, new targets to reduce NPLs will be announced by the end of the month, with a comprehensive plan to again be handed to the SSM. The same reports point to even more «ambitious» targets for Greece’s thrice bailed-out systemic banks.

An addendum will also, according to reports, include new NPLs created after April 2018.

The previous target, which is far from being attained, called for a reduction of NPEs (non-performing exposures) of €50 billion by the end of 2021, bringing bad debt listed on banks’ balance sheets from €82 billion to €32 billion.

At the same time, bank officials in Athens have repeatedly noted that it is extremely difficult to exceed a rate of reducing NPLs by more than €3 billion every trimester.

Original Story: Tornos News
Photo: FreeImages.com/Takis Kolokotronis
Edition:Prime Yield

EC Member States agree new rules to develop secondary NPL market

16 April, 2019

The European Commission welcomes the agreement by EU Member States on new measures to reduce high stocks on non-performing loans (NPL), by developing secondary markets for sales of these problematic assets while maintaining a high level of borrower protection.

As part of the efforts todeliver on the Council’s Action Plan to tackle NPLs in Europe, the new measures will encourage the development of a secondary market where banks can sell their NPLs to credit servicers and investors, thereby contributing to a reduction in high stocks of NPLs in the EU, a remaining legacy risk from the financial crisis. «This is essential for the financial stability of the EU and it is a crucial factor for completing the Banking Union», says the European Comission in a press release.

Valdis Dombrovskis,Vice-President responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union said this agreement «is a further step towards reducing non-performing loans in Europe and increasing the resilience of the European banking sector. I am counting on swift progress on the discussions of our proposed rules in the European Parliament. These rules allow us to progress towards reinforcing the Economic and Monetary Union».

The Directive introduces a harmonised and less restrictive regime for credit purchasers and servicers and removes undue impediments to cross-border activity, while ensuring that the same level of consumer protection is maintained when a loan is sold by a bank. While today’s agreement is an important step forward, progress has been regrettably slower on complementary elements of the Directive that would increase the efficiency of enforcement regimes. Further work and discussion on these elements will be needed and should be prioritised in the next legislative cycle. But given the urgent need to foster development of a well-functioning secondary market for NPLs, the draft rules approved by Member States today should still be finalised in the current legislative cycle.

Original Story: European Commission – Daily News
Photo:European Comission
Edition: Prime Yield

Bain, Cerberus and KKR compete for the largest NPL portfolio in Portugal ever

15 April, 2019

The sale process of Novo Banco’s “Projeto Nata 2”, a NPL portfolio with a gross nominal value of €3.3 billion, is now underway. Being the largest portfolio to ever be sold in Portugal, this project is attracting the interest of very-well known investors as Bain Capital, Cerberus and KKR, which are competing to take these problematic assets.

«Nata2» sales process is still in the very early stage, and is being coordinated by Alantra, the advisor of Novo Banco on the bidding process. The bank is also being assisted by KPMG consultants. The goal is to close the deal by the end of the third quarter of 2019.

Project Nata II comprises about 1,000 credits granted to companies which have been in default, and that had been given by the bank in the former BES period. About 30% of these contracts are secured, while the rest is unsecured. Its sale will help the Portuguese bank to reduce the bank’s Non-Performing Exposure (NPE) ratio to 12% by the end of the year.

Original Story: ECO | Eco News
Photo: Novo Banco
Edition: Prime Yield

Cerberus appoints Arrow Capital to manage €750 million logistics portfolio

12 April, 2019

Arrow Capital Partners has been appointed by an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management to assist in the management of an €750 million portfolio of light industrial and logistics assets in Spain.

The industrial portfolio includes over 1,000 light industrial and logistics assets totalling approximately 5,000,000 sqm located close to Spain’s major cities and transport hubs with circa 60% within the Barcelona and Madrid metropolitan areas. The portfolio will be managed by Arrow Capital Partners’ Spanish team established in early 2018, based in Madrid and led by Howard Barnes.

Robert Falls, Managing Director at Cerberus European Servicing, Ltd, Cerberus’ affiliated advisor with regards to asset management, property management, and loan servicing platform, commented: «We are pleased to be partnering again with the team at Arrow Capital Partners to assist us with the management of our industrial portfolio in Spain. We’ve developed a great relationship with Arrow Capital Partners over the years through various European mandates and we look forward to leveraging their expertise and capabilities in the Spanish market.»

