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Spain Business Brief - Thursday July 24 2008
By h.b. - Jul 24, 2008 - 12:34 PM
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Continued increase in unemployment numbers in Spain.
The unemployment lines are getting ever-longer in Spain with the news that 207,400 joined the dole queues in the second quarter of the year, according to the survey of the active population, EPA. The number of 2,381,500 out of work, is the highest seen since the last quarter of 2004.
As might have been expected, most jobs were lost from the construction industry, with 87,100 losing their employment in the sector, and 39,700 more were lost in the service sector.
The survey puts the unemployment rate in Spain now at 10.44% of the active population and shows larger increases among men and foreigners.

Reports indicate today that at the regular weekly meeting tomorrow, the cabinet is set to reduce the estimation for the growth of the Spanish economy this year to below 2%. The latest Government forecast is 2.3% and was made in April. The latest IMF forecast for Spain this year places growth at 1.8%, reducing to 1.2% next year.

Mercantile court 7 in Madrid has responded to a request from the Telecinco television company in Spain and ordered YouTube to remove all the company’s programmes from the internet video portal. The precautionary measure ordered by the court can be appealed by Google, the owners of YouTube.
Telecinco had claimed copyright violations as the website shows the company’s programmes without any written permission.

Gas Natural has admitted that it has held contacts with ACS over a possible purchase of Unión Fenosa. Union is the third largest electricity company in Spain and the attack from Gas Natural comes after its failure to control Endesa. It comes after the builder Florentino Pérez announced the sale of 45% of the capital in the company which he owns.

International trade has help profits for Spanish power company Iberdrola to soar by 78% for the first half of this year compared to last. Net profits of 1.959 billion € have been posted by the company.

Bankinter and the lawyer Antonia Magdaleno have been appointed adminstrators of the Martinsa real estate company which has filed for bankruptcy protection. A third administrator is to designated by the CNMV National Council for Electoral Values, as the suspension of payments in the company is accepted.

Banco Sabadell has announced that there is a great deal of pressure on their results for the second half of this year, which amounts to a profits warning. The bank is also concerned that a fall in its share price may make it vulnerable to a take over bid. It comes after they announced a 2.2% increase in profits for the first half of the year.

Meanwhile Banco Popular has announced a 10% jump in profits for the first half of the year at 676.76 million €. However the ratio of bad debts has doubled over the year and now stands at 1.42% compared to 0.72% a year ago.

Master Cadena, a well known chain of electrical items stores has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of adverse trading conditions. It includes the Idea products and comes despite the introduction of a restructuring plan last May.

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