Business

Portugal's Empresa na Hora, built to incorporate a company in a single session, now leaves founders waiting months for an appointment — the earliest mainland slot was October — as commercial registries buckle under a backlog the workers' union calls an 'unequivocal collapse.'

Producer prices — what factories charge before goods reach the shelf — rose 5.8% in the year to July, INE said on 18 August, with energy again the main driver. A wholesale gauge that is creeping up rather than fading, and what it signals for the cost of living.

President Seguro has promulgated the decree extending SIFIDE II — the country's biggest business tax break — through the 2026 tax year, while ending the fund-based route that had parked some €2 billion in tax-driven vehicles. What the credit offers, up to 82.5% of R&D spend, and what changed.

The European Central Bank has revoked the authorisation of Banco Empresas Montepio, the small corporate bank Montepio had spent three years trying to sell to the fintech Rauva for €35 million. With no licence left, the deal is dead — though Banco Montepio's own customers are untouched.

Mergers and acquisitions involving Portuguese companies were worth about €4.5 billion across 289 deals in the first seven months of 2026, the consultancy TTR Data reports — with the number of transactions down 28% on a year earlier as dearer financing cooled the market.

The Competition Authority has cleared Delta's purchase of Mocoffee, an Azambuja maker of Nespresso-compatible private-label capsules, with an inapplicability decision. Delta's parent, Grupo Nabeiro, reported around EUR650 million in revenue last year.