Howard Barnes, Head of Spain at Arrow Capital Partners, says: «As the Spanish economy continues to recover from the financial crisis, we are seeing some excellent entry opportunities, particularly for us as we are looking to acquire light industrial and logistics assets of over €200 million in the next year or so. As growth in Spain’s e-commerce sector continues off a low base, a marked supply / demand imbalance has developed in the light industrial and logistics sectors, increasing rents and capital values.»

Author: IPE Real Assets
Photo: iStock.com/Ron Full
Edition: Prime Yield

Greek NPLs at the focus of international investors

12 April, 2019

Greece is now firmly at the focus of international entities investing in nonperforming loans, despite the uncertainties within those funds on the future returns of such investments and their reservations about the country’s administrative environment.

According to a survey conducted by London-based multinational law firm Ashurst, almost half of the investors (46%) said it is possible they will invest in NPLs in Greece in the next couple of years. The country ranks second in investor preferences, behind Italy, in which 51% of survey respondents said they intend to invest.

Greece is also second in the share of investors who have already invested in Greece in the last two years – 39% against Italy’s 43%.

«Given that the Greek market remains at its formative stages, it’s notable that some 39% of investors report that they already invested in Greece. Appetite there remains high with almost half of investors stating that they are likely or more to invest there in the next two years. With 2018 seeing the first two major secured NPL transactions in Greece successfully conclude, the Greek legal and regulatory environment appears to be entering the new world of NPLs with a renewed sense of commitment», Ashurst partner Olga Galazoula.

The responsible also noted that «Greece’s economy remains susceptible to wider market shocks. The first half of 2019 will prove pivotal in assessing Greece’s prospects as a sustainable NPL market, with the country in pre-election mode. It also remains to be seen if the recently renewed calls for the establishment of an asset management company to deal with the systemic NPL issue bear fruit this time round».

Original Story: Ekathimerini | Eirini Chrysolora
Photo: FreeImages.com/ JonteRemos
Edition: Prime Yield

Write-offs are the main tool for the cleaning up of Portuguese banks’ balance sheets

12 April, 2019

The Portuguese banking system’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio continued to decline, to 11.7% as of Q2 2018 (and 11.3% as of Q3 2018), after peaking at 17.9% as of Q2 2016. This 6.2 percentage points contraction in the NPL ratio is mainly due to a nearly 40% reduction in non-performing loans outstanding amount, compared to a 2.1% decline in total loans outstanding amount.

According to the Bank of Portugal’s data, 42% of the decline in the NPL ratio is due to write-offs. Sales and securitisations accounted for 23% of the ratio’s decline. Nearly two thirds of the cleaning up of Portuguese bank balance sheets occurred via the removal of non-performing loans from the banking system.

Moreover, the reclassification of NPL as “performing loans” more than offset the flow of loans that turn non-performing. The net flow of non-performing loans contributed to a 24% reduction in the NPL ratio.

Breakdown of the decline in the NPL ratio in Portugal between Q2 2016 and Q2 2018

Original Story: FXStreet
Photo: Banco de Portugal
Edition: Prime Yield

Greece’s lenders want home protection criteria shift

26 March, 2019

Greece’s creditors are insisting on a drastic reduction of the maximum property and income criteria for the protection of borrowers’ homes, or the exemption of corporate debts, before approving the Greek plan, sources have told Kathimerini.

The lenders are asking that the ceiling on bank deposits a debtor may have to be eligible for primary residence protection be dropped to €5,000, from the limit of €65,000 that the original draft agreement provided for. Similarly they want to see the property value limit reduced to €100,000 from the original €260,000.

The creditors’ demands were the main reason for the disagreement at Monday’s Eurogroup that led to the postponement of the disbursement of almost €1 billion to Athens, and to Finance Minister Euclid Tskalotos asking for more time so that the decisions can be made at the government level.

The objective of the creditors is to see the number of borrowers that qualify for the new protection system shrink further, as they consider the figure of 180,000 debtors that would be protected under Athens’s proposal and bank estimates to be particularly high. In the creditors’ view, the government will not only protect the financially weak but also some strategic defaulters, thereby strengthening the culture against repayment.

