The results of the large Ibex companies are not always in step with the progress of the Spanish economy – foreign business exceeds 60% – but they do sometimes serve to interpret how each sector has fared in the last year. The recently concluded one was above all, on an economic level, the increase in interest rates and also the good performance of employment, which has had an almost direct impact on the large listed companies. Banks and tourist groups, encouraged by consumption, have been by far the ones that increased profits the most.
Their figures contrast, however, with those of energy companies, which are entering a phase of normality as electricity, gas and oil become cheaper after the sharp increases in 2022 as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. They also do the same with real estate investment companies, socimis, which have been forced to devalue their assets due to pressures in the real estate market as a result of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, telecoms and technology companies are subject to pressures of a different nature.
The 35 listed companies on the Ibex, not including Inditex or Logista because they use different calendars, added a net profit of 46,197 million euros last year, 9.9% less than the previous year. Revenues, however, remained stable, with a decline of just 0.21%, at 543,857 million euros. Santander, with 11,076 million in profit and 57,423 million in income, is the corporation that earns the most.
The successive decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB) to increase the price of money to 4.5% and the high liquidity available allowed the banks to enjoy the best scenario. They benefited from the increase in credit prices without needing to significantly increase deposits for the moment, and they also did so without the feared default rate increasing, thanks to the labor market.
The six listed entities, which are Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja, recovered from several years of ultra-low interest rates and added a profit of 26,000 million, 27% more. The Ibex is highly banked and this trend camouflages a not so positive evolution of other companies.
However, there is another sector that is emerging, also after a time of difficulty caused in this case by the pandemic. It is tourism, which again reached record numbers in Spain last year and which is accompanied by price increases in hotels and plane tickets. Iberia's parent company, IAG, earned 2,655 million, six times more than a year before, while the airport operator Aena increased profits by 80%, to 1,630 million. The technological platform for wholesale ticket sales Amadeus earned 68% more, up to 1,117 million, and Meliá, more discreetly, increased profits by 6%, up to 117 million.
The results of energy companies, despite sharing lower prices as a background element, have had a somewhat more varied behavior. If Repsol and Endesa cut their profit by 25% and 71%, respectively, Naturgy raised it by 20% and Iberdrola by 10%, breaking a new record. The gas network manager, Enagás, earned 8% less, but Redeia, the electricity network manager, earned 3% more. What most of them did agree on is the messages against the Government's extraordinary tax, waiting for it to be softened to recognize their investments in decarbonization.
The fall in the price of raw materials after the rebound in 2022 can be seen more clearly in the two companies that represent the steel industry on the Ibex, ArcelorMittal and Acerinox. The first, an Anglo-European giant heir to the old Aceralia, earned 852 million, 90% less due to the decline in prices. The second, which produces stainless steel in Spain, the United States and Malaysia, cut its profit by 59%, to 228 million, due to the same circumstance.
The brick suffers from the real estate side, but not from the construction company. Increases in interest rates affect transactions and cause a reduction in the book value of the SOCIMIs. The result has been losses of 1,019 million for Colonial and 83 million for Merlin. On the other hand, listed construction companies, focused on large projects and concessions outside Spain, are growing strongly. ACS earned 16% more, Acciona 22% more and