The survey results point to a slight improvement in the enterprises situation in the 1st fortnight of June. The percentage of enterprises in operation increased from 92% in the 2nd fortnight of May to 95% in the 1st fortnight of June, with the Accommodation and food services sector standing out, where the percentage increased from 59% to 77%.
Given the situation that could be expected without the pandemic, 68% of the enterprises reported a negative impact on turnover (compared to 73% in the previous fortnight). The Accommodation and food services and Transportation and storage sectors recorded the largest percentage of enterprises with decreases in turnover (88% and 77%, respectively).
24% of the enterprises reported that their turnover should take more than 6 months to return to the normal level and 4% consider that their turnover should not return to that level. The Accommodation and food services sector stands out for the highest percentage of companies in both situations (38% and 11%, respectively).
Compared to the previous fortnight, 38% of the enterprises reported a stabilization of turnover, and among the rest, the percentage showing increases was higher than the percentage showing reductions (35% and 28%, respectively). By sector, the percentage of enterprises reporting an increase exceeded the percentage of enterprises reporting a reduction in turnover in Accommodation and food services, Distributive trade and Transportation and storage.
In the 1st fortnight of June, 39% of the enterprises reported reductions in the number of persons employed effectively working compared to the situation that could be expected without the pandemic (45% in the previous fortnight). Accommodation and food services enterprises also stand out in this case, with 67% recording a decrease in the number of persons effectively working (even so, -6 p.p. than in the previous fortnight).
Comparing with the 2nd fortnight of May, most enterprises did not report a change in the number of persons employed (68%). Accommodation and food services recorded the highest percentage of enterprises with an increase in the number of persons employed (40%), in most cases due to the reduction in the number of persons in simplified layoff.
47% of the responding enterprises had people in remote working in the first fortnight of June (-6 p.p. compared to the previous fortnight) and more than 55% of the enterprises do not foresee the use of Government support measures excluding the simplified layoff.
More than 75% of the enterprises consider that there is little or no probability of permanently changing their activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes referred to as very likely by enterprises are reinforce of the investment in information technology (25% of enterprises), the increase in the use of remote working (17% of companies) and the redirection of target markets (16% of companies).