“The enterprises were affected by a high price situation and the sales volumes have decreased”, says Mariah Nilsson, statistician at Statistics Sweden. Figures adjusted for inflation shows decreased production values at the same time as the enterprise’s margins stays at the same level as previous years.

“Despite their small size in the business sector, the textile industry has one of the highest investment ratios”, says Elin Bodewall, economist at Statistics Sweden.

Structural business statistics is the only survey that is based on annual accounts from all non-financial enterprises in Sweden. Based on this data, a large number of statistics can be produced both for the entire business sector, as well as breakdowns by industry, size classes and numerous key ratios. Complete income statements and balance sheets are also produced for the entire business sector as well as breakdowns by industry.

Summary of the business sector

• 1 million enterprises
• 3 million employees
• Net turnover increased by 0.7 percent
• Production value increased by 1.3 percent in current prices and decreased by 0.4 percent in fixed prices

The business sector was at a standstill in 2024

Net turnover for the business sector is in large parts the same compared with 2023, where a change rate close to zero reflects a limited growth on the aggregated level. This stagnation can in part be explained by two of the largest industry groups, Wholesale and retail trade incl. repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE 45-47) and Manufacturing (NACE 10-33), whose change in net turnover was close to zero compared with the previous year. The industries for Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (NACE 35) as well as Mining and quarrying (NACE 05-09), showed the weakest development, with an increasingly declining net turnover. These industry groups are more significantly affected by the macro-economic situation and more directly by changes of prices for raw materials which are often more volatile in periods of uncertainty.

An industry highly affected by external factors, such as the economic situation, international demand and prices of raw materials, is Manufacture of basic metals (i.e. steel, iron) (NACE 24). For several years, the global market for steel, has been characterized by an extensive overproduction in relation to demand. The global demand for steel decreased further in 2024, with decreasing production volumes as a result. Even though the Swedish steel industry mainly produces specialized and highly refined products, which are less substitutable, the global negative development is evident for the Swedish industry as well, with a decrease in net turnover of 3.5 percent in 2024.

On the other hand, other parts of the business sector had a better development. Despite subdued economic conditions, there was an increased demand linked to the energy transition, especially driven by an increased interest for electrification in the industries for manufacturing and transport. Manufacture of electrical equipment (NACE 27) therefore displayed a strong growth in 2024, where net turnover increased by 21.2 percent and number of employees by 14.2 percent. In the business sector enterprises are included in the industries for Education (NACE 85) and Human health and social work activities (NACE 86-88). These industries had a stable growth in 2024, and net turnover for the former increased at a faster pace compared to the previous years. Net turnover increased by 6.0 percent in 2024, compared with an increase of 3.5 percent in 2023. Worth noting, is that these industries only include the part that is carried out by private providers and not the part carried out within the public sector.

The smallest enterprises increase net turnover the most

In 2024, the number of enterprises increased by 1.0 percent compared with 2023. The entire increase is in the smallest size class, micro-enterprises, (0-9 employees), whereas all other size classes display a decrease in number of enterprises. A change in the number of enterprises between size classes are depending on the fact that enterprises change their size class with the change of number of employees. The Swedish business sector is dominated by micro-enterprises, and they contribute to 97.0 percent of the total number of enterprises.

Micro-enterprises display the largest percentage increase in net turnover, 4.6 percent, and balance sheet total, 18.2 percent, in the business sector compared with 2023. However, they only contribute with 15.8 percent of total net turnover and 22.7 percent of total balance sheet total. The fact that the micro-enterprises have such a high percentage of balance sheet total is because amongst these are holding enterprises and real estate enterprises with none or few employees, but with considerable values in the balance sheet, such as shares and participations and tangible assets (e.g. buildings, machinery) 

The largest enterprises (over 250 employees) have the highest number of employees, and they also generated the highest net turnover in 2024. The largest enterprises account for 53.1 percent of the net turnover in the business sector, despite representing only 1.0 percent of total number of enterprises. The largest enterprises showed no significant development of either net turnover or balance sheet total.

Margins in the business sector remain good

Key ratios derived from the income statement and balance sheet provide a useful measure of performance, efficiency and viability of enterprises, and a large number can be calculated based on the enterprise unit from Structural business statistics.

The net margin in the business sector was 7.4 percent in 2024, which is a small increase from 7.2 percent in 2023. Return on total capital amounted to 9.2 percent, which also represent an increase compared to 2023. Working capital in relation to net turnover increased slightly to 12.8 percent. All presented key ratios displays improved measures for the business sector, which indicates that Swedish enterprises are generally viable. 

Broken down by size class, all size classes, except enterprises with 50-99 employees, display an improved net margin in 2024 compared to 2023. This size class (50-99 employees) also shows a decreased return on total capital and a reduced working capital. A decreased net margin may be due to a higher degree of loans which in turn generated higher interest costs, which is also reflected in the reduced working capital. Enterprises with 100-249 employees display a negative working capital for 2024, a decrease compared to 2023, which may be due to an increase in current liabilities that have not been met with increased current assets. Micro-enterprises (0-9 employees) have the highest net margin and working capital in the business sector, which shows a good coverage for current liabilities and a strong position for continued expansion and increased growth.

In a similar way, key ratios can be broken down by industry. In the table below selected industries and the business sector in total are shown for 2023 and 2024. These key ratios are calculated based on the part of these industries that is performed by private providers for education, human health and social work activities and not carried out within the public sector.

These industries have both a working capital and a return on total capital that is higher than the business sector, which displays a good opportunity for continued expansion. The Net margins are slightly lower, and for Human health activities (NACE 86), it has also decreased to close to zero for 2024, which may be due to a negative net financial item. However, a high return on total capital and a stable working capital thus shows continued opportunities for growth.

