Net business start-ups stall in Malaga province

The rise in business start-ups in the province also pales in comparison to that in other provinces, such as Seville, where the increase stood at 12.5%.

Despite everything, Malaga leads in terms of gross business start-ups in Andalucía. Its almost 6,000 new businesses in the first nine months of the year compare with 3,887 in Seville. Furthermore, the companies established in Malaga in 2026 account for more than 35% of those registered across the entire region.

The province of Costa del Sol, however, is also the one with the highest number of companies going out of business. Between January and September, the number of companies that went into liquidation was close to 1,100, meaning that around one in three of the companies that have closed down across the whole of region were in Malaga. A total of 3,354 companies have gone out of business so far this year.

If we subtract the number of companies that have ceased trading so far this year from the number of companies incorporated during the same period, this translates into a net creation of 4,861 companies in Malaga, representing a year-on-year increase of just 0.3%. This is where the real stagnation lies.

Nevertheless, Malaga continues to be the province with the highest net creation of companies, well ahead of Seville (3,032), and also accounts for more than a third of the total recorded across Andalucía, despite the fact that, at regional level, net business creation has grown by almost 6% and in Seville the increase has been 10% year-on-year. Malaga does not need to grow to maintain its leading position.

While this is the overall picture of the first nine months of the year, the situation in September was somewhat different, with a total of 604 companies incorporated in Malaga, representing a 9.4% increase compared with September 2025. This rose the region's share of new business start-ups to 40%.

This is also due to the slowdown recorded across Andalucía as a whole, where the 1,532 new companies established this past September matched the figure for 2025. Meanwhile, there has been a fall of nearly 5% in Seville, while in Almeria, Cadiz and Cordoba the decline has been in double figures.

Excluding from the total number of companies in September those that were wound up during the same month, the result is a net increase of 519 commercial companies in Malaga. Once again, this is the highest figure in the whole of Andalucía, 14.6% higher than the figure recorded in September 2025. This rise in the net number of company formations compares with the 5% increase seen across Andalucía.

By sector, in September, the property sector was the most active in Malaga, with 139 new commercial companies incorporated out of a total of 604 established in the province. This represents more than half of those created across the whole of Andalucía in this sector.

Next came the food and drink services sector, which accounted for 67 new businesses, almost 43% of all those established in the region. Next, the wholesale and retail trade sector created 87 new businesses.

Meanwhile, the construction sector, in its various forms, was responsible for the incorporation of 161 new companies. Also featuring prominently is the sector of programming, consultancy and other IT-related activities, with 27 new companies, half of all those in the sector that were established in Andalucía in September.

Also worth noting is the film industry, which has added nine new companies to Malaga's business register, accounting for 80% of those across the whole of Andalucía.

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