Foreign Affiliates Statistics: 2022
Inward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (IFATS) provide insight into the control structure of enterprises operating within the Maltese economy. These statistics complement the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) by detailing Maltese enterprises that are controlled by foreign entities.
Conversely, Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) describe the activities of foreign affiliates abroad, which are controlled by Maltese resident entities. An enterprise is classified as Maltese-owned if more than 50 per cent of its controlling interest is ultimately owned by a resident in Malta.
In 2022, foreign-controlled enterprises represented 2.8 per cent of the total Business units in Malta’s non-financial business economy, maintaining the same proportion as in 2021. The overall number of Business units increased by 1,951, of which 43 were foreign-owned. The number of Persons employed in foreign-controlled enterprises increased by 8.5 per cent from 40,208 in 2021 to 43,617 in 2022.
Foreign-controlled enterprises paid out €1,652.9 million in Employee benefits expense in 2022, up from €1,447.9 million in 2021. Resident-controlled enterprises contributed 56.4 per cent of the total Value added, while foreign-controlled enterprises generated 43.6 per cent, indicating their significant impact on the Maltese economy (Table 1).
Chart 1. Main variables of resident and foreign-controlled enterprises within the non-financial business economy
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Performance by size classification
When evaluating enterprises by size classification, micro and small-sized enterprises showed the largest increases in Value added and Gross operating surplus among foreign-controlled enterprises when compared to the previous year. Value added for micro-sized enterprises increased by 31.7 per cent and 27.8 per cent for small-sized enterprises. In contrast, the largest increase in Gross investment in tangible non-current assets was observed in large-sized enterprises increasing from €574.6 million to €1,533.2 million.
Large sized enterprises played a dominant role in the composition of foreign-controlled entities, accounting for 70.5 per cent of Value added and 59.3 per cent of Employee benefits expense. In contrast, micro-sized enterprises, which represented 52.6 per cent of the foreign-controlled Business units, generated only 2.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent of the Value added and Net turnover, respectively (Table 2).
Chart 2. Distribution of resident and foreign-controlled enterprises within the non-financial business economy by Value added and size classification
Key indicators across activity domains
The Technological solutions, professional and business support activities (NACE J, M and N) domain had the highest number of Business units under foreign control, accounting for 58.6 per cent of the total. Foreign enterprises in this domain also made the largest contributions to Value added and Gross operating surplus, representing 18.2 per cent and 22.6 per cent of the combined foreign and resident-controlled enterprises respectively.
The Gambling and betting activities domain (NACE R92) showed mixed performance, with Employee benefits expense for foreign-controlled enterprises having increased by 11.0 per cent, while Value added decreased by 18.4 per cent, from €1,673.6 million to €1,366.1 million.
Persons employed under foreign control were predominantly engaged in the Technological solutions, professional and business support activities domain (NACE J, M and N) and the Industry domain (NACE B to E), representing 36.1 and 24.2 per cent respectively (Table 3).
Chart 3. Distribution of resident and foreign-controlled enterprises within the Maltese non-financial business economy by activity domain and key variables
Key indicators by geographical region
In 2022, residents of European countries, including non-EU Member States, held control over 73.7 per cent of the foreign affiliates, with EU Member States having the largest share of control. Residents of non-EU Member States exercised control over 734 Business units, representing 53.3 per cent of foreign affiliates. This marks a slight 2.1 per cent decrease in the share of control held by non-EU Member States compared to the previous year.
Amongst the continents in non-EU Member States, enterprises controlled from Europe accounted for the highest Value added totalling €1,031.1 million and saw a significant increase in Gross investment in tangible non-current assets from €445.4 million to €1,268.1 million. Enterprises controlled from Asia invoiced €3,512.9 million in Net turnover in 2022, equivalent to 83.3 per cent increase over 2021, which was the largest increase for this variable. Enterprises controlled from Europe and America retained the highest number of Persons employed with 7,421 and 6,417 respectively.
Despite having a lower number of Business units, enterprises controlled from EU Member States had the larger share of Persons employed, with 22,219 or 50.9 per cent of the total. They paid out €829.4 million in Employee benefits expense, 13.0 per cent more than the previous year. Enterprises controlled from EU Member States generated 57.0 per cent of the total Value added and 60.4 per cent of the Gross operating surplus, at €2,851.3 million and €2,021.9 million respectively (Table 4).
