Spanish Banco Santander, the euro zone’s biggest bank by market value, reported on Wednesday an attributable profit for 2018 of € 7,810 million-up 18 %. In the fourth quarter alone, attributable profit was up 34% to €2,068 million, compared to Q4 2017.
Telefonica reached a non-binding agreement with Vodafone, which expands the current deal on sharing networks in the UK. The objective is to extend the duration and to include 5G. Both operators also want to modernize their fibre optic networks. The agreement depends on concluding the legally binding terms and securing the necessary regulatory approvals, which is expected to happen during 2019.
New York state (US) has awarded two contracts for the construction of a wind farm and a solar power plants to Avangrid Renewables, the US subsidiary of Iberdrola.
The operator may have opted for dividing its assets in the region to facilitate their sale. Specifically, America Movil would be interested in the subsidiaries in El Salvador and Guatemala, and both Millicom and AT&T in the rest (Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama).
Caixabank, Telefónica, El Corte Inglés or Iberdrola are some of the companies which are best prepared to confront a year which will serve as a point of inflection for the economy facing the uncertainties, both national and international, which will end up damaging economic growth, according to the latest report of the consultancy Advice Strategic Consultants.
The British/Spanish company carried 112.9 million passengers last year, an increase of +7.7% over 2017, and with a load factor of 88.3%, an increase of +0.7%. Iberia achieved a year on year increase in traffic of 11.7%. As well as Iberia (including Iberia express), two other airlines of the group, Aer Lingus and Vueling, contributed to this growth with a 9.8% increase in traffic, while British Airway’s traffic increased 3.3%.
Tecnicas Reunidas has announced it has secured the tenders for three contracts at the close of 2018 for around 1 billion dollars (870 million euros). The new tenders are the most positive aspect in recent months. In the middle of November a new contract was also announced for 1.27 billion euros.
Iberdrola and the Japanese car maker are preparing a joint project to develop the chargers for electric cars, thanks to the intelligent networks infrastructure of the Basque electrical company. The final objective is that Iberdrola’s networks should support the charging for Nissan’s electric cars, for whom the “Nissan Leaf Zero Emission” is its main bid for an electrically powered saloon.
José Benito de Vega | Acerinox enjoyed a very positive stock market evolution up to 1 October compared to the Ibex 35 (+8.8% compared to -6.3% for the index ). Since then its shares have corrected strongly, losing 32%, leaving its relative performance for the year in negative (-28% compared to -12% for the Ibex). This sharp correction has been driven by doubts about the situation of the sector in Europe.
The fourth quarter of 2018 has been penalised by lower cellulose process. Analysts at Santander foresee a recovery in the first quarter of 2019. As the new Ibex35 member Ence is listed at an EV/Ebitda rating for 2019 of around 4.5X (compared to 6.5X in the middle of the cycle) remains a solid investment.