In Brussels and Frankfurt they believe you cannot have someone with € 30,000 in the bank – let alone €65,000 euros – claiming to be unable to pay a monthly tranche of €200 or €300 to spare his or her primary residence from foreclosure. That is why they are seeking a drop in the limit of bank deposits to €5,000, while the government has only consented to halving the limit of the original proposal – i.e. bringing it down to around € 32,500.

Original Story:Ekathimerini-com | Evgenia Tzorti
Photo: FreeImages.Com/Pierre Amerlynck
Edition:Prime Yield

Notaries report 2.6% January rise in Spanish property prices

26 March, 2019

Sales figures were stagnant across Spain for the third month in row, latest data from the countries’ notaries show. These report y-o-y increases of just 0.3% in the number of houses sold and of 6.1% in mortgage activity in January 2009.

These figures seem to show some signals of slowing down in the level of activity in Spain’s real estate market, after a long period of significant growth. In November, the notaries confirmed a year-on-year drop in sales figures for the first time in 2018, albeit a very slight one (the decrease has been revised to just 0.2%), and in December the upward movement was a mere 3%, whereas as recently as last summer double-digit increases were still the norm.

During the first month of 2019, according to the notaries’ provisional figures, were recorded 40,388 sales and purchases following a general upward trend which began in early 2013, and the average price paid for units of housing rose by 2.6% to 1,424 €/sqm.

Meanwhile, the number of mortgages constituted on housing purchases during January was 19,390, 6.1% more than in the same month in 2018, and the average loan capital was up by 0.9% at €135,616. Both this figure and the average market price of property have risen in each of the last nine months.

These data show that 48% of all purchases were financed by mortgage loans in January – the figure still has not reached 50% since 2010 – and that in these cases the mortgages accounted for an average of 74.7% of the sale price, close to the lowest proportion in the last 12 years.

Original Story: Murcia Today | News

Photo: FreeImages.com/Blues 57

Edition:Prime Yield

New housing loans hit the lowest level from the last 11 months

25 March, 2019

In January 2019 the Portuguese banks grant €747 million in housing loans, hitting the lowest value since February 2018, data from the Bank of Portugal show.

According to the statistics now released by Portugal’s central bank, this figure is €156 million lower than the €903 million in housing loans made available in December.

After three consecutive months of growth in the housing loans granting, this upward trend seems to reverse within the start of the new year, however, it should be noted that the month of January is a period traditionally marked by a slowdown in lending.

Original Story: ECO News
Photo:FreeImages.com/Svilen Milev
Edition:Prime Yield

NPL: EU approves new rules for standard minimum coverage

25 March, 2019

The European Parliament has adopted, on Thursday, new EU rules for standard minimum coverage of bad loans.

Measures to mitigate the risk of possible, future, non-performing loans (NPLs) accumulating due to the recessions brought about by the 2008 financial crisis were approved by the Parliament, with 426 votes to 151 and 22 abstentions.

In an official statement, the EU explains these measures «will help strengthen the Banking Union, preserve financial stability as well as banks’ profitability and encourage lending, which create jobs and growth across Europe».

NPLs are loans that are either more than 90 days overdue or are unlikely to be fully repaid. To complement the existing rules relating to own-funds, Parliament voted to introduce common minimum loss coverage levels.

So, adds the same source, «each bank will have to set an amount of money aside, to cover losses caused by future loans that could become non-performing. Coverage requirements for banks will, however, vary, depending on whether NPLs are secured by eligible credit protection i.e. collateral or unsecured. The kind of collateral being used, such as real estate, will be also taken into account».

The new rules, which have already been informally agreed with Council, will only apply to NPLs taken out after the entry into force of the Regulation.

Original Story:European Sting | European Union
Photo: FreeImages.com/Sarah Cuypers
Edition:Prime Yield

IMF warns Greece for risks in the credit system

22 March, 2019

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) discerns risks in Greece’s credit system, according to the post-bailout surveillance report discussed at March 6^thExecutive Board meeting, according to Kathimerini.

This is an issue that the Fund has consistently referred to as it considers it of prime significance for the Greek economy. This time sources say the IMF does not directly raise the issue of recapitalization, as it has done in the past, but identifies serious dangers due to the high volume of nonperforming loans.