Chart 4. Value added generated by foreign-owned enterprises within the Maltese non-financial business economy by geographical region of ownership
Key indicators by country
In both 2022 and 2021, enterprises under Swedish ownership accounted for the largest portion of Value added among foreign-controlled companies in Malta. While companies controlled by residents of Sweden maintained the highest contribution to Value added, the largest increase was observed in companies controlled from Switzerland, with the Value added rising from €308.3 million to €555.5 million. In contrast, enterprises controlled from the United Kingdom experienced the largest decline, with Value added decreasing by 31.1 per cent. Switzerland-controlled enterprises recorded the largest increase in Gross investments in tangible non-current assets increasing from €414.6 million to €1,240.6 million.
Companies controlled from the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany accounted for the highest number of foreign affiliates in Malta in both 2022 and 2021, with a total of 377 and 367 Business units, respectively. Companies controlled from the United States employed the highest number of persons at 5,860, an increase of 10.5 per cent over 2021. Sweden followed closely with 5,679 and the United Kingdom with 4,811 (Table 5).
Chart 5. Foreign-controlled enterprises within the non-financial business economy: Net turnover, Persons employed, and Value added (Size of Sphere) by selected country
Note: Value added and Net turnover are represented in € million.
Foreign affiliates controlled by Maltese residents
With a presence in 51 countries around the world, Net turnover reported by Maltese-owned foreign affiliates was €1,403.7 million in 2022, an increase of 50.3 per cent when compared to 2021. Foreign affiliates controlled by Maltese residents primarily generated their Net turnover in EU Member States, amounting to €1,027.0 million or 73.2 per cent of the total. Persons employed in Maltese-controlled foreign affiliates were mostly located in EU Member States, with 11,918 or 80.3 per cent of the total, predominantly in non-euro area member countries (Table 6).
In 2022, Net turnover generated by Maltese-owned entities in the United Kingdom increased by €70.7 million over the previous year. Maltese-owned foreign affiliates employed 14,834 persons abroad, an 11.3 per cent increase over the previous year (Table 7).
Methodological Notes
1. Inward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (IFATS) examine the overall activities of foreign-owned enterprises operating in a country. These enterprises are defined as resident companies under the control of a foreign, non-resident institutional unit. This data is essential for evaluating the influence and contribution of foreign affiliates on the Maltese economy. Foreign affiliates statistics are a key instrument for understanding globalisation and its effect on national economies.
2. Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) cover Maltese-owned enterprises that have at least 50 per cent shareholding in subsidiaries abroad. These statistics analyse the sectoral and geographical position of the affiliates controlled by resident enterprises.
3. The methodology adopted to produce OFATS data is based on a census survey. For 2022, 106 questionnaires were sent. Statistical units are identified based on the information obtained from the data of the preceding year, the Business Register, Research and Innovation Unit and using indicators from the Euro Groups Register (EGR).
4. Variables requested in the OFATS questionnaire are:
● Name of the subsidiaries abroad;
● Country of the subsidiary;
● Percentage shareholding;
● NACE description;
● Total number of Persons employed;
● Total Net turnover.
Two additional variables are requested only from subsidiaries with activity in NACE 85:
● Employee benefits expense;
● Gross investment in tangible non-current assets
5. FATS statistics can be broken down by industry domain, employment size class levels, and by country of ultimate controlling institution (UCI).
6. From reference year 2021, the legal basis for the production of FATS is defined according to the European Business Statistics and refers to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of the European Commission.
7. IFATS data is based on an existing Structural Business Statistics (SBS) result. IFATS does not involve a separate survey but uses all the units included in SBS to compile its statistics. There are no distinct unique sampling methods specific to IFATS. IFATS data is supplemented with information from past UCIs assigned at micro-level, the EGR and other relevant sources.
8. The NACE classification system used in IFATS is the same as in SBS and can be accessed here. The 2-digit country code is allocated according to ISO 3166-1.
9. Enterprises may change their classification from one year to the other if significant changes occur in their respective NACE or employment.
10. The activity domain names used in this news release are not internationally recognised but were established internally taking into account the respective domestic industry categories, national exigencies and the users’ needs.
11. The geographical classification of the data follows Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1470, which outlines the country and territory nomenclature for European statistics on international trade in goods and the geographical categorisation for other business statistics. The geographical breakdown is based on GEO level 1, referring to foreign-controlled enterprises, and GEO level 3, which covers enterprises abroad that are ultimately controlled by institutional units of the reporting country.
12. Similar to SBS, data in this news release was classified according to the SME classification in the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC “definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises” adopted by the Commission. The ceilings of this classification were applied to Net turnover and employment only (both criteria must be met by individual statistical units). The balance sheet total ceiling was not applied as such information is not available for statistical units involving self-employed. Users of this news release must appreciate that there is not a single definition of what a SME is. Other SME definitions may be used by other institutions, authors and publications. For instance, Eurostat defines SMEs solely based on the employment within an enterprise.
| Company category | Staff headcount | Net turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Medium | <250 | ≤ €50m |
| Small | <50 | ≤ €10m |
| Micro | <10 | ≤ €2m |
Companies that do not fall within these categories, i.e. either more than 249 employees or with Net turnover greater than €50 million, are considered as Large.
