According to the National Institute of Statistics, the average increase in the gross profit of Spanish companies was 15% in 2022, with Ibex companies’ profits growing by 35%. According to Antoni Cañete, president of Pimec, the employers’ association of small and medium-sized Catalan companies, “it is clear that, if the Ibex earns 35% more and the average is 15%, there are others who have to earn much less… The extraordinary profits made in 2022 were not for everyone”.
According to his figures, 26,000 SMEs closed in 2022 throughout the country, 10% more than in the previous year. Cañete regretted the generalisation made by trade unions about the increase in company profits. “This was not the case for SMEs,” lamented the president of Pimec, which held its annual assembly yesterday.
In addition, he explained, the effects of the rise in costs have made it impossible for many companies to approach the profit levels they showed in 2019, while the debt is higher as they have had to ask for money due to the impact of the pandemic on their business.
