Top Stories

In Spain

utilities electricas

Spanish economy 27th May 2025

Competition authority plans to charge electricity companies 6.5% for networks and 6.4% for gas for next six years

Banco Sabadell : According to press reports, and confirming rumours that have been appearing in the press over the last month, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) is moving forward with its decision to approve a 6.5% remuneration for electricity distribution networks and 6.4% for gas for the next six years. Assessment: As for electricity, although the news is negative, it was already known that the proposal being considered…

Caixabank, Telefónica, El Corte Inglés or Iberdrola, the Spanish firms best prepared to confront 2019

Spanish economy 27th May 2025

Spanish companies lose competitiveness due to labour and tax regulations, according to World Bank

Labour regulation, the high tax burden, and the scarcity of qualified workers are the main obstacles to the growth of Spanish companies compared to others in the major global economies. This is reflected in the report “The Business Environment and the Private Sector in Spain” presented yesterday by the World Bank, after conducting a series of surveys in recent months among Spanish companies of all sizes and sectors. Especially those…

banco sabadell palmeras

Spanish economy 26th May 2025

Blackrock raises stake in Banco Sabadell to over 6.70%

Link Securities | National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) filings unveiled a new increase in US fund manager BlackRock’s stake in Banco Sabadell, Expansión newspaper reported. The latest purchases uncovered by the regulator have raised its weight in the bank’s capital to over 6.70%. In its previous notification, issued yesterday, the world’s largest asset manager had reported a 6.688% stake. According to CNMV records, the current 6.701% represents its highest stake…

Judges

In Spain 26th May 2025

Judges and prosecutors to strike on June 11th in response to “serious setback in the rule of law” posed by Government’s proposed legal reform

The formulation by the Ministry of Justice of a new Organic Law for the Expansion and Strengthening of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Careers has led a group of judges, magistrates, and prosecutors to call a strike on June 11th. According to the proposal of the new Law, any legal professional with 5 years of work experience could, after a report, enter the judicial or prosecutorial career without needing to pass…

DavidSanchez

Spanish Politics 23rd May 2025

President Sánchez’s brother goes on trial, and his hirer shows he’s capable of anything, gaining parliamentary immunity in less than 24 hours

David Sánchez, the Prime Minister’s brother, will go to trial for influence peddling and prevarication. The judge who investigated the case concluded that after Pedro Sánchez mentioned his brother was a musician, the PSOE leader in Extremadura, Miguel Angel Gallardo, created an ad hoc job for him as coordinator of the two music conservatories in Badajoz, whose provincial council Gallardo presided over. David Sánchez’s position was put out to tender,…

Spanish banks

Spanish economy 23rd May 2025

Bank of Spain Director of Economics resigns after presenting annual report

Ángel Gavilán, the Director of the Economics and Research Department at the Bank of Spain, has resigned after presenting – out of loyalty – the first Bank of Spain report with former minister José Luis Escrivá as the new governor. It was known that the presented report had omitted the widely shared concern about the Spanish pension system, which, after the reform launched by Escrivá himself, faces increasing expenses and…

telefonica edificio

Spanish economy 22nd May 2025

Telefónica sells all shares in Telefónica Móviles del Uruguay to Millicom for €389 million

Link Securities | On Wednesday Telefónica Hispanoamérica, S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Telefónica (TEF), reached an agreement for the sale to Millicom Spain, S.L. of all the shares it holds in Telefónica Móviles del Uruguay S.A., representing 100% of its share capital. The transaction amount (firm value) for this company is $440 million (around €389 million at the current exchange rate), and the corresponding price is subject to the…

espana servicios hosteleria

Spanish economy 21st May 2025

Spanish Social Security system gains 229,742 employed persons up to middle of May, closing in on 21.8 million mark

CdM | Social Security enrolment has increased by 229,742 employed persons in the first half of May, to 21,783,878 contributors in the daily series of affiliates, a new record figure, according to data published on Tuesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. In the seasonally adjusted series, 21,557,126 affiliates have been reached in the first fortnight of May, thanks to the increase of 45,531 affiliates in the…

Puig

Spanish economy 21st May 2025

Puig Brands claims 31% loss of value since IPO due to evolution of sector, not business operations

Link Securities | Marc Puig, president and CEO of Puig Brands, attributed the 31% loss of its share price since its IPO on 3 May 2024 to market doubts about the evolution of the sector, and not to the operation of the business, Expansión reports today. He believes this is due to the market’s assumption that the sector will be affected by increased uncertainty, something that was not foreseen last…

escriva

In Spain 21st May 2025

Bank of Spain no longer sees any problem with Spanish pension system

A significant shift – highlighted by several Spanish media outlets – in the view that the Bank of Spain has held until now regarding the scale of the challenges facing the Spanish economy. In the first report with former minister José Luis Escrivá as governor of the Bank, the entity’s constant concerns about the sustainability of the pension system have disappeared. As the newspaper El Mundo explains, “After the warning…