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Business in Ireland 2019

Business Performance in Ireland

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The performance of business in Ireland in 2019 was examined using a number of performance indicators. The Structural Business Surveys¹ were used to compile the data.

Labour productivity, personnel costs as a percentage of gross value added (GVA) and enterprise profitability were analysed. The contribution of the 50 largest enterprises, both in terms of GVA and employment were also examined.

GVA represents the value of the goods and services produced, in this case, in the Irish Business Economy. A simple measure of productivity is to analyse GVA by the number of persons engaged. The relatively large multinational sector in Ireland and the consequent assignment of value added to the Irish economy, can make the interpretation of indicators like GVA per person engaged more difficult.

Care should be taken when looking at the results for micro sized enterprises. This size class covers enterprises with less than 10 persons engaged. This also includes enterprises that officially have no persons engaged assigned to them, but in some cases have significant economic value. In Figure 4.3 we can see that personnel costs relative to GVA are lower for micro enterprises than for other SMEs.

¹The surveys used were Census of Industrial Production (CIP), Building and Construction Inquiry (BCI) and Annual Services Inquiry (ASI). Financial and Insurance activities were excluded from this analysis.

X-axis label	Irish-owned	All enterprises
Micro (<10 persons engaged)	72432	99827
Small (10-49 persons engaged)	44393	55936
Medium (50-249 persons engaged)	47684	76311
Large (250+ persons engaged)	79459	303145
All size classes	61122	147621

Gross value added (GVA) per person engaged averaged €147,621 for all enterprises in the Irish non-financial Business Economy in 2019, while Irish-owned enterprises averaged €61,122
In 2019, small enterprises (10-49 persons engaged) reported GVA per person engaged of €55,936, while medium enterprises (50-249 persons engaged) reported €76,311 GVA per person engaged
GVA per person engaged for large (250+ persons engaged) Irish-owned enterprises was €79,459 but rose to €303,145 when foreign-owned large enterprises were included

X-axis label	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)	Large (250+ persons engaged)
All sectors	78637	303145
Industry	111004	763543
Construction	66659	117322
Distribution	64740	70049
Services	80663	186507

In 2019, gross value added (GVA) per person engaged averaged €303,145 for large enterprises and €78,637 for SMEs (<250 persons engaged) in the Irish non-financial Business Economy
In comparison to other sectors, Industrial enterprises reported the highest average GVA per person engaged for both large enterprises and SMEs at €763,543 and €111,004 respectively
In the Construction sector, the average GVA per person engaged in large firms was €117,322 while in SMEs it was €66,659
In 2019, the Distribution sector reported average GVA per person engaged of €70,049 for large enterprises compared to €64,740 for SMEs
In the Services sector, the average GVA per person engaged by large firms was €186,507 compared to €80,663 for SMEs in 2019

X-axis label	Irish-owned	All enterprises
Micro (<10 persons engaged)	35.7	26.8
Small (10-49 persons engaged)	79.6	67.5
Medium (50-249 persons engaged)	73.3	55.4
Large (250+ persons engaged)	57.5	16.6
All size classes	55.3	26.9

In 2019, personnel costs represented 26.9% of gross value added (GVA) across all enterprises. For Irish-owned enterprises this figure was 55.3%
Personnel costs as a proportion of GVA for large Irish-owned enterprises was 57.5%
When large foreign enterprises were included the value of personnel costs for all large enterprises fell to 16.6%

X-axis label	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)	Large (250+ persons engaged)
All sectors	44.4	16.6
Industry	48.8	8.7
Construction	66.2	56.1
Distribution	47.3	46.2
Services	37.9	26.4

In 2019, personnel costs as a percentage of gross value added (GVA) averaged 44.4% for SMEs and 16.6% for large enterprises in the Irish non-financial Business Economy
In the Industry sector, large enterprises paid 8.7% of GVA in personnel costs compared to 48.8% in SMEs
Large Services enterprises incurred personnel costs of 26.4% of GVA compared to 37.9% for SMEs in 2019

X-axis label	Irish-owned	All enterprises
Micro (<10 persons engaged)	22.1	23.2
Small (10-49 persons engaged)	5	6.7
Medium (50-249 persons engaged)	6.7	11
Large (250+ persons engaged)	12.8	29
All size classes	13.1	22.7

For all enterprises in the Irish non-financial Business Economy, 22.7% of turnover was reported as gross operating surplus
Irish-owned enterprises reported 13.1% of turnover as gross operating surplus in 2019
The highest rate of gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover was reported by all large enterprises combined (29.0%)

X-axis label	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)	Large (250+ persons engaged)
All sectors	14.6	29
Industry	14.7	38.6
Construction	11.4	13.2
Distribution	6.4	9.4
Services	25	21.5

