Industry insights and figures Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products

Operating margin
9.2 %
▼ -0.7pp
2020
Companies
2242
2020
Vacancies (sector)
0.0%
2025-Q4 · sector C average

Key insights Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products

Actionable signals from current data
ES
Average operating result: 9.2% of revenue (2020).
Personnel costs: 24.5% of revenue (2020).
Number of companies: 2,242 (2020).

Sector outlook Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products

Automated analytical commentary based on the most recent Eurostat figures

Industry overview

The Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products sector across Spain comprises approximately 2,242 enterprises employing about 28,859 people and generating €4.8 bn in net turnover in 2020. The average enterprise size is – employees per firm. This is a useful yardstick when assessing whether your own operation sits within the typical scale band of the sector.

Profitability

With a healthy operating margin of 9.2% of revenue in 2020, the sector reports €442 M of gross operating surplus (Eurostat's EBITDA-equivalent, before depreciation). This figure provides the headline benchmark against which an individual operator can sanity-check their own bottom line, values significantly below indicate cost or pricing pressure, those above suggest competitive advantage worth defending.

Cost structure

The Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products cost mix is reasonably balanced: cost of revenue at 69.6%, personnel at 24.5% and energy at – of turnover. Without a single dominant cost driver, margin management requires attention across the full operating envelope rather than focus on any one line.

Trend & trajectory

Over the period 2008 to 2020 the operating margin moved from 9.2% to 9.2% (+0.0 percentage points), broadly stable performance. Sectors with stable or improving margins tend to reflect successful pass-through of input costs and disciplined capacity management; declining margins typically point to either over-supply or a structural cost squeeze that warrants strategic review.

Costs by category Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products

Sector average % of revenue
Log in to see the full 13-year history
Cost structure for Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products in ES, 2008 to 2020, expressed as percentage of revenue.
Revenue / costs 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total revenue 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Personnel costs (total) 16.7% 22.3% 20.7% 27.0% 29.4% 30.7% 27.5% 24.6% 24.2% 24.3% 24.2% 23.5% 24.5%
Gross wages 13.1% 17.6% 16.2% 21.3% 23.0% 24.0% 21.2% 19.1% 18.9% 19.0% 18.9% 18.3% 19.0%
Social and pension contributions 3.6% 4.8% 4.5% 5.7% 6.3% 6.7% 6.2% 5.5% 5.4% 5.3% 5.3% 5.2% 5.4%
Other costs 74.1% 68.2% 69.3% 64.0% 59.5% 61.0% 62.5% 65.0% 65.8% 65.4% 65.3% 66.6% 66.3%
Gross operating surplus (EBITDA) 9.2% 9.4% 10.0% 9.0% 11.2% 8.3% 10.1% 10.4% 10.0% 10.2% 10.6% 9.9% 9.2%
Depreciation 5.3% 8.8% 8.4% 12.3% 13.5% 14.9% 15.7% 14.8% 13.6% 13.7% 12.5% 11.2% 12.1%
Operating result (EBIT) 3.9% 0.6% 1.6% -3.3% -2.3% -6.6% -5.7% -4.3% -3.7% -3.4% -1.9% -1.3% -2.9%

Source: Eurostat Structural Business Statistics (latest available year).

Operating result over 13 years

Sector average % of revenue
Average
9.8%
Peak
11.18%
2012
Low
8.3%
2013
Latest
9.21%
2020

Cost mix evolution

How costs have shifted as a share of revenue

Cost distribution as % of revenue Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (2020)

Recommended next steps

Based on the latest available data for Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products