"The Spanish SME is not in open crisis, but it is in a situation of increasing structural pressure that conditions its present and compromises its future. This is one of the conclusions of the latest Barometer carried out by the General Council of Administrative Managers Associations of Spain (GA), and whose commented access by its president, Fernando Santiago, Demócrata has had access to.
"26% of companies that are at a loss -this sample collected by 264 practicing Administrative Managers, out of a total of 7,496 professionals-, have entered into losses in 2025. This implies -maintain the AMs-, that we are not facing a situation inherited from previous years, but a recent deterioration". So -Santiago points out to this newspaper-, "we can say that the business system holds up, but is losing its capacity to generate value, then -he underlines-, there is no collapse, but there is a progressive erosion of profitability".
"The problem is the environment"
Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises remain standing. They produce, sell, sustain employment, and continue to be one of the essential pillars of the national economy. The dynamism provided by more than 100 billion euros annually from tourism, together with an external surplus exceeding 60 billion, allows the business machinery to remain operational, especially in the case of large and medium-sized companies. However, this momentum coexists with a less visible, but increasingly decisive reality: an environment that adds pressure, complexity, and increasing structural risk, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Spring 2026 Barometer of the General Council of Administrative Managers Associations —prepared from a representative sample with a 95.5% confidence level and a maximum error of 6.05%— does not depict an immediate crisis, just as the current macroeconomic cycle does not either. But it does draw a line of progressive wear and tear: an economy that holds up, though each time with less room for maneuver.
“The problem is not the company. The Spanish SME is responding. The problem is the environment in which it has to do it”, warns Fernando Jesús Santiago Ollero. “We are debating between where we are —objectively better than many European partners in macroeconomic terms— and where we could be if the regulatory framework and economic policy decisions were adequate.”
Barometer of administrative managers
Context
According to the latest Barometer of Administrative Managers, the Spanish SME economy is not growing. It is stabilized. And this stabilization is not positive, because it occurs in a context of:
*Cost increase. Operating and labor costs continue to increase without pause.
*Greater tax pressure. The tax burden is perceived as growing and conditioning.
*Increased risk. The business environment accumulates uncertainty and vulnerability.
A photograph that forces to look beyond the headline
At first glance, the data invites a moderately optimistic reading. 57.6% of SMEs closed 2025 with profits, which confirms that the business fabric remains active and generating value.
But the analysis becomes more complex when the rest of the figures are incorporated. 20.1% of companies ended the fiscal year in losses, while an additional 22.3% were at the break-even point, without generating profit. In aggregate terms, more than four out of ten companies are not being profitable, if profitability is understood as the relationship between profits and assets or net worth.
The data acquires greater relevance when observing its evolution: of the total companies in losses, 26.6% have entered that situation during the year 2025 itself. It is not, therefore, an inherited problem, but a recent deterioration that points to a change in trend, observes the GA Barometer.
“What is worrying is not only how many companies are in losses, but how many have come to be so now. That is where it is anticipated where we are going”, emphasizes Santiago.
More sells… but less is earned
The behavior of economic activity introduces one of the main paradoxes of the report. 41.3% of companies increased their sales in 2025, a reflection of an economy that, at least in terms of demand, remains active.
However, that growth does not translate into an equivalent improvement in results. The consequence is a generalized compression of margins: the additional effort does not generate profit, but is allocated, in many cases, to sustain the activity.
“Companies are doing more to get less. They sell more, work more, take on more risk… but with less return. And that is not sustainable,” warns the president of the General Council. “This behavior is consistent with a scenario in which the word ‘stagflation’ accurately describes the situation: weak or stagnant growth combined with an increase in costs.”
An environment that pressures from all angles
The report identifies a set of factors that, in their accumulation, shape a particularly demanding context. 69.1% of administrative managers perceive an increase in tax pressure. 81.85% point to labor costs as one of the main obstacles. And 84.56% point to economic uncertainty as a key conditioning factor.
It is not a single problem, but the superposition of all of them. And their effects are beginning to transfer to the operational ground: 56.15% of professionals believe that business risk is increasing, while close to 19.2% of companies present serious liquidity problems.
There is, furthermore, a significant correlation: a percentage very similar to that of companies in losses is that of those that increase their financing needs. Where there is a negative net result, a negative cash flow also appears, which compromises medium-term viability.
“When pressure comes from all fronts -costs, taxes and uncertainty-, what is reduced is not only the margin, but also the capacity for resistance”, explains Santiago.
The perception of a system that does not accompany
Beyond economic indicators, the barometer incorporates a particularly revealing qualitative element: the perception of the functioning of the institutional environment.
86.1% of administrative managers believe that the relationship with the Administration has not improved in the last year, while 39.9% state that today it is more difficult to manage than twelve months ago.
The problems are known and persistent: excess of regulation (83.5%), administrative slowness (69.8%), lack of attention (62.8%), and difficulties associated with digitalization (53.3%).
“We have advanced in technology, but not always in effectiveness. And that is generating a growing feeling that the system is not accompanying whom it should”, points out the president of the Council.
The report also suggests a fundamental change: digitalization is not reducing the administrative burden, but in many cases is shifting it to the entrepreneur himself, adding new layers of complexity. As of today, the real cost of that bureaucracy assumed by companies, an pending task that is key to sizing the problem, continues to be unquantified.
A matter of substance: who really accompanies the SME
In this context, the barometer poses a question that transcends the data: in an increasingly demanding and uncertain environment, who is truly accompanying SMEs in their day-to-day?
Because, despite everything, the business response remains significant. 64.7% of companies maintained their workforce in 2025, avoiding adjustments even in an adverse scenario. But they do so under more fragile conditions: with less margin, greater pressure, and increasing risk.
“Today value is not only in analyzing or representing, but in truly accompanying companies when they have to make decisions, fulfill obligations, and continue operating in an increasingly complex system”, says Santiago.
What factors limit growth?
The Spring Barometer of 2026 does not anticipate an immediate crisis, but it does issue a clear warning: wear and tear is cumulative. It is not the lack of activity that worries, but the conditions in which that activity develops.
Taxation, costs, bureaucracy and administrative functioning configure an environment that limits growth, reduces profitability and increases the vulnerability of the business fabric.
“Companies are responding. The question is how long they can continue doing so under these conditions. And that is a question that, as a country, we should ask ourselves,” concludes the president of the General Council.