Abertis’ key figures improved in the first half of 2016, with growth in net profit (+9% like-for-like) to €510Mn , EBITDA (+7% like-for-like) to €1,502Mn and revenue (+5%) to a total of €2,243Mn, in a period featuring a resilient recurring business, traffic increases and the addition of new assets to the consolidation scope following the acquisition of 50% of Autopista Central in Chile.
Telefonica has presented on Thursday its first half results. These have highlighted the new contribution from its O2 UK subsidiary, which returns to the multinational’s permiter after five quarters on the outside. Revenues in the UK during H1’16 reached 3,464 million euros against 25,235 in the consolidated group. Meanwhile, Telefonica’s frustrated attempt to sell its UK unit O2 to Hutchison is beginning to have consequences.
Yesterday Spaniards voted again six months after the last general elections on proposals which had changed very little; the only relevant novelty was the integration of Izquierda Unida (IU) and Podemos which in the end turned out to be irrelevant. The new/old left has not gained anything obtaining the same number of seats and votes as in December, when IU ran on its own.
Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP) has won Sunday’s repeat general elections with 33% of votes and 137 seats. The Socialist party came second with 85 seats, while the coalition Unidos Podemos obtained an upsetting result of 71 seats and third position. Finally Ciudadanos obtained 32. These results came as a surpise as the polls had pointed to a very different outcome. But they provide an opportunity to break six months of political deadlock.
Ofelia Marín-Lozano | All the banks have seen a sharp decline in their profitability compared with a decade ago. This is partly due to the heavy provisions made to offset the impact of the property crisis (over 300 billion euros in accumulated terms). But it is also the result of the decrease in pre-provisions operating profit and the requirement for the lenders to raise their capital in line with assets.
BARCLAYS | Having largely pre-released numbers with its trading statement the focus from Repsol’s 4Q results is on whether or not the group will be able to retain its Investment Grade credit rating, given the prevailing environment.
Regardless of the disappointments, the one-off items, a few little surprises and all kinds of explanations regarding their earnings and provisions, the so-called big banks’ results are what they are. And none of them have anything to celebrate. They remain vulnerable and unable to reach cruising speed.
Low oil prices can be good for the drivers, but they are simply catastrophic for the oil companies and the markets. Many top oil firms have seen their earnings sharply reduced and their credit ratings cut. It is expected that prices will rise again, but not before late this year or 2017. The big question is whether the industry will be able to survive until then.
It looks as if 2016 will be the first year to bring some normality to Spain’s banking sector in terms of capital requirements since the start of the deep financial crisis. The most important consquence of this crisis has been the sharp drop in the industry’s profitability – a 6.8% decline in return on equity (ROE) to 5.3% in six years. But AFI analysts estimate that the Spanish banking sector’s profitability will be around 6-7% over the next few years.