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Spain Business Brief - Wednesday September 1 2010
Ryanair has arrived at the El Prat airport in Barcelona, but with a warning from the Irish airline that they will reduce their flights to other Catalan airports, Reus and Girona, if landing taxes are not reduced. At a press conference held in Barcelona, CEO Michael O’Leary called on the AENA Spanish Airports Authority to reduce charges at smaller airports, and noted that in Lleida the airline paid nothing, like Vueling, its only competitor there. Ryanair already receives more than eight million € a year in grants for its operations at secondary airports in Cataluña.
The company now flies to 23 destinations from T2 in Barcelona, 11 of them in Spain including Sevilla and Málaga, and 12 in Europe including Paris and Milan.
Meanwhile Cádiz will find itself without international air connections despite the Ministry for Development investing nine million € in a new terminal at Jerez. The terminal is intended to double the capacity of the airport to three million passengers a year, but from November only the Flyniki weekly flight to Vienna will remain operational as Ryanair considers Jerez unprofitable in the winter. Air Berlin is also planning to drop its services.
The Balance of Trade Deficit of Spain for the first six months of the year reached 29.58 billion, a number that is 13.2% lower than that seen for the same period last year, according to the Bank of Spain.
The Deputy Chairman of Santander, Alfredo Sáenz, has said that if actions are taken against the banks, credits will be harder to obtain and will also be more expensive. ‘We are not the bad guys’, he said. His comments came during an intensive course on Transnational Law in international commerce, being held at the Duesto University in Bilbao.
The increase in IVA/VAT has put the brake on car sales in Spain, with the numbers down in August on the same month last year by 23.8%. It is the worst August for case sales for 20 years, with numbers also pushed lower by the end of the Government’s scrappage scheme. 44,578 cars were sold over the month.
So far this year car sales are at 730,906, up 21.9% on last year for the same period.
Chinese car company, Cherry, is reported by El País to be putting the finishing touches to a large investment in Cataluña. Catalan President José Montilla has travelled to Anhui in China to finalise the details. The newspaper says that revealing aspects of the deal could put it in danger.
Meanwhile the minimum age to ride a moped in Spain has increased today, Wednesday, to 15 from the previous 14. Riders of bikes under 50cc will now also need a new driving licence, known as the AM, and will not be able to take a pillion rider until the age of 18. Motorbike manufacturers have criticised the changes saying that it could lose 21% of jobs this year because of the legislative changes.
The Salazar brothers have been granted bail of 360 million € in the National Court case which arises after the two were sacked from the SOS company for an alleged fraud of 230 million. Reports indicate that assets will be embargoed to the bail value.
SOS meanwhile has announced losses of 20.5 million for the first half of the year.
Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has told investors in Japan that Spain is solvent. He has been underlining the successful debt bond emissions of late, and has complained that the press had exaggerated the problems of the Spanish economy.
He has also admitted in questioning that it will not be easy for the unions to support the Government’s plans for pensions reform.
Standard and Poors has warned that the recovery in Europe is set to take place at two different speeds, and that Spain will be in the slower group along with Greece and Ireland. Generally the ratings agency thinks that recovery will be slow.
Cajasur recorded losses of 196 million € this year to June, which take its total debt to 18.636 billion, down 5.2% on the same time last year.
The numbers come from a report from the National Values Commission, and after the Bank of Spain intervened in Caja Sur and sold it by auction to the BBK.
The Spanish company, Ferrovial, has purchased the British waste management company, Donarbon, for 58.7 million € (48.6 million pounds). Waste management is one of the strategic areas for Ferrovial in the British market where it is consolidating its services division.
Workers in the Auto-Res coach company have given management a 12 day deadline to open talks. Today is the end of the tenth day of strike action which started against planned sackings last Spring. Workers say that if they get no response they will ‘radicalise’ their protests.
And finally,
The companies listed on the IBEX 35 index have seen an 8% increase in their profits until July at over 23 billion. However the six largest companies on the index, Santander, Telefónica, BBVA, Endesa, Iberdrola and Repsol, delivered 67% of the total profit.