Unchanged profitability but reduced sales volume

Profitability in the business sector can be measured in numerous ways. The key ratios best suited for the kind-of-activity unit is operating margin and value added per employee.

Operating margin before depreciations for the business sector amounted in 2024 to 10.2 percent and has remained relatively stable around 9 percent during the time series depicted in the table below. This margin shows that the business sector has received SEK 0.10 per SEK earned before depreciations, financial items and tax. The key ratio has been positive during the time series which indicates that the operations have had a positive result. 

Another way of measuring how productive the operations are, is to measure value added per employee. That is, how much each employee contributes to the operation’s surplus to cover for wages and salaries, depreciations, financial costs and tax. Value added in the business sector, calculated for kind-of-activity unit, amounted to SEK 3 502 billion in 2024, where each employee contributed with SEK 1.1 million. Both operating margin and value added per employee has remained relatively stable during the time series.

By calculating production value and consumption value in both current and fixed prices, it is possible to compare development figures too see whether an increase in value added is due to an increased sales volume or if it is also affected by price changes. In 2024 production value increased by 1.3 percent, consumption value by 0.2 percent and value added by 3.3 percent expressed in current prices compared to 2023.

If these development figures are put in relation to the price increases, it is noticeable that the increases can be attributed to increased prices and not to an increased sales volume. When the production, consumption, and value added of 2024 is expressed in 2023 prices, i.e. adjusted for the continued high prices in 2024, production value decreased by 0.4 percent and consumption value by 1.8 percent. These decreases indicate a lower sales volume than in 2023. However, value added increased by 1.9 percent.

Strong increase in investment ratio in certain industries

By putting gross investments in tangible assets in relation to value added, an investment ratio can be calculated. The investment ratio depicts how large share of the value added is re-invested in the operating unit. The investment ratio for the business sector was relatively stable during the time series. In 2024, some of the industries within manufacturing increased significantly. The selected industries in the graph below, Manufacture of textiles (NACE 13), Manufacture of basic metals (NACE 24) and Manufacture of electrical equipment (NACE 27), all displayed a higher investment ratio than the business sector in total. 

 The investment ratios increased more rapidly in these industries than in the business sector. It was especially evident in the manufacture of basic metals, where the ratio more than doubled, and in the manufacture of electrical equipment where an already high ratio remained at a high level. An increase of the investment ratio means that a higher share of the value added is derived to investments. The ratio does not describe the content of the investments but shows that the tied-up capital in these industries increased in 2024. 

All the selected industries increased their gross investments in absolute terms, but the increase was largest in manufacture of basic metals, and manufacture of electrical equipment industries, both in percentages and in actual SEK. Two distinct patterns appear when the investment ratio is compared with the actual gross investments. Both manufacture of basic metals and manufacture of electrical equipment displays high investment ratios and large investments in SEK. This means that these industries invested a lot of capital, also in relation to their size. Manufacture of textiles also have a high investment ratio, but not a large amount in actual numbers. This indicates that even a relatively small increase in SEK had a large effect on the investment ratio.

The industries for both Manufacture of basic metals (NACE 24) and Manufacture of electrical equipment (NACE 27) displays a combination of rapidly increasing investment ratios and large increases in gross investments. This implies that these industries are in a period of extensive capacity building or technological renewal. The sharp increase of the investment ratio of the Manufacture of textiles industry (NACE 13), despite small relative amounts, indicates that the industry is going through some changes that are large in relation to its size.

Reduced sales in trade of motor vehicles

2024 was a year of negative development for Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (NACE 45). Value added decreased by SEK 1.8 billion, or 2.7 percent, compared with the previous year. Thus, the industry’s contribution to the economy decreased to SEK 65.8 billion for 2024. Gross operating surplus has also decreased, from SEK 16.2 billion in 2023 to SEK 11.1 billion in 2024.

Dividing Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE 45) further to NACE 3-digit level shows a more detailed view of how the industry has developed. Within this industry, Sale of motor vehicles (NACE 45.1), stands for the largest part of value added, SEK 29.8 billion, however, Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (NACE 45.2) and Sale of motor vehicle parts and accessories (NACE 45.3) also contributes to a large part of the industry. It is, however, Sale of motor vehicles (NACE 45.1) that drives the negative development in the industry with a decrease in value added of SEK 3.8 billon, or 11.2 percent, compared to the previous year. Gross operating surplus has also decreased for Sale of motor vehicles (NACE 45.1), from SEK 5.5 billion in 2023 to SEK -156 million in 2024, a decrease of SEK 5.6 billion. For an industry as a whole, a negative gross operating surplus is a sign that the operating income in an industry does not cover the costs of inputs and personnel.

Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (NACE 45.2) and Sale of motor vehicle parts and accessories (NACE 45.3) fared better. They had a positive development in value added in 2024, SEK 1 billion each, or 5.3 and 7.8 percent, respectively. Gross operating surplus has also had a positive development for these, 1.0 percent for Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (NACE 45.2) and 7.3 percent for Sale of motor vehicle parts and accessories (NACE 45.3). Sale, maintenance and repair of motorcycles and related parts and accessories (NACE 45.4) is a small part of the industry and accounts for a small part of the decrease in value added, SEK 83 million, or 5.6 percent. However, they had a positive development of gross operating surplus, 8.1 percent. Even though the development for Sale of motor vehicles (NACE 45.1) was negative, the development for Driving school activities (NACE 85.53) has been slightly positive in 2024. Value added for Driving school activities (NACE 85.53) has increased with SEK 33.3 million, or 2.1 percent. This shows that even if fewer new cars were sold, the interest for obtaining a driving license was still stable.