BBVA has joined the (Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Network (NSBN). It is the only Spanish bank on the platform, which consists of the various sustainable debt issuers in the world and is a clear reference point for socially responsible investors.
Francisco Blanco Bermúdez* | The transposition into Spanish law of EU Directive 2017/828, dealing with the encouragement of long-term shareholder engagement in listed companies, and some other related proposals will imply some changes to Spanish legislation. For example, the striking proposal that will mean that listed companies will be free to publish or not publish financial information on quarterly results.
Caixabank Research | The agri-food sector is a key pillar of the Spanish economy’s foreign sector. In 2019, sales overseas amounted to €50.361 Bn, 5.9% more than in 2018, representing 17.4% of total exports. Within the general pattern of decline in international trade due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Spanish agri-food exports grew by 4.9% year-on-year in January- July 2020, which contrasts with the drop in total exports of goods (-14.6%). So the weight of agri-food exports increased significantly to 30% in April.
Spain is the country most affected by the decline in productivity due to the Covid-19 pandemic because its economy is more vulnerable. The reason is it depends on the most affected sectors, like tourism, hotels and restaurants, having fewer manufacturing companies, according to a recent article in the European Central Bank’s Economic Bulletin. The article analyses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the productivity of German, French, Italian and Spanish companies.
Bonds from the European Union have become popular among Japanese investors. Already in July, Japanese funds bought record amount of Italian debt. However in September, they purchased a net 235 billion yen ($2.15 billion) of Spanish bonds, while selling a net 127.7 billion yen of Italian paper during the month, the data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed.
Banca March | Euphoria yesterday in a good part of the world’s stock exchanges, after the Pfizer-BioNTech consortium announced an effectiveness of over 90% in its prototype of a vaccine against the Covid-19. In Europe, the Ibex 35 took the lead (up 8.5%), as it registered the highest rise in a session in the last 10 years. This excellent news reminds us how quickly the world can change once there is a remedy. And it can favour countries and/or sectors which up to now have been more affected by social isolation.
Spain is ranked 15th in the World Energy Trilemma Index 2020, published by the World Energy Council and Oliver Wyman. The index positions countries according to their integration of the three dimensions of sustainability, equity and security of supply. As stated in the report, Spain scored the highest in two of the three categories (Energy Equity and Environmental Sustainability). In the Trilemma Index it obtained a score of 77.9 out of 100, moving up one place from last year to fifteenth position.
Renta 4 | After the government approved the rescue of Air Europa last week, with an injection of 475 million euros, several media outlets are claiming the executive intends to establish a series of conditions for the operation. In our opinion, these would complicate the acquisition of the airline by IAG. The conditions would include the appointment of two directors, authorisation to approve strategic operations, dismiss and even agree the appointment of the CEO. IAG will be awaiting an official communication.
90% of this investment volume – €68 Bn – will be organic and will be aimed at consolidating its business model, based on more renewable energy, more networks, more storage and more intelligent solutions for its customers. The rest, €7 Bn, corresponds to the recently announced acquisition of American company PNM Resources. This unprecedented rate of expenditure will represent an average investment of €10 Bn per year between 2020 and 2022, and €13 Bn per year in the period 2023-2025.
The main objective of the telecommunications and digitalization budget is the deployment of the Spain Digital Agenda 2025, for which an investment of 3.750 billion euros is allocated in 2021. This “historic increase” is supported by the financing of the new EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, which will provide 3.650 billion euros for this purpose. The strategy includes ten guidelines and nearly 50 proposals to promote the digitalization of the productive structure and society as a whole.