13. From reference year 2021, the coverage of business activities has been extended, following the implementation of the European Business Statistics (EBS) regulation 2019/2152. Coverage includes Mining and quarrying (B), Manufacturing (C), Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E), Construction (F), Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G), Transportation and storage (H), Accommodation and food service activities (I), Information and communication(J), Real estate activities (L), Professional, scientific and technical activities (M), Administrative and support service activities (N), Education (P), Human health and social work activities (Q), Arts, entertainment and recreation (R), Repair of computers and personal and household goods (S95) and Other personal service activities (S96). The financial business economy (NACE 64-66) is excluded from this news release.
14. The definitions of statistical concepts surrounding FATS are as follows:
● Foreign affiliate in the framework of FATS is an enterprise resident in one country which is under the control of an institutional unit resident in another country;
● Domestic affiliate refers to an enterprise resident in the compiling country over which a UCI resident in the same compiling country has control;
● Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit of a foreign affiliate (UCI) refers to the institutional unit, proceeding up a foreign affiliate’s chain of control, which is not controlled by another institutional unit;
● Control is the ability to determine the general policy of the affiliate by choosing appropriate directors, if necessary. In this context, enterprise A is deemed to be controlled by an institutional unit B when B controls, whether directly or indirectly, more than half of the shareholders’ voting power or more than half of the shares;
● Indirect control means that an institutional unit may have control through another affiliate which has control over enterprise A.
15. Definitions of the key indicators for FATS (based on the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197):
● Net turnover includes total sales and other operating income and is expressed net of VAT;
● Value of output measures the amount actually produced, based on sales, including changes in stocks and neutralising the impact of goods resold in the same condition as purchased;
● Value added is a composite indicator of net operating income, adjusted for depreciation, amortisation and employee benefits, all components being recognised as such by the statistical unit during the reference period;
● Gross operating surplus is the surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been recompensed. It can be calculated from the Gross value added less the Employee benefits expenses. Simply put, Gross operating surplus is a measure of profitability before accounting for interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortisation, revaluations, provisions and other non-operating expenses;
● Employee benefits expense is defined as the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an employer to an employee (regular and temporary employees as well as home workers) in return for work done by the latter during the reference period. Employee benefits expenses also include taxes and employees’ social security contributions retained by the unit as well as the employer’s compulsory and voluntary social contributions;
● Gross investment in tangible non-current assets is defined as investment during the reference period in all tangible goods. Included are new and existing tangible capital goods, whether bought from third parties or produced for own use (i.e. capitalised production of tangible capital goods), having a useful life of more than one year including non-produced tangible goods such as land. Investments in intangible and financial assets are excluded;
● Persons employed are people engaged in productive activities in an economy. The concept includes both employees and self-employed (i.e. inclusive of working proprietors, partners and unpaid family workers). The latter category may include persons who do not receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind. The name used, for this variable by Eurostat in the Eurobase is Number of employees and self-employed persons;
● Number of employees is defined as those persons who work for an employer through a contract of employment and receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, piecework pay or remuneration in kind.
16. In some cases, totals may not match because of rounding.
17. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
18. Values available on Eurostat’s database (Eurobase) differ from those in this news release due to the differences in size classification and the inclusion of the financial sector.
19. The data for 2022 in this news release should be considered as provisional and subject to revision. The data for 2021 is final.
20. FATS data is unadjusted and reflects the official data reported by active resident enterprises operating in the non-financial business economy of Malta.
21. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
22. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
23. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.
Foreign Affiliates Statistics: 2022
- Foreign-controlled enterprises accounted for 2.8 per cent of Business units in the non-financial business economy and contributed 43.6 per cent of the total Value added.
- Foreign control was most intensive in the Gambling and betting activities domain, accounting for 47.5 per cent of the Business units and 92.9 per cent of the Value added generated.
- Residents of European countries controlled 73.7 per cent of foreign enterprises in Malta, with EU Member States controlling 46.7 per cent of such Business units.
- Foreign affiliates controlled by Maltese residents generated the equivalent of €1.4 billion in Net turnover and employed 14,834 persons across 51 countries worldwide.
Foreign Affiliates Statistics: 2022
Map 1. Global presence of resident-controlled enterprises: Net turnover generated in foreign economies
