SOME 42% OF COMPANIES IN BULGARIA ARE FAMILY BUSINESSES. IN THE EU, THEIR AVERAGE IS 74%

The share of the family-owned companies in Bulgaria is twice lower than in most EU member states.Their share is only 42% in our country, while their EU average is 74%.
This was announced yesterday by Hristo Iliev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Family Business (FBN) during the presentation of the study of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on family businesses in Bulgaria 2010. 
In Romania, for example, this type of companies numbered nearly two-thirds of all, constituting about 68%, while in France these were 83%; in Italy -73% and in Finland - 91%. Only 156,000 surveyed companies out of 370,000 economically-active entities responded that they were family-owned, reported the NSI.

Although nearly half of the undertakings operating in Bulgaria are family-run, generally, they produce only 17% of the output in the country, which amounts to some BGN 115 bn. The annual total turnover generated by all companies stood at about BGN 192 bn, while a total of BGN 38 bn were yielded by the family business sector, stated Hristo Iliev. This type of companies provided for 28.3% of the employment in the private sector or 618,000 jobs. In fact, the trade and services sectors have the largest number of family-based companies. More than 43% of the family run enterprises in Bulgaria are concentrated in the trade sector employing 34% of the staff. In its turn, the services sector comprised 37.9% of the family-operated companies employing 28% of the actively working people. The industrial sector covered 9% of the family-run companies employing a quarter of the staff of the family business sector.