Peter Goves (MFS Investment) | As widely expected, the ECB kept all three of its policy rates on hold at the January meeting. The deposit rate therefore remains at 4% and it has been held at this rate since September 2023. We would agree that the longer rates are held at such restrictive levels, domestic demand will remain subdued and (core) inflation will continue to fall. Today’s meeting affirms our…
Banca March: With 287-55 votes, the Turkish parliament has voted in favour of the Nordic country’s membership, pending President Erdogan’s final signature. Unanimous support from the member states is required to become a member of the organisation, with Hungary now being the only country not to have given its approval. Sweden aspires to become the 32nd member since it applied to the alliance a year and eight months ago, with…
Morgan Stanley| Our analysts have studied the impact of the Red Sea conflict-related transportation issues on 17 retail companies. The average impact is 7% of pre-tax profit on average if rates stay where they are. Estimating a 150% increase in freight rates, the impact on pre-tax profit is -2% in food, -6% in clothing and -14% elsewhere. All this before mitigations. Most companies know how to manage the impacts of…
More than 1.27 million employees are absent from work every day. The level of absenteeism thus stands at 6% of the agreed hours, which represents four tenths more than a year earlier, according to the ‘Report on absenteeism in the third quarter of 2023’, published on Wednesday by Randstad. According to the report – based on the Quarterly Survey of Labour Costs of the National Institute of Statistics – absenteeism…
And a minister, Oscar Puente, replies that it is he who is “on the fringes of the PSOE”. “I win elections. I would like others to do the same” (to avoid having to make shameful pacts to keep the PSOE in La Moncloa), said García Page, socialist president of Castilla La Mancha. García Page assures, against the new doctrine of the Government and the PSOE, that “there is no good…
Link Securities| In relation to the application for authorisation of the voluntary takeover bid launched by Manzana Spain Bidco, S.L. U (Offeror) on all the shares of Applus (APPS), filed, published and which was authorised by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on 17 January 2024, the Offeror informs that on 23 January 2024, by virtue of four sale and purchase agreements entered into with holders of Applus shares and…
BancaMarch: The Governor of the Bank of Spain (BdE) warns of the medium-term risks to the tourism sector and the conditions necessary to maintain competitiveness. Pablo Hernández de Cos spoke at the 10th Tourism Innovation Forum, referring to the importance of an economic policy framework that favours legal certainty. In a context of high growth in unit costs, which particularly affects a labour-intensive sector, coupled with falling productivity, this could…
Link Securities| ACS is looking to find buyers for a number of the construction company’s assets before passing the rating agencies’ solvency exam, according to the digital portal ElConfidencial.com. According to several sources in the sector, the construction company wants to divest an offshore wind farm in the UK and Clece, its services subsidiary, transactions for which it can earn more than €2 billion.
The amnesty law is closed with a legal trick that consists of distinguishing different degrees in the crimes of terrorism. Those accused of this crime will be exonerated if there was no “direct intent” to provoke “serious human rights violations”. This inclusion of terrorist crimes within the perimeter of the amnesty law as long as “manifestly and with direct intent” the terrorists have not caused “serious violations of human rights”…
Link Securities | The railway manufacturer informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) yesterday that, following the latest acquisitions reported yesterday, it has reached the maximum monetary amount established in the Buyback Programme, having invested €9,999,521.35 and acquired a total of 2,517,562 shares representing 1.99% of Talgo’s share capital. Thus, the company announces the completion of the Buyback Programme. Talgo is currently bidding for a contract from state-owned operator Deutsche…