“Portugal can be a good investment destination for foreign companies”, says Antonio Vale, CEO of Value Added Partners. As he indicates, “there are many opportunities that can be exploited” in this country, ranging from areas such as tourism and the real estate to the more traditional sectors, such as footwear, cork, furniture and textiles. To better explain this issue, the economist and Management specialist offers a list of reasons and potential benefits that reaffirm this nation for investors:
Taxes. “Portugal has a rate of IRC (corporate tax) that is starting to be competitive. We are developing the way to reduce that rate”, according to information recently released by the Portuguese government.
Incentives. “Right now there is a community support -which, in practice, due to enter into force in 2015 – that will create incentives for investment and hiring of human resources. Therefore, it will make available more competitive conditions for investment in Portugal”. Furthermore, “the cost of labor is relatively reduced and, in addition, there are various incentives such as the reducing of the rate of Social Security, to co-financing by the Portuguese State of salaries, which in some cases reaches 50%”.
Productivity. “Portugal has several areas that, from a general point of view, are very well organized and function as important clusters for the development of its activities, such as the textile sector, footwear, furniture, cork, tourism and metallurgy, among others”.
Human Resources. “One of the critical factors that have made possible the investments in Portugal is the high level of human resources. Siemens invested here because the University of Aveiro, Technical University of Lisbon and the University of Minho are strong institutions in the area of new technologies and telecommunications. Europcar decided to create its first Financial Share Services in Lisbon, for giving support to all countries where the company is present and to its franchises worldwide. In the background, is to take advantage of the reduced cost of property, the reduced cost of wages, even talking of skilled and higher workers, and the higher level of education and training that the professionals in Portugal have”.
International Relations. “The relationships that Portugal has, especially with Angola, Mozambique and Brazil, make it a country that allows to create a business platform to these markets”.
Trust. Portugal is a country where foreign investors feel at home. Examples of this are Value Added Partners customers, who think keeping their investments. Also, “about half of our clients intend to increase their investment, that is, increase the area of production, installed capacity and hire more workers, because they are satisfied with the results obtained in Portugal”.
Advising foreign investment. In Portugal there are several organizations that help foreign investors in the investment process. Value Added Partners is one of them: “We support investors in setting up businesses, in conducting Market Studies, in developing a Business Plan specifically focused on Investment in Portugal, in the implementation of Management Control Systems, in the Tax and Accounting Management, in Human Resource Recruitment, among other activities. In general, and in a cross-sectional way, we can advise on the management area to any foreign company which wants to invest in Portugal”.
[photo credit: Ken Teegardin]
