The fact that most European Companies (SEs) have been set up by way of a newly established subsidiary creates difficulties with regard to their grouping by sector of activity. Especially in the case of activated shelf SEs, the initial registrations in the commercial register often have little to do with what one can identify when the companies show up on the internet. Providing a reliable picture of all of the SEs is therefore not possible with the data available.

For this reason, the figure concentrates on the 289 normal SEs identified so far, in relation to which the data are more reliable and complete. It shows that more than half of them have been set up in the service sector, mostly within financial services and commercial services. A considerable number of normal SEs can also be found in the metal and the chemical sectors. In contrast, in some sectors – such as the transport and textile industries – very few SEs have been registered so far.

Some companies are operating in several sectors simultaneously. The sectoral classification used in the database has been created with a view to companies by the area of interest of the different European Trade Union Federations that coordinate European works council (EWC) and SE activities.