Business sales and acquisitions in Castellón
The province of Castellón has 627,173 inhabitants according to the Padrón (municipal population register) at the start of 2025, and 40,045 active companies recorded by the INE (Spanish National Statistics Institute) on the same date. Sooner or later, behind every one of those companies there is a decision about continuity: passing it on to the family, selling it to a competitor, a manager or an investor, or closing it. This page brings together the official figures that help place a business within the provincial economy, and what is worth preparing before talking to buyers.
If you are an owner, here you will find how much weight your activity carries in the province, how to read each statistic and which questions tend to come up in a sale. If you are looking for a company to buy, the sector pages linked below explain what to check in each type of Castellón business, from an industrial workshop to a restaurant or an accountancy firm.
One piece of advice for both sides first: in a local market, news of a sale travels fast. Customers, suppliers and staff may find out too early, so discretion is part of the value. An anonymous profile of the business and a confidentiality agreement signed before any sensitive data is shared are the usual way to protect the transaction.
Castellón in figures
Population
627,173
Active companies
40,045
Economic activity
Of the 40,045 active companies that the INE statistics, published by the Generalitat (the regional government) through its territorial data bank, place in the province, 32,509 are in services, 4,996 in construction and 2,540 in industry. Within services, the largest group is trade, transport and hospitality, with 14,428 companies, followed by professional and technical activities (6,325), other personal services (4,448) and education, health and social services (3,189).
It is worth distinguishing between companies and establishments. The INE counts 46,921 active premises in the province: a company with several shops, industrial units or offices appears once as a company and several times as premises. The sector figures on this website count establishments, because the INE does not publish companies by province and detailed activity. One figure stands out: the division for the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products, which groups ceramics together with glass, cement, concrete and stone. Castellón has 381 establishments in it, 27.5% of those in the Valencian Community (Comunidad Valenciana) in that division, far above the province's share in hospitality (12%) or in technology (7.4%).
Maritime traffic is another useful reference for distribution, transport or industrial businesses with customers outside Spain. According to the provisional closing data from Puertos del Estado (the state ports body), the Port Authority of Castellón recorded total port traffic of 18,601,214 tonnes in 2025 and container movements of 99,415.5 TEU.
In tourism, the INE Hotel Occupancy Survey records 1,297,235 travellers and 3,905,375 overnight stays in hotel establishments in the province during 2025. The figure covers hotels only; it does not include apartments, campsites, rural accommodation or holiday rental homes, so it is not the same as the total number of visitors.
Frequently asked questions
The INE counts 40,045 active companies in the province at the start of 2025, with 46,921 premises or establishments. The difference is explained by the fact that many companies have more than one workplace.
Because the INE publishes the breakdown by province and activity only for premises, not for companies. An establishment is each shop, industrial unit, office or site where the activity is carried out. That is why we use that word, and not companies, when we give the size of a sector in Castellón.
The starting point is the business's normalised profit, that is, the result a new owner would obtain once the owner's salary and one-off expenses have been adjusted, and a multiple is applied that depends on the sector, size and risk. The sector pages show indicative multiples from the valuation model, and the free valuation gives you a first estimate for your case.
The most common profiles in any SME sale are a competitor that wants to grow, a company in a complementary activity, a manager or employee taking the step to ownership, a private investor looking for a business they will run themselves and, for larger companies, professional investors. Each values different things, and it is worth knowing which one you are addressing.
By first presenting the company with a profile that does not allow it to be identified, screening interested parties and sharing detailed information only after a confidentiality agreement has been signed. Communication to staff and key customers is planned for when the transaction is already on track; if the business is sold as a going concern (unidad productiva), Article 44 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Spanish Workers' Statute) requires information to be given before the transfer, which it is worth confirming with an employment adviser.
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- Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Castellón/Castelló: Población por municipios y sexo
- Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Empresas por provincia y estrato de asalariados
- Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Locales por provincia, actividad principal (divisiones CNAE 2009) y estrato de asalariados
- Generalitat Valenciana – Institut Valencià d'Estadística (Portal Estadístic de la Generalitat Valenciana, PEGV): Banc de Dades Territorial – Difusió municipal del Directori Central d'Empreses: Empreses segons sector de la seua activitat principal (how to open it: https://pegv.gva.es/bdt → Empreses → Difusió municipal del Directori Central d'Empreses → Empreses segons sector de la seua activitat principal)
- Generalitat Valenciana – Institut Valencià d'Estadística (Portal Estadístic de la Generalitat Valenciana, PEGV): Banc de Dades Territorial – Difusió municipal del Directori Central d'Empreses: Empreses d'activitat principal sector serveis segons subsector (how to open it: https://pegv.gva.es/bdt → Empreses → Difusió municipal del Directori Central d'Empreses → Empreses d'activitat principal sector serveis segons subsector)
- Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Locales por CCAA, actividad principal (grupos CNAE 2009) y estrato de asalariados
- Puertos del Estado (Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible): Puertos del Estado – Estadística mensual, Cuadros resumen diciembre 2025 (CuadrosResumen_2025_12.xlsx), datos de cierre provisionales, fecha 23/1/2026
- Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE): Encuesta de Ocupación Hotelera: Viajeros y pernoctaciones por comunidades autónomas y provincias
Latest official data available on the date given for each source.
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