Spain Business Brief - Monday May 12 2008

Spain Business Brief - Monday May 12 2008
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By h.b. - May 12, 2008 - 1:06 PM

Repsol logo - Archive Photo EFE

Repsol YPF pulls out of Iranian gas project.

Spanish multinational company Repsol YPF, and Shell have turned down an option for a large scale gas project in Iran.
It comes at a time when the United States has upped the pressure on international companies to suspend their dealings in Iran in response to the Iranians continuance with their nuclear program.
It means that the companies will not take part in a 10 billion € investment in the South Pars area of Iran. Future collaboration has not been ruled out apparently.

The knock on effect of the slowdown in the construction industry in Spain has resulted in a 33% reduction in profits for Portland Cements for the first quarter of this year compared to last. The company is part of the Spanish giant FCC, and has published results for the first three months of this year at 409 million. They say the reduction is the result of a fall in national business.

One way of getting construction going again is for the building of council homes. VPO assisted housing in Castilla La Mancha is to be built using private promoters, and the Government has congratulated the initiative of the regional administration. It means the private promoter benefits from financing as well has having the security of finding a purchaser when the construction is complete.
However the Minister for Employment and Immigration, Celestino Corbacho, has said that unemployment numbers are not set to recover until next year, because of the sharp slow down in construction.

Power company Endesa has announced a 4.6% increase in profits for the first quarter of this year with a net amount of 662 million.
Income over the time was up 28% at 5.45 billion, but the company debt is up by 647 million to 21.5 billion.
66% of the profit comes from business in Spain and Portugal, but largest growth was seen from Latin America.

More evidence of a consumer slowdown comes from the latest visitor numbers for commercial centres in Spain, with April showing a 1.5% reduction compared to April last year and down 0.7% with respect to March. The number is published by Experian FootFall.

The court case taken out against El Corte Inglés is now underway, brought by the Areces brothers, Ramón, María Jesús and Rosario, after the company refused to let them sell their shares at the market price. It’s all linked to differences in the valuation of the company made back in 2005 and the case is expected to reach its closing session on May 19.

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