Iberdrola reported net profit of 2.804 billion euros in 2017, up 3.7% from a year earlier. Consolidated EBITDA fell by 7.8% to 7.318 billion euros last year. The results were impacted by the US tax reform and difficult operating conditions in Spain.
Gestamp said on Tuesday it has bought a factory in Brazil which currently supplies bodywork components for the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. The Spanish multinational flagged that this operation fits in with its goal of increasing its Japanese clients, who currently manufacture almost a third of global vehicles.
Banco Santander posted profit of 6.619 billion euros in 2017, up 7% from a year ago. The profit figure was affected by extraordinary charges totalling 897 million euros.
Manuela Andreoni | As Brazil braces for its most important election in decades, hopes of stabilization are dwindling. The country is slowly stepping out of an almost three year-long recession, but uncertainty over what will happen at the ballot boxes later on this year is pushing debate on how to resume growth into a distant future.
The planned IPO of Neoenergia, the biggest electricity company in Brazil and leader in Latin America by number of clients, with 13,4 million, has not gone ahead. The firm is the result of the merger between Iberdrola’s subsidiary Neoenergia and Elektro.
Víctor Peiro (GVC Gaesco) | The emerging markets are performing well this year and so the context is favourable for revisiting the privatisation process in those countries. Brazil is set to sell off a raft of different assets, including state-owned utility Electrobrás. Several big Spanish companies could be interested in acquiring these assets.
Neoenergia’s shareholders (Banco de Brasil, Previ and Iberdrola) have reached an agreement for Neoenergia to incorporate Elektro’s business and activity. This operation was on the cards and will be very positive for Iberdrola and its stock price
Brazil has written a new page of corruption. President Michel Temer was allegedly caught on tape authorizing businessmen to bribe former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha. This new political instability could have the potential to derail ensuing recovery.
Telefonica’s net profit rose 42.2% to 779 million euros in the first quarter of 2017 from a year earlier. The 2016 results were reformulated mid-last year after the group decided to stop presenting its UK subsidiary O2 as a discontinued operation. Revenues from its Brazil and Latin American operations were the main earnings driver.
ACS’ subsidiary Cobra has won a contract worth 126 million euros to build various electricity transmission lines in Brazil, boosting its portfolio of these projects in that country to 3 billion euros.