Spain Business Brief - Monday November 2 2009
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By h.b. - Nov 2, 2009 - 12:59 PM
Rodrigo Rato in line to be the new Chairman of Caja Madrid

The Partido Popular has finally reached an agreement and ex Minister and head of the I.M.F., Rodrigo Rato, is set to become the new Chairman of the Caja Madrid savings bank. It comes as the candidate favoured by Esperanza Agurire, Iganacio González, stepped down in the fight for control of what is the fourth largest banking entity in Spain. González expressed his ‘personal support’ for Rodrigo Rato, doing so, he said, so that the process could be carried out as soon as possible. Rato is the favoured candidate of party leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Meanwhile, encouraged by Rajoy to do so, the leader of the PP in Valencia, Francisco Camps, has today named Antonio Clemente, as replacement for the sacked Ricardo Costa, as the party’s Secretary General in the Valencia region.
Clemente has been the Vice President of the Valencian parliament.
José Císcar, the regional party’s delegate in Alicante, is named as the new Vice Secretary General for the Valencia party.

Car sales in Spain have soared, thanks to the ongoing help from the Government. Sales in October were up 28.6% compared to last year at the same time. Citroén overtook Renault as the leading make during the month.
However the sales numbers for the year to October are still 24.2% down.

As the price war in Spain hots up in the recession, the data shows that some of the smaller stores are getting shoppers back from the hypermarkets. Carrefour has announced it will be strengthening its cheaper own brand as Alcampo, Mercadona, Día and Lidl are named as the current winners in the marketplace. Alcampo is claiming 6% more customers than a year ago after it has cut prices on leading brands such as Coca Cola, Pascual and Kellogg’s.
Mercadona says its numbers are 6.2% up on last year, claiming many prices are 16% down. Lidl is claiming a 15% jump in market share over the year, to reach nearly 5%. This year they open 40 new stores in Spain and want 1,000 here in ten years.

Iberdrola is taking action against Gas Natural by making a claim to the competition authorities in Spain after Gas Natural allegedly blocked the transfer of 300,000 clients. Iberdrola claims that Gas Natural is abusing its dominant position in the market and blocking customers wanting to change their gas supplier.

Santander is reported to be considering buying some of the Royal Bank of Scotland offices. It comes as Brussels is obliging the British bank to sell off some of its assets because of the help it has received in the financial crisis.
However any more expansion by Santander into the British credit market will be limited, as it already controls Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford and Bingley.

Public administration is taking longer to pay its bills, according to a new report. Companies are prioritizing the payment of facturas as the recession continues, and many public bodies are taking more than four months to settle because of a lack of cash.

And finally,
The Chief Executive Office of the Spanish travel firm edreams, Javier Pérez-Tenesa, has said to El Mundo newspaper that ‘Ryan air survives from trick of cheap prices which are not’. The two companies fell out over Ryanair’s refusal to let edreams sell their tickets with a surcharge online. edreams says that an agency should not have to ask permission from a company to operate. Even so, edreams continues a rapid expansion, with a turnover of 607 million last year and operations in 15 countries.
Ryanair has also announced an 80% jump in its profits, thanks to cheaper aviation fuel. The company has announced a profit of 387 million € for the first half of their financial year, but warn that the second half could see losses as they forecast a lower income.
They have announced a change in strategy, abandoning the previous policy of rapid growth as they have ran into problems buying 200 new planes from Boeing.

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