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When the Supreme Court adds to the lack of confidence in Spanish politics

Spanish economy, Spanish Politics 16th March 2023

More legal uncertainty: Supreme Court imposes dividend of 75% of profit after considering it “abusive” to allocate all of it to reserves

In a “revolutionary” ruling dated 11 January 2023, and “as well-intentioned as it is erroneous, and with serious consequences”, the Supreme Court has not limited itself to declaring the nullity, as abusive, of the resolution challenged by the minority shareholder of a company – not to distribute dividends – but also considers – as an effect of the ruling – a corporate resolution in the opposite direction to the one…

housing overvalued

Spanish economy, Spanish Politics 15th March 2023

Doubts over Housing Law, which aims to cap rent rises, paralyses investment by large funds in Spain

Capital Madrid | There is no respite in the battle over the large print of the Housing Law or, more specifically, over the 3% cap on the annual rent increase in contracts. Unidos Podemos wants the bill to be permanent, while the PSOE only wants to extend it for the next year. The political deadlock is causing growing discontent among funds and companies in the sector. Meanwhile, the government complains…

Inditex Zara

Spanish economy 15th March 2023

Inditex earnings up 27% to €4,130mm, dividend raised 29% to €1.20/share

ITX sales reached €32,569 million in 2022, up 17.5% year-on-year (+18.0% at constant rates; +0.1% FactSet consensus), with growth in all geographic areas where ITX operates, and in both physical and online shops. In-store sales increased 23% year-on-year, due to higher commercial traffic, while online sales rose 4% year-on-year, reaching a record €7,806 million, 23.97% of the total. Broken down by geographic area, 47.5% of sales came from Europe (excluding…

pensiones playita

Spanish economy, Spanish Politics 14th March 2023

Fedea warns: pension reform “renounces any savings and will increase spending”.

The Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada (Fedea) warned on Monday that the pension reform that is under way “condemns the contributory component of the public pension system to a basic deficit (before transfers) that will be “high and rapidly increasing over the coming decades”. After analysing the pension reforms as a whole (those already approved and the final phase that is now being negotiated), Fedea calculates that around 2050…

Inflation Spain

Spanish economy 14th March 2023

CPI rises to 6%, with core inflation at 7.6% and food at 16%

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.9% in February compared to the previous month and raised its year-on-year rate by one tenth of a percentage point, to 6%, due to the increase in electricity, package holidays and food, which saw their prices rise by 16.6% compared to February 2022 despite the measures taken by the government, according to the final data published on Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute…

pensioners

Spanish economy, Spanish Politics 13th March 2023

Government and trade unions to meet today with employers’ NO to pension system reform proposals

The Government and social partners will meet again today at 4.30 p.m. to discuss the pending issues of the second phase of the pension reform following the proposal presented last Friday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, with the backing of the European Commission and Unidas Podemos. This is a reform that the employers’ association opposes head-on because it is “populist” and means “voracious tax collection”, given…

IAG

Companies, Spanish economy 11th March 2023

IAG, with biggest share of slots, to benefit most from Heathrow’s lower charges

Intermoney | The UK’s airport regulator decided on Wednesday that Heathrow’s airport charges should be lowered because passenger numbers have recovered faster than expected. In 2021, Heathrow was given permission to increase passenger charges for airlines from £19.60 to £30.19 by summer 2022 and the average passenger charge for 2023 is £31.57. This should fall to £25.43 in 2024 and remain flat until the end of 2026. Heathrow wanted charges…

madrid property bubble 1

In Spain, Spanish economy 10th March 2023

Spanish house prices fall -0.8% in 4Q22, first drop since 4Q20

Bankinter | House Prices fall -0.8% in Q4 (quarter-on-quarter) vs. +1.7% previously. It is second-hand housing that has suffered the most in this quarter (-1.4 q/q), while new housing continues to increase prices (+1.9% quarter-on-quarter). In year-on-year terms, prices have slackened to +5.5% in 4Q 2022 (year-on-year) vs +7.6% in the previous quarter. Analysis team’s view: This is the first quarter that prices have fallen in Spain since 4Q20 (a…

VIdrala

Spanish economy 10th March 2023

Vidrala to join Stoxx Europe 600 on March 20

Bankinter | On 20 March Vidrala (VID) will join the Stoxx Europe 600, according to the changes announced on March 1. The glass packaging company has a market capitalisation of €3,020m and accumulated a 22.3% revaluation in the year. 2022 results showed sales of €1,345.6m (+24.1% YoY), while EBITDA amounted to €270.4m (+1% year-on-year) and EPS 4.97% (+6.9% year-on-year). Net financial debt amounted to €167.2m and although it increased by…

Madrid Gran Via2

Spanish economy, Spanish Politics 10th March 2023

Spain has lowest absorption rate of EU funds (54%)

Scope Rating | Slow take-up of approved EU funds could also jeopardise future EU disbursements, as these will increasingly depend on governments’ ability to deliver on investment projects (mostly ‘targets’) rather than implement reforms (mostly ‘milestones’). Indeed, the low disbursement of EU funds received to date is common among some of the largest beneficiaries of EU recovery funds, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Croatia, given the energy crisis, rising…