The largest number of new companies was founded in February.
According to Bisnode analysis, in the first three months of this year, 3,292 new business entities were founded in Croatia, which is 5.1 percent less compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, 1,207 business entities closed down their operations, which is 14 percent less than in the first quarter of 2015, reports Večernji List on April 22, 2016.
It is interesting that the majority of companies were founded in the shortest of all months – February, while the most companies were shut down in March. On average, each business day saw the founding of 50 companies, while 18 businesses were shut down. Of all the new entities, 54.0 percent were simple limited liability companies, followed by joint stock companies (42.6 percent).
As for the Croatian counties, Krapina-Zagorje County had the most favourable ratio when it comes to the newly established and closed down enterprises. In the first three months, for every shut down company there were ten new ones. The situation was similar in the Šibenik-Knin County, where for every closed down company there were 9.4 new business entities established.
The analysis of the data related to counties also shows that only two Croatian regions had more businesses shut down than established during the first quarter of 2016. These are Bjelovar- Bilogora County and Virovitica-Podravina County. In the same quarter in 2015, none of the counties had a negative ratio of established and closed down companies, while the most favourable ratio was recorded in Lika-Senj County.
Regarding the specific sectors of business activity, in the first quarter of this year 22.4 percent of all business entities were founded in trade sector, followed by the hospitality industry with 15.6 percent. Trade is among the leading sectors in the data related to the closed down companies as well, with a share of 28.6 percent, followed by the processing industry with a share of 12.9 percent.