The Fund is also unhappy with the proposals for the reduction of nonperforming loans and the protection of borrowers’ primary residences that the government is discussing with the European institutions.

Original Story: Ekathimerini | Eirini Chrysolora
Photo: IMF
Edition:Prime Yield

Cerberus wants to take €350 million with Gescobro sale

22 March, 2019

Cerberus Capital Management has just put the sales signal over Gescobro, its credit recovery company in Spain. According to several sources listened by La Información, the North-American fund is completing the five-year disposal programme established when it acquired the credit recovery society from the Spanish fund Miura, back in 2014.

The same media added that Ceberus aim is to obtain around €350 million with the deal, although the final price will depend on how the sales process will go on. Alantra is advising Cerberus on the sales process, which is expected to last until the end of first semester, at least. The non-bidding offers phase is now open.

The sales value is based on the significant portfolio of bad credit acquired by the company over the last few years from the main Spanish financial entities, and whose gross asset value totals more than €8.6 billion. More precisely, Gescobro owns 12 unsecured credit portfolios with a gross book value of €8.3 billion and other two secured credit portfolio with a gross nominal value around €300 million.

Estimated recovery procedures pending amount to almost €600 million over the next 15 years.

Besides, Gescobro has “servicing” agreements with the majority of the main Spanish banks, being responsible to manage and recovery their non performing credits. In total, these business area means other €3.5 billion third party owned under management. Among these last ones, there is the recently acquired «Mauser Project».

Established in 1980, Gescobro is specialist in non-secured credit from SMEs.

Original Story: La información | Pepe Bravo
Photo: Cerberus online
Edition:Prime Yield

Recovery in Greece’s housing sector gains momentum

21 March, 2019

The recovery om Greece’s housing market gained momentum over the last quarter of 2018, with prices rising 2.5% year-on-year, as shown by the latest data released by the Greek central bank.

Greek housing prices had declined by 42% since 2008’s peak data showed, suggesting that a recovering economy and growing interest might lift property prices further.

Apartment prices rose 2.5% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2017, Bank of Greece data showed, with the recovery accelerating from a downwardly revised 2.1% increase in the third quarter of last year.

More specifically, prices rose by 4.2% year-on-year in Athens, where home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and a “golden visa” programme (a renewable five-year resident’s permit in return for a €250,000 investment in real estate) have grown very popular.

Prices had slid 1.0% in 2017 from a year earlier, taking the cumulative fall since 2008, when the country’s protracted recession began, to 42%.

«It (new data) is a further confirmation of the uptrend in market prices, with Athens starring after an increase of 4.2%», National Bank economist Nikos Magginas told Reuters.

«It’s the result of rising demand and a shrinking stock of available-for-sale residential real estate», he added.

A projected rise in real disposable income of about 2% this year, coupled with improving economic sentiment and nascent signs of a pick-up in demand for mortgage credit, should further boost real estate prices in 2019, Magginas said.

Property accounts for a large chunk of household wealth in Greece, which has one of the highest home ownership rates in Europe at 80%, versus a European Union average of 70%, according to the European Mortgage Federation.

Original Story: Reuters | George Georgipoulos
Photo: FreeImages.com/Toomas Järvet
Edition:Prime Yield

Property prices: buyer-seller expectation gaps widen to 22%

21 March, 2019

The average price of property rocketed by 15.4% in the space of a year in Portugal. But while real estate continues to result in relatively decent profits for sellers, new data also indicates that their expectations of the property’s worth and its actual selling price have widened further this past year.

Expectations in Portugal are usually that a potential buyer of property will offer less than the price listed by the seller.

A decade ago, prior to the economic crisis, the so-called buyer-seller expectation gap stood at around 10%. But since the onset of the well-documented property market boom, sellers appear to have even greater unrealistic prospects of their property’s actual value. In Lisbon, this differential between buyers and sellers has now climbed to 22%, while in Porto, this figure has risen to as high as 30%.

These figures were calculated by real estate market analysts Confidencial Imobiliário (CI), throughout comparing declared values once property deeds are signed against values contained on the Residential Information System, showing listing prices.

Other figures published a few days earlier showed that average property prices in Portugal ballooned by 15.4% in the space of 12 months leading up to December 2018.

