Turnover in the business economy, excluding pharmaceuticals, financial and insurance activities, was approximately 4,000 billion ISK in 2017 compared with 3,900 billion ISK in 2016, an increase of 2.6%. Total equity increased by 6% and was nearly 3,000 billion ISK at year end 2017. Equity ratio was 42%, an small increase from 2016.
The income statement and balance sheet statistics are compiled from corporate tax returns and were compiled from more than 39 thousand tax returns in 2017. These companies have around 124 thousand employees in 444 different industries.[1]
Turnover between years increased most in the categories of aquaculture 4.9 billion ISK (34%); Civil engineering 6.2 billion ISK (33%); information service activities 3.7 billion ISK (27%). Turnover decreased most in the activities of motion picture, video and television programme production 4.2 billion ISK (-18%) and fisheries, 44 billion ISK (-13%).
There has been a significant year-on-year growth in the construction industry. Operating income increased by 19%, from 299 billion in 2016 to 356 billion in 2017. Labour costs increased by 19% and seems to be in line with the increase in operating income. Equity ratio increased by 2.3 percentage point between years, and is 25%, while equity increases by nearly 30%. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 22.5%, from 34 billion ISK to 41 billion between years.
Companies in the aquaculture industry saw an increase in operating income of 34% and with an increase last year operating income has nearly doubled in the last two years. Net profit increased by 2.6 billion ISK and was 900 million ISK in 2017. Equity has increased by 28% between years, is now 22 billion ISK, and the equity ratio is 50%.
Operating income for the fisheries sector decreased between 2016 and 2017. However, operating costs also dropped and financial items were negative. Therefore, net profit decreased by 12.2 billion ISK (25%). Long-term liabilities of fisheries companies increased by 5.3% and equity increased by 4.7% between years.
Growth in tourism industries continued in 2017 but at a slower pace than last year. Operating income increased by 6% and was 590 billion ISK. The number of employees continued to increase (8%), with over 26 thousand employees in 2017. There was a decrease in EBIT of 38%, 28 billion ISK in 2017 compared with 45 billion ISK in the previous year.
| Selected items from operating and financial statements in 2016 and 2017 in billion ISK | |||||||||
| Operating income | Equity | Dividends | |||||||
| 2016 | 2017 | Change | 2016 | 2017 | Change | 2016 | 2017 | Change | |
| Total business economy including fisheries and excluding pharmaceuticals, financial and insurance activities | 3,916 | 4,020 | 3% | 2,812 | 2,993 | 6% | 113 | 143 | 26% |
| Tourism industries | 551 | 589 | 7% | 118 | 131 | 10% | 10 | 12 | 11% |
| Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 649 | 582 | -10% | 122 | 110 | -10% | 10 | 16 | 66% |
| Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 415 | 418 | 1% | 105 | 114 | 8% | 18 | 10 | -47% |
| Fisheries | 329 | 285 | -13% | 301 | 315 | 5% | 14 | 17 | 23% |
| Manufacture of basic metals | 194 | 220 | 14% | 260 | 216 | -17% | 0 | 15 | - |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 143 | 149 | 4% | 568 | 595 | 5% | 4 | 4 | 26% |
| Construction | 299 | 356 | 19% | 81 | 105 | 30% | 7 | 12 | 58% |
| High and Medium-high technology manufacturing | 82 | 88 | 7% | 139 | 139 | 1% | 4 | 4 | 0% |
| High technology services | 216 | 220 | 2% | 127 | 124 | -3% | 5 | 4 | -27% |
| High technology manufacturing and services | 298 | 308 | 4% | 266 | 263 | -1% | 9 | 8 | -16% |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | 152 | 156 | 2% | 273 | 254 | -7% | 16 | 15 | -4% |
[1] According to the NACE rev. 2classification system