This article updates and revises previous estimates, based largely on national income statistics, of real profitability and company finance. Among the main developments:
- The recovery in company profitability gathered pace in 1983 and appears to have continued in the early part of this year.
- Undistributed income rose sharply in 1983, contributing to an £8 billion financial surplus for the industrial and commercial company sector.
- Borrowing from banks fell back last year, and capital market issues revived further; company acquisitions of financial assets, especially bank deposits, were substantial.
An appendix describes some of the statistics used in this article in more detail. An article on page 360 examines various measures of company profitability and liquidity derived from the reported accounts of some 1,800 non-oil companies.
Company profitability and finance