Accumulated increases since late 2013, now stand at 46% CI said, yet sellers now appear to have an even greater distorted perception of the market values of their property.

However, this is far from meaning that we are seeing the end of rising property prices in Portugal, only at a more sedate rate. A view that is further substantiated by the recent Portuguese Housing Market Survey, from CI, which found that prices are set to start levelling out, though maintaining an upward curve.

Meanwhile, rental properties have also continued to record price increases, and rose by 37% in 2018 when compared with the previous year. The average rent in Portugal currently stands at €1,106/month. The five districts with the highest average rental prices in 2018 are Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Beja and Setúbal.

Original Story:The Portugal News | Brendan de Beer
Photo: FreeImages.com/Hugo Humberto Plácido da Silva
Edition:Prime Yield

Spain’s housing market shows signs of cooling in loans

20 March, 2019

Spain’s vibrant property market just showed another small signal of slowing in the end of 2018, as the new loans in houses recorded the lowest pace in four years, Reuters reported.

While the number of new mortgages on houses reached a seven-year high in 2018, the annual growth slowed, according to latest data released by the Spanish National Statistics Institute. The €42.7 billion lent represented a double-digit jump from 2017, yet the increase eased from the previous year’s.

The number of new house mortgages rose 10.3% last year, INE said. That’s down from growth of 10.7% in 2017, 14.6% in 2016 and 20.8% in 2015.

As an investment, homes have been beating many major alternatives. Prices rose an annual 7.2% in the third quarter, the most recent periodavailable. That compares with a drop of 9.6% in the benchmark IBEX 35 index in the same 12 months, and a 0.1% gain in a one-year to 10-year Spanish government bonds index.

Activity varied widely across the country, with regions like Valencia and Madrid showing more than 14% mortgage volume growth, to increases as low as 5.2% in Galicia and 2.4% in Aragon.

Surging purchase prices and rents in big cities in the past few years nevertheless are provoking the Socialist government to plan urgent legislation to cap apartment rents. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is negotiating a mechanism that could allow regions to limit rental increases, El Pais newspaper reported.

Sanchez would need parliament to ratify the decree. He faces possibly being driven from power in April general elections, according to opinion polls.

Original Story: Bloomberg | Todd White and Macarena Muñoz Montijano
Photo: FreeImages.com/Philipp K
Edition:Prime Yield

Intrum plans to reinforce investment in Greece’s NPL market

19 March, 2019

«A step toward the right direction to reduce the moral hazard in the country,» is how Intrum Justitia Group Chief Executive Mikael Ericson describes the agreement between the Greek government and the country’s banks concerning the amendment of the so-called Katseli law for the protection of debtors.

In an interview with Kathimerini, the head of one of the largest European nonperforming loan servicing companies says that the group’s plan in Greece is to be independent and to benefit both the lenders and borrowers, as the former will be getting paid for products and services they have sold, and the latter will recieve assistance to improve the state of their finances.

The responsible also revealed Intrum’s plans to reinforce its presence within the Greek market, after having acquired two large NPL portfolios. «We are considering a variety of options and more recently we have applied for a debt servicing license with the Bank of Greece», he said. Besides, «we are also looking at other alternatives, one potentially being to buy a licensed debt servicing platform, another to do a carve-out from a local bank, or even to build a platform of our own».

Original Story: Ekathimerini | Evgenia Tzortzi
Photo: Intrum
Edition:Prime Yield

Startups in February up 23.9% as insolvencies went down 1%

19 March, 2019

The number of new companies formed in Portugal in February was up 23.9% on the same month a year earlier, at 4,668, while the number or insolvencies was down 1% at 494, according to a study by business information service Iberinform.

According to the research from the subsidiary of Crédito y Caución, a company specialising in credit insurance for the domestic and export markets, there were five fewer insolvencies in February than a year earlier, and 899 more new companies.

In the first two months of 2019 taken together, the number of new companies created was up 25.1% at 11,330.

The cumulative total for insolvencies was up 3.5% on the same period a year earlier, at 1,007, although this total was lower than the same period in both 2016 and 2017.

Original Story:The Portugal News Online | Lusa
Photo: FreeImages_Matthew Bowden
Edition:Prime Yield