Company profits up nearly 7 percent in 2006

Provisional figures on non-financial enterprises show an increase in net profits after tax of 6.7 percent, to 87.9 billion euro in 2006. Domestic profits fell by 2.7 percent, however.
Income from participations, mainly from abroad, grew by 4.7 billion euro. Operating expenses rose from 4.6 billion euro to 6.2 billion euro. Corporation tax fell by 3.8 billion euro to 14.3 billion euro.
At 21.6 percent, capital earning capacity remained historically high in 2006. Since 1992, earning capacity has only topped 20 percent in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

Operating results of non-financial enterprises