SMEs generated a gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover of 14.6% in 2019
The Distribution sector generated the lowest gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, with large enterprises at 9.4% and SMEs at 6.4% in 2019
The Industry sector generated the highest gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover for large enterprises in 2019 at 38.6%, with SMEs second highest at 14.7%
The Services sector generated the highest gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover for SMEs in 2019 at 25.0%, with large enterprises second highest at 21.5%

X-axis label	Top 50 by GVA	Top 50 by employment
Gross Operating Surplus	74.7	37.9
GVA	57.8	31.5
Turnover	44.1	30.1

In 2019, the 50 largest enterprises in the Business Economy by GVA accounted for 44.1% of total turnover, 57.8% of total GVA and 74.7% of gross operating surplus. These Top 50 enterprises accounted for only 5.4% of all persons engaged
The 50 largest enterprises in the Business Economy by employment accounted for 30.1% of total turnover, 31.5% of total GVA and 37.9% of gross operating surplus
Industry stands out in terms of its reliance upon a small number of high value added enterprises. In 2019, the 50 largest enterprises in Industry by GVA accounted for 77.3% of total turnover, 87.6% of total GVA and 96.2% of gross operating surplus for the sector

4.1 Contribution of 50 largest enterprises by GVA and employment within sector, 2019

4.2 Gross value added per person engaged by sector and size class, 2019

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Table 4.1 Contribution of 50 largest enterprises by GVA and employment within sector, 2019
					€m
	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services¹	Total Business Economy ¹
Business Economy
Turnover	287,682	33,701	192,617	299,224	813,224
Gross value added	114,646	11,176	25,884	101,207	252,913
Gross operating surplus	98,689	3,924	13,730	68,633	184,976
Persons engaged	264,398	158,227	390,546	900,086	1,713,257
Contribution of Top 50 Enterprises by GVA
Turnover	77.3%	21.0%	29.5%	55.4%	44.1%
Gross value added	87.6%	20.9%	47.5%	52.3%	57.8%
Gross operating surplus	96.2%	36.3%	73.6%	68.6%	74.7%
Persons engaged	20.4%	8.2%	14.5%	8.4%	5.4%
Contribution of Top 50 Enterprises by employment
Turnover	63.8%	17.5%	14.4%	32.3%	30.1%
Gross value added	72.0%	16.2%	27.0%	13.4%	31.5%
Gross operating surplus	78.7%	18.9%	30.9%	9.6%	37.9%
Persons engaged	27.5%	10.5%	22.9%	14.1%	10.6%
Source: CSO structural business surveys
¹ Excludes Financial & Insurance activities (NACE Rev.2 Section K) and includes Services NACE divisions R92, R93, S95, S96.

Table 4.2 Gross Value Added per person engaged by sector and size class, 2019
Sector and Class Size	Gross Value Added¹	Persons engaged	Gross Value Added per person engaged
	€'000	No.	€
Industry
Micro (<10)	4,099,842	28,523	143,738
Small (10-49)	2,488,995	38,468	64,703
Medium (50-249)	8,250,337	66,691	123,710
All SMEs (<250)	14,839,174	133,682	111,004
Large (250+)	99,807,290	130,716	763,543
All sizes	114,646,464	264,398	433,613
Construction
Micro (<10)	6,013,315	90,656	66,331
Small (10-49)	2,272,098	37,422	60,716
Medium (50-249)	1,434,336	17,735	80,876
All SMEs (<250)	9,719,749	145,813	66,659
Large (250+)	1,456,441	12,414	117,322
All sizes	11,176,190	158,227	70,634
Distribution
Micro (<10)	5,417,174	89,714	60,383
Small (10-49)	6,526,085	112,047	58,244
Medium (50-249)	6,020,803	75,721	79,513
All SMEs (<250)	17,964,062	277,482	64,740
Large (250+)	7,920,021	113,064	70,049
All sizes	25,884,083	390,546	66,277
Services²
Micro (<10)	29,573,840	242,929	121,739
Small (10-49)	10,303,277	198,050	52,024
Medium (50-249)	10,928,490	188,871	57,862
All SMEs (<250)	50,805,607	629,850	80,663
Large (250+)	50,401,000	270,236	186,507
All sizes	101,206,607	900,086	112,441
Total Business Economy
Micro (<10)	45,104,171	451,822	99,827
Small (10-49)	21,590,455	385,987	55,936
Medium (50-249)	26,633,966	349,018	76,311
All SMEs (<250)	93,328,592	1,186,827	78,637
Large (250+)	159,584,752	526,430	303,145
All sizes	252,913,344	1,713,257	147,621
Source: CSO structural business surveys
¹Totals may differ due to rounding.
² Excludes Financial & Insurance activities (NACE Rev.2 Section K) and includes Services NACE divisions R92, R93, S95, S96.

Business in Ireland 2019

Business Performance in Ireland

Business Performance in Ireland

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