Spain Business Brief - Monday March 8 2010

Spain Business Brief - Monday March 8 2010
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By h.b. - Mar 8, 2010 - 1:23 PM
Little benefit to consumers from electricity liberalisation in Spain

Photo EFE

A study from the Energy Commission has shown that changing your electricity company means a saving of only 23 € a year.
Nine months after the industry was liberalised the study shows only a minimal benefit for consumers.
A 67 € saving was possible in one case where both electricity and gas were linked. An average consumer in Spain now pays 1,287 € a year for electricity.

Minister for Employment, Celestino Corbacho, has said that labour reform will be ready in Spain ‘before the end of April’. He said that the talks are going ‘frankly well’.
Meanwhile meetings today are expected to approve the creation of a new European financial instrument, funded with 100 million €, which will give micro-credits of upto 25,000 € to small busineses and the unemployed who want to establish themselves as self-employed or to start their own small business.

Latest reports indicate Banco Santander as the favourite to acquire the 320 RBS offices at a reported price of 4.4 billion €. Other runners in the bid are Virgin Money and National Australia Bank, but The Times says the final winner will need another 2.2 billion € to replace the 3 billion € of emergency funding from the Bank of England which was part of the treasury rescue package provided to RBS and the banking sector. The 320 branches up for sale were owned by Williams and Glyn before being acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Latest figures from the Bank of Spain show a contraction in the amount of credit being granted to families and companies in January. Credits to families were 32% down on December, and for businesses the reduction was 38.5%. In annual terms the reductions were 15% and 27%

Caixa Catalunya has announced a 59% fall in profits for last year at 79 million. Bad debt in the savings bank has reached 5.3%.

Banesto is about to use its sponsorship of the Spanish football team to launch a campaign to get more clients to deposit their nominas with the bank. It will run during the World Cup.

Ebro Puleva has reached the principle of an agreement to sell its milk business to the French group Lactalis for 630 million €. Due diligence is being carried out over the next four weeks, as the contracts for sale are drawn up. The Spanish company says the sale will allow it to develop its international expansion.

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