Spain

Companies 26th April 2012

Santander, BBVA surpass €1 billion profit in Q1 2012: the geographical key

MADRID | Banco Santander registered a net attributable profit of €1.604 billion in the first quarter of 2012, a decline of 24% year on year. Santander, that released Thursday its results for the January-March period of this year, noted that this decline was mainly due to the significant increase in provisions for non-performing loans, which rose by 51% to €3.127 billion. Banco Santander revenues in the first quarter grew by more than…

Spanish economy 26th April 2012

The case against Spanish banks: how the New York Times got it wrong

NEW YORK | When one of the world’s most prestigious newspapers quotes a blogger as the main source of a story on international economy, sure that blogger’s words do get a boost. The New York Times Business front page recently spoke of “Spain’s weak spot“, saying that “A rising portion of Spain’s €663 billion, or $876 billion, in home mortgages at risk of default could lead the country’s banks to a…

Spanish economy 26th April 2012

Spain’s budget is starting to crack

MADRID | First quarter figures showed a marked deterioration in central government finances. Its gap has grown by ¾ as compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 1.85% in terms of GDP. A most disappointing outcome that undermines firm pledges to slash deficit this year in a substantial way. Claims that more money has been pumped to regional authorities, pensions and unemployment benefits appear as futile excuses. For…

Markets 25th April 2012

Wednesday’s graph: the pain of Spanish SMEs spells pain in France, Germany

Although the difficulties that the Spanish small and medium sized companies experience to access finance showed signs of very soft relief, the figures were bad. The latest survey on SMEs in the euro zone offered a stark picture of small companies in Spain suffering the worse end of the credit crunch, as a consequence of a weak domestic market. In contrast, Spain’s corporations are able to weather the crisis thanks…

In Europe 24th April 2012

Brussels orders austerity, Europe returns economic contraction

Awaiting the government’s official figures, which will be released next 30 April, the forecast published this week by the Bank of Spain should be taken as a telling sign of the success that austerity budgets throughout euro peripheral State members are enjoying. The Spanish central bank said that it expects the country’s economic activity to fall by 0.4pc during the first quarter of 2012, a one-tenth down from 2011’s last…

Companies 24th April 2012

Repsol, Inditex among 64 European stocks recommended by Morgan Stanley

MADRID | Morgan Stanley in Madrid released an investor note on Tuesday with some recommendations, and we spotted a couple of Spanish companies (always on the bright side, we know…) “We propose the following basket of 64 stocks (Nifty Fifty +) with the intent to replicate the behaviour on the original list (Nifty Fifty) for the years 60/70 in the U.S. “The criteria we used for this stock selection exercise are:…

Spanish economy 23rd April 2012

Monday’s graph: improvement in gross debt ratio of Spain’s private sector

International Financial Analysts Afi brought to our attention this chart from 2011 financial accounts in Spain, which confirm that ratio of gross debt (loans and different security prices) of households and businesses in Spain has dropped by 13.5 percentage points of GDP. The figure is now 216pc, down from the maximum levels reached during the second quarter in 2010. It also reflects the downturn in indebtedness operations during last year,…

Spanish economy 23rd April 2012

The Bank of Spain’s baffling performance

MADRID | The Spanish government has good reasons to feel irritated at the Bank of Spain’s erratic conduct. It has endorsed bank plans to meet the reform targets without raising any objection. Yet, it has failed to provide any credible explanation on how credit institutions might raise €45 billion in the coming months. Taking for granted that Santander, BBVA and CaixaBank will easily achieve their required €10 billion provisioning, that leaves…

Spanish economy 20th April 2012

Spain’s government must pass by blackmail from counter-austerity lobbies

By Carlos Díaz Guell, in Madrid | No one in Spain is going to make it easy for the Rajoy government. Policy reforms and budget cuts undertaken by the cabinet, although considered timid and inadequate by many, will inevitably leave a number of victims in the ditches and they don’t seem willing to let this occur without doing anything against it. The business sectors (most of them) affected by constrictions in public spending…

In Europe 20th April 2012

France most vulnerable to political risk in the euro zone, says Schroders

LONDON | In its global macro outlook report, investment company Schroders said on Friday that its eyes were on France amidst ongoing euro zone concerns and despite the uncertainty surrounding Spain. The upcoming elections could thwart France’s plans to implement State budget cuts, the Schroders paper highlighted, while the European Central Bank refinancing lines would have ring-fenced the Spanish banking sector from liquidity scarcity, unlike Italy’s. “France is the euro zone member currently…

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