BANCO SABADELL: Bank increases dividend prediction as it fends off BBVA takeover
Credit: Folguerola Angela
Sabadell’s weapon Banco Sabadell has upped its dividend prediction from €2.4 billion to €2.9 billion.
Chief Financial director Leopold Alvear revealed while visiting New York recently that the bank would increase this over the coming months as Sabadell wards off a hostile takeover by BBVA.
Since BBVA first approached Sabadell with its offer of a friendly merger – which the Catalan bank rejected from the outset – the latter has used dividend payouts as one of its most persuasive weapons.
It has now pledged to share €2.9 billion amongst investors over the next two years although chief executive Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno has hinted that even this could be improved, following Sabadell’s “historic” first-half profits of €791 million.
Ice cream deal Unilever is finally abandoning its Russian business after continuing sales of its ice-cream more than two years after the Ukraine invasion.
The London-based multinational, whose brands include Magnum, Wall’s and Ben & Jerry’s, has now agreed a deal with chemicals group Arnest, according to reports in the Russian media.
The transaction is expected to be worth between £300 and £334 million (€355.1 and €395.4 million) after the obligatory 50 per cent discount on exit deals involving firms from “unfriendly” countries.
Pescanova woes Frozen fish and seafood company Nueva Pescanova posted a net loss of €131 million for its last financial year that ended on March 31.
Still a household name despite these problems, Nueva Pescanova has reported losses for five of its last six financial years, with reduced sales during the last two.
The discouraging figures were the result of “inflation, the historic fall in the price of shrimp and the climactic effect of El Niño”, a company said on September 11.
It went on to explain that the board intends to propose a capital increase of €72.6 million at the next general shareholders’ meeting to finance the company’s future growth plan.
Telefonica cold shoulder The US investment bank Goldman Sachs reduced its Telefonica holding to 0.236 per cent on September 9.
This was 5.6 percentage points lower than its former 5.533 per cent stake, according to figures from Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
It was the second time that Goldman Sachs slashed its Telefonica investment after reducing its 8.081 per cent holding to 5.533 per cent only four days earlier.
By September 9, the value of Goldman Sachs’ Telefonica stake dropped from €1.9 billion to €56 million, while shares in Spain’s principal telecom company fell 0.17 per cent to €4.20 that same day.
Second chance The Marie Claire factory in Castellon, idle for almost a year, should soon operative once more.
The company, which was founded in 1907, originally manufactured most of Spain’s stockings and tights and employed 400 staff.
It will now be run by Madrid-based For Men together with the Polish firm Koltex and production will instead switch to sportswear and swimwear.
It was agreed with Valencia’s regional government that the partnership could acquire the factory for €240,000 on the understanding that it would operate for at least three years.