Companies

Telefonica

Telefonica Q1 net profits surge beating expectations

The Corner | May 14, 2015 | Europe’s second-largest phone company reported a Q1 net profit of  €1.8 billion ($2.04 billion), versus a year-ago profit of €688 million. EPS climbed to 0.38 euro from 0.14 euro, while EPS from continuing operations slipped to 0.09 euro from 0.12 euro.

 

 


Repsol's Josu Jon Imaz and Antoni Brufau

Spanish Repsol ratifies its Executive Management team

MADRID | April 27, 2015 | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | At his own pace, without giving up to noisy external pressures, Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau established an executive management model with a clear separation between the chairman of the Board and the executive team –entrusted to a CEO with full authority. That had been a claim of significant shareholders of the Spanish oil firm and some investment funds, although for different reasons. 


Bankia's president J.I. Goirigolzarri

Bankia’s dividend: Timely or premature?

MADRID | April 24, 2015 | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Bankia held its general meeting in Valencia (headquarters of one of the integrated in the brand new boxes) this week to approve its 2014 results –the year of the firm’s regeneration– and design its future roadmap. One of its non-explicit goals is to accelerate the partial and progressive privatization of the entity before November general elections in Spain.



Telefonica cercanaTC

Telefónica restructuring weighs share price to €13

MADRID | April 13, 2015 | Fernando G. UrbanejaThis month Telefónica will complete two capital increases of both the parent company and its Brazilian subsidiary, seen as necessary steps in the reconfiguration of the company following its exit from some markets (Italy and UK) and consolidation in others (Brazil and Germany). 


oil prices

Shell begins M&A race with move for BG

MADRID | April 8, 2015 | By Sean DuffyThe takeover of BG by Royal Dutch Shell for £47 billion (€64.8 billion) could be the opening salvo in a race to hoover up energy firms, as oil giants look to take advantage of a liquidity glut by honing in on companies destabilised by the volatility on oil markets.


telefonica GermanyTC

Telefónica to focus attention on German market after O2 UK sale

The Corner | March 27, 2015 | The sale by Telefónica of O2 UK  will allow the company to focus attention on its growing operation in Germany. Telefonica will now go toe-to-toe with Vodafone and Deutsche Telecom, as the three mobile giants vie for supremacy in the eurozone’s largest economy.


Sabadell

Sabadell / TSB –accretion dependent on cross-border cost synergies

LONDON | Guest comment by Barclays | The financial success of Sabadell’s offer to acquire TSB hinges on its ability to cut TSB’s costs by 20% almost exclusively by migrating it onto a new IT platform, in our view. This looks a challenging aspiration to us and while Sabadell has successfully integrated domestic Spanish acquisitions at some speed, cross-border integration onto the Spanish platform is largely untested and faces the challenges of a different regulatory framework and different product design. It clearly helps that Lloyds will pay for the integration spend but we believe that meeting the near-term target of EPS neutrality will require a relatively quick delivery of the cost savings.



Investment banks

Credit Suisse: The CHF 10bn Question

Exane BNP Paribas | Following the appointment of Tidjane Thiam as group CEO, there is more scope for a shift in strategy away from the investment bank and towards the wealth management business. Many investors compare this to when UBS announced their restructuring in 2012. In theory this should free up capital, and reduce the volatility of the earnings, enhancing the valuation. This sounds good so far, but we have to look at some numbers.