Wednesday saw the index recover in a single day all it had lost during the month of August. It closed up 3.51% at 10,544 taking its lead from a rally on Wall Street.
The company now flies to 23 destinations from T2 in Barcelona, 11 of them in Spain including Sevilla and Málaga, and 12 in Europe including Paris and Milan.
Meanwhile Cádiz will find itself without international air connections despite the Ministry for Development investing nine million € in a new terminal at Jerez. The terminal is intended to double the capacity of the airport to three million passengers a year, but from November only the Flyniki weekly flight to Vienna will remain operational as Ryanair considers Jerez unprofitable in the winter. Air Berlin is also planning to drop its services.
The Balance of Trade Deficit of Spain for the first six months of the year reached 29.58 billion, a number that is 13.2% lower than that seen for the same period last year, according to the Bank of Spain.
The Deputy Chairman of Santander, Alfredo Sáenz, has said that if actions are taken against the banks, credits will be harder to obtain and will also be more expensive. ‘We are not the bad guys’, he said. His comments came during an intensive course on Transnational Law in international commerce, being held at the Duesto University in Bilbao.
The increase in IVA/VAT has put the brake on car sales in Spain, with the numbers down in August on the same month last year by 23.8%. It is the worst August for case sales for 20 years, with numbers also pushed lower by the end of the Government’s scrappage scheme. 44,578 cars were sold over the month.
So far this year car sales are at 730,906, up 21.9% on last year for the same period.
Chinese car company, Cherry, is reported by El País to be putting the finishing touches to a large investment in Cataluña. Catalan President José Montilla has travelled to Anhui in China to finalise the details. The newspaper says that revealing aspects of the deal could put it in danger.
Meanwhile the minimum age to ride a moped in Spain has increased today, Wednesday, to 15 from the previous 14. Riders of bikes under 50cc will now also need a new driving licence, known as the AM, and will not be able to take a pillion rider until the age of 18. Motorbike manufacturers have criticised the changes saying that it could lose 21% of jobs this year because of the legislative changes.
The Salazar brothers have been granted bail of 360 million € in the National Court case which arises after the two were sacked from the SOS company for an alleged fraud of 230 million. Reports indicate that assets will be embargoed to the bail value.
SOS meanwhile has announced losses of 20.5 million for the first half of the year.
Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has told investors in Japan that Spain is solvent. He has been underlining the successful debt bond emissions of late, and has complained that the press had exaggerated the problems of the Spanish economy.
He has also admitted in questioning that it will not be easy for the unions to support the Government’s plans for pensions reform.
Standard and Poors has warned that the recovery in Europe is set to take place at two different speeds, and that Spain will be in the slower group along with Greece and Ireland. Generally the ratings agency thinks that recovery will be slow.
Cajasur recorded losses of 196 million € this year to June, which take its total debt to 18.636 billion, down 5.2% on the same time last year.
The numbers come from a report from the National Values Commission, and after the Bank of Spain intervened in Caja Sur and sold it by auction to the BBK.
The Spanish company, Ferrovial, has purchased the British waste management company, Donarbon, for 58.7 million € (48.6 million pounds). Waste management is one of the strategic areas for Ferrovial in the British market where it is consolidating its services division.
Workers in the Auto-Res coach company have given management a 12 day deadline to open talks. Today is the end of the tenth day of strike action which started against planned sackings last Spring. Workers say that if they get no response they will ‘radicalise’ their protests.
And finally,
The companies listed on the IBEX 35 index have seen an 8% increase in their profits until July at over 23 billion. However the six largest companies on the index, Santander, Telefónica, BBVA, Endesa, Iberdrola and Repsol, delivered 67% of the total profit.
Wednesday saw the index recover in a single day all it had lost during the month of August. It closed up 3.51% at 10,544 taking its lead from a rally on Wall Street.
(You can find a photo for this story at Typically Spanish - Click here)