Alphavalue / Divacons| According to data from Les Echos, analysts note that the physical fashion retail network is shrinking. In the last two years, 11% of physical fashion shops in France have closed. The market fell by 9% in 2022 compared to 2019. Overall, traffic is down by 17%, but the transformation rate is increasing, as is the average basket. According to eMarketer, e-commerce accounted for 14.8% of total retail…
Renta 4 | On December 9th, as was expected, the development of the H2Med project, interconnecting Portugal, Spain and France for the transport of hydrogen, was agreed. An investment of 2.850 billion is anticipated (2.5 billion for the underwater connection between France and Spain, and 350 million for the connection between Portugal and Spain). Up to 50% of the total amount could be subsidised (requests for aid expected on December…
Alphavalue/ Divacons | The Catalan lender has received binding offers from France’s Worldline and Italy’s NEXI for its payment business which it put up for sale in September. The offers are between 300 and 350 million euros, with that from Worldline (part of our model portfolio) seeming to be the highest. Sabadell is said to be looking for 400 million euros.
Brussels’ compromise solution for reforming the Stability Pact has not served to bridge the traditional North-South divide that has plagued the EU when it comes to economic policy. The new deficit and debt rules proposed by Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission satisfy Spain and France, but unnerve Germany, which is demanding more fiscal discipline, as the daily El Español explains. A clash that highlights the enormous difficulty of finding an…
Renta 4 | Iberdrola would have reached an agreement with Axa for the development of four offshore wind farms in France, with a total of 1.750MW. Via the agreement, the French firm would have a minority stake in the event the projects are awarded to Iberdrola in the auctions expected to take place in 2023. The implementation is planned for 2030. Valuation: This is a repeat of the strategy of…
The downturn in the German private sector economy deepened in August, as business activity fell for the second month running and at a fasterrate in August. This is according to the latest ‘flash’ PMI® data from S&P Global. The deepening downturn was linked by surveyed businesses to a combination of factors, S&P Global noted. These included uncertainty, high inflation and rising interest rates. That said, companies’ expectations registered an uptick…
Alphavalue | Iberdrola (Reduce, TP €11,5 ++) : Iberdrola’s share price rose 0.37% yesterday, despite the criticisms received in France after the Spanish utility decided to terminate power contracts with thousands of its customers there. It cited high energy costs. Let’s not forget that Iberdrola has lodged a complaint against France with the European Commission, regarding supposed state aid to EDF (reduce, TP 11,8 ++) for over 5 billion euros….
It is true that there are economies in the eurozone with greater problems than Spain’s and whose prices are much higher, such as the three Baltic republics – Lithuania (13.9%), Estonia (12.4%) and Latvia (8.9%) – as well as Belgium (9.6%) and Slovakia (8.2%). But the rest are on a par… or below. In Germany, year-on-year inflation is already at 7.3% after rising 2.2 points from February. It is the…
Spanish SMEs received the most resources from the European Investment Bank last year, totalling EUR 7.25 billion, an unprecedented volume. This figure represents an increase of 73% compared to 2020 and 57% of the total financing received by Spain from the institution. The EIB Group financed Spain with a total of EUR 12.771 billion last year, 51% more than the previous year. This amount was channelled through direct loans granted…
Scope Ratings ( Thomas Gillet) | The European Commission has started consultations on a draft text for labelling nuclear as a ‘green’ energy source under the EU’s taxonomy for environmentally sustainable activities. If the proposal is approved by the European Parliament and the Council, it would have positive credit implications for France (AA/Stable) given the importance of nuclear in the country’s power mix, climate plan and energy independence. The EU…