Companies sometimes relocate their registered offices to a different autonomous community to access a larger land base, expand facilities, or align with a broader strategic plan. The decision can also come from the owners or be driven by personal, tax, or regulatory considerations. Similar to changes seen during the Catalan independence events in 2017 and 2018, corporate migration often involves a whole team and can result from mergers, acquisitions, or political instability. Each year thousands of Spanish firms move their registered offices within Spain, balancing gains and losses as they shift to new regions for a mix of reasons.
During the last year, the Valencian Community, which holds the status of the second autonomic region, attracted more entrants than exits. Yet this inflow did not translate into a higher overall turnover for the region. In contrast, larger companies leaving the area contributed to a decline in regional turnover.
This trend is highlighted in a report published by D&B, which tracks the migration of companies between autonomies. It notes that last year a total of 5,034 Spanish firms moved from one autonomous community to another, representing a decrease of 6.8%. The exchange saw Madrid gain the most, attracting 332 more firms than those that left its region, while the Basque Country reported the highest total turnover from relocations, totaling 2,280 million euros, largely due to the acquisition of Pan American Energy.
The balance of company movements across the autonomous communities shows the Valencian Community as a net positive in terms of inputs and outputs. Forty companies were won during the last financial year. In a detailed breakdown, up to 491 merchants relocated from other parts of the country to the Valencian Community, compared with 451 who departed, yielding a modest net gain for the region.
Thus, the Valencian Community maintained a positive net balance with Catalonia, Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, and Galicia, among other regions. By contrast, it experienced a net outflow to Murcia and, most notably, Madrid, which recorded a negative balance of 35 merchants.
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When the focus shifts to revenue, the Valencian Community faced a different picture. Incoming firms contributed 294 million euros in annual turnover, while departing firms accounted for 345 million euros, resulting in a net loss of 51 million euros. In other words, the firms leaving the autonomy were larger on average than those relocating in from other regions.
The Madrid exchange illustrates the broader pattern: 429 million euros in turnover left, whereas Andalusia gained 34 firms but with a significant cumulative turnover differential that favored the area with larger outbound losses. The Basque Country emerged as the one earning the most jobs, helped by the transferral of the electricity utility clients, with total turnover reaching 1,115 million euros.
The analysis also notes that around 63 municipalities across the state already host more companies than before the pandemic. If one looks at the period since 2015, the Valencian Community added 516 traders via relocations, with the biggest surges occurring in 2017 and 2018, coinciding with the Catalan independence process where several major entities, including CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell, moved their activities to the region.