Caixabank Research| The tourism sector has had a strong start to 2024. International arrivals in February were 15.9% above the same month of 2019, while international tourist expenditure attained a level 26.7% above that of February 2019. Demand for tourism services is holding up despite the strong increase in tourism related prices: CPI hotel prices in February increased by 9.0% year-on-year, attaining a level 32.2% above the same month of…
Link Securities| The mining company will open a multi-million dollar arbitration against Spain in the ICSID over the government’s veto of the Salamanca uranium mine. The company is taking a further step in its offensive after requesting, in November 2023, by letter to the Government, a negotiation for the Retortillo project that the Executive rejected in 2021, as reported yesterday by the newspaper ElMundo.es. This letter, in fact, constituted a…
Intermoney| Merlin Properties (MRL) (Buy, Target Price €12/share) has contracted with two US investment banks for a capital increase of up to €1 billion, which it expects to be completed before the end of this year, according to Cinco Días. The REIT expects the funds to be used for the start-up of data centres, its current main avenue for growth. Merlin expects a large part of the capital increase to…
Chery will become the first Chinese carmaker to manufacture cars in Spain. It plans to manufacture both combustion and electric vehicles in Spain, as well as those with some form of hybridisation. The Asian carmaker has just signed an agreement with EV Motors, which is seeking to reindustrialise the former Nissan Barcelona, for Chery to manufacture vehicles entirely in the Zona Franca of Barcelona and thus occupy the site left…
Santander Research| Moody’s has upgraded Enagás’ rating outlook (Baa2 e, BBB e, BBB e) from negative to stable. The decision is based on Enagás’ strategic update, which outlines measures to strengthen its balance sheet by 2027. Enagás reduced its dividend pay-out from €1.74/share to €1.00/share for 2024-26, and cut planned investments for the period by €300m. Moody’s expects the additional cash flow generated by the company to be used to…
The Congress yesterday supported the consideration of the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) for the extraordinary regularisation of the 500,000 migrants who, according to the promoters’ calculations, live in Spain without papers and without some basic rights. The initiative was backed by more than 600,000 signatures and 900 civil society organisations. The proposal received 310 votes in favour and only 33 against, those of the Vox parliamentary group. Each with their…
Link Securities| LandCo, the land development subsidiary of Banco Santander (SAN), has reached profitability three years ahead of its business plan, according to Expansión newspaper. LandCo manages 10,000 plots of land, after selling 4,000 assets since its creation in 2020. The real estate company expects to close land sales for more than €200 million this year. The firm’s land portfolio stands at €1.7 billion, compared to €2.1 billion originally. The…
CriteriaCaixa has become Telefónica’s largest shareholder, with exactly 5.007% of the capital, up from 2.69% at the end of March. This stake, increased by 2.31% through market purchases and financial instruments and with a market value of €527 million – at Monday’s price (€3.97) – puts the industrial group one at hundredth more than Saudi Telecom (4.99%). BBVA holds 4.86% of the teleco’s shares, compared with 4.5% for BlackRock and…
Alphavalue/ Divacons | The Spanish IT services and consultancy company has been awarded a contract for almost €15m to renovate the ticketing machines for the St Louis metro (Missouri, USA). Indra has indicated that the new machines will be “state-of-the-art” and will replace the current ones, which were also supplied by the company between 2006 and 2012 and were distributed in the 38 stations of the St. Louis metro network.
Link Securities | This week begins the so-called Investor education period for the fragrance, fashion, cosmetics and make-up company Puig, in which the banks coordinating the sale of the company’s shares will show dozens of large funds the accounts and possible valuation of the firm, according to the newspaper Expansión. This is a key step in deciding whether the transaction goes ahead and the price at which it will be…