Markets

Telefónica

Telefonica 2016 Profit Almost 4 Times Higher Yr-On-Yr; Cuts Debt 1.2%

Telefonica posted profit of 2.369 billion euros in 2016, up 3.8% from a year earlier. Last year’s figure reflected non-recurrent items, mainly a 1.290 billion euros charge in the fourth quarter related to restructuring costs. Excluding that charge, profits rose 4.8% to 4.038 billion euros year-on-year.


Dow Jones

The US: The Paradox Of The Dow Jones Index

It doesn’t matter what Trump says: the manufacturing companies are facing hard times. The best example of this is the Dow Jones. If the index was composed today of the same stocks as in 2004, it would not reach 13,000 points.

 



Telefonica

Telefonica Has One Headache Less After Sale Of Stake In Telxius

Nearly six months after Telefonica announced the IPO of its infrastructure affiliateTelxius, venture capital firm KKR said it plans to buy 40% of the company for 1.275 billion euros, or 12.75 euros per share. So one headache less for the Spanish telecommunications giant.


Ferrovial

Ferrovial, Plenary Create Netflow To Bid For Projects In Australia

Ferrovial has teamed up with the Australian company Plenary to bid for motorway and other infrastructure concessions in Australia and New Zealand. They will create a joint venture (the Netflow consortium) through Ferrovial’s concessionary arm Cintra. This market is a priority one for Ferrovial, basically because of its high profitability.


banking union

Fragile Banking Union: Many International Banks, Very Few Pan-European

The volume of  M&A in the European banking sector has gone from 39 billion euros in 2008 to scarcely 9.5 billion in 2015. And in the first half of last year, it was little over 1 billion euros. Why has there not been more consolidation in the sector? It’s an important question for the European authorities who want to promote banking union to answer.


Oil companies

Crude Questions

The price-inventory apparent mismatch of crude oil matters to the extent that going long crude appears to be a crowded trade so that the risks are on the downside if it were to happen that the “confirmed” cuts have been more paper ones than real ones.