Turnover of construction firms on rise

The working day-adjusted turnover of construction enterprises grew by 6.5 per cent in May compared to that of one year before.

According to the Statistics Finland, the volume of sales, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, increased by 4.2 per cent year on year.

Turnover grew strongly in the industries of construction of buildings and civil engineering but decreased in specialised construction activities.

Among individual industries, turnover grew most in construction of buildings, where working day-adjusted turnover grew by 11.6 per cent and sales volume by 9.2 per cent year on year. The turnover of civil engineering adjusted for working days increased by 10.6 per cent and sales volume by 20.7 per cent year on year. The increase in the sales volume of civil engineering was especially due to fallen costs of civil engineering as a result of cheaper motor fuel oil and bitumen.

The working day-adjusted turnover of specialised construction activities decreased by 0.6 per cent and sales volume by 2.8 per cent year on year.

Seasonally adjusted turnover in construction fell by 0.1 per cent in May compared to that in the previous month. Seasonally adjusted sales volume fell by 0.3 per cent from that of one month ago.

The calculation of indices of turnover of construction is based on the Tax Administration’s data on self-assessed taxes, which are supplemented with the Statistics Finland’s sales inquiry. The monthly turnover of construction enterprises can have even large variations due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the project had required the work of several months or years.

The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well.

The data for the latest month are preliminary and they may become significantly revised, particularly on more detailed industry levels, in coming months.