Services - 4. quarter of 2004

Quarter-on-quarter comparison:

Seasonally adjusted sales in services increased by 1.5% at constant prices, rising most in other business activities (+5.9%) and hotels and restaurants (+2.5%), while sales in post and telecommunications and in other service activities fell.

Year-on-year comparison:

Seasonally adjusted (SA) and working days adjusted (WDA) sales grew by 2.5% at constant prices. There were 2 working days more in the 4th quarter of 2004 than in 2003.

Not SA sales were up by 2.6%, of which most in retail trade incl. the automotive segment. This growth compensated for the decreases in hotels and restaurants, computer and related activities, and other service activities.

Sales broken down by CZ-NACE activity were as follows:

- sales in retail trade incl. the automotive segment rose by 4.1%. They were 5.8% up in the automotive segment, of which by 6.6% in maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and by 4.5% in sale of automotive fuel. Sales in retail trade grew by 3.3%, of which sale of textiles, clothing and footwear increased most (+10.8%);

- the fall in hotels and restaurants (-2.4%) was affected by the development in restaurants, canteens and catering (-5.8% y-o-y). Sales in hotels rose by 8.6%;

- sales in transport increased by 2.4%, but this was the lowest growth among all the quarters of 2004. The highest increase was reported for air transport (+6.7%); transport by road expanded by 3.7% and transport via railways rose by 3.5%. Sales in supporting and auxiliary transport activities stagnated;

- sales in post and telecommunications increased by 2.5%, of which in telecommunications grew by 2.8% and in post and courier activities dropped by 0.3%;

- sales in computer and related activities were down by 9.2%. The situation was strongly affected by a y-o-y fall of 20.2% in December caused by a high comparing base of 2003. Decreases were reported for all the observed activities;

- sales in other business activities were up by 2.3%, rising most in other business activities (+7.8%), which include copying, photographic, translation and exhibition activities. Advertising was the only activity where sales were below the level of the 4th quarter of 2003 (-1.9%);

- sales in other service activities decreased y-o-y (-4.3%). In addition to the fall in sales in hairdressing and other beauty treatment that was seen throughout the year, also washing and dry-cleaning of textile and fur products recorded lower sales in the 4th quarter.

Annual evaluation – year-on-year development at constant prices:

In the year 2004, sales in services grew by 3.2%. Growth in the 2nd half of the year halved, compared to the 1st half of 2004. Sales were up most in the 2nd quarter (+4.7%), least in the 3rd quarter (+2.0%). The annual results were achieved mainly due to transport where sales rose by 7.5%; other service activities and computer and related activities recorded lower sales (-4.1% and -1.2%, respectively).

Sales broken down by CZ-NACE activity were as follows:

- sales in retail trade incl. the automotive segment rose by 2.5%, the rise being most marked in the 4th quarter. Retail trade saw a development that was relatively even in all the quarters; a slightly lower growth was only in the 3rd quarter when the effect of a lower number of working days occurred. The automotive segment showed stronger fluctuations by quarter – from a decline of 2.5% in the 1st quarter to a rise of 5.8% in the 4th quarter;

- in hotels and restaurants, changes in VAT caused considerable differences in individual quarters. Sales increased by 6.0% in the 1st half of the year, fell by 3.3% in the 2nd half, and were up by only 1.1% in total. Sales in hotels (+11.9% in the whole year) and sales in restaurants (-2.4% in the whole year, while they still grew by 6.1% in the 1st quarter) developed differently;

- sales in transport increased dynamically in all activities, particularly supporting and auxiliary transport activities incl. activities of travel agencies (+9.8% in the whole year) and air transport (+12.2%) affected the overall results. Nearly every important kind of transport achieved better results in the 1st half of the year, only transport via railways recorded comparable results in both halves of the year;

- sales in post and telecommunications increased by 3.3%, of which in telecommunications grew by 3.2% and in post and courier activities by 4.0% (mainly due to the results in the 1st half of the year);

- sales in computer and related activities were down by 1.2%. Software consultancy and supply (+0.2%) was the only observed activity where growth was reported in 2004, the increase being affected particularly by sales in the 1st half of the year (+10.9%). On the other hand, sale of database activities and sale of maintenance and repair of office machinery reported y-o-y decreases (-6.4% and -5.7%, respectively);

- sales in other business activities were up by 3.0%, all the observed activities grew. Labour recruitment and provision of personnel reached the highest growth (+17.6%);

- sales in other service activities decreased y-o-y (-4.1%), due to the situation in hairdressing and other beauty treatment where sales dropped by 6.5% y-o-y.

Analysis - Sales in services

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Note
Contact: Hellerová Alena, phone (+420) 274052921, e-mail ahellerova@gw.czso.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises
End of data collection: 3 February 2005
End of data processing: 9 February 2005
Related publications: 9106-04 Results of Monthly Survey in Retail Trade, Hotels and Restaurants
9003-04 Market Services
9301-04 Transport and Communications
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The data are preliminary; the revised data will be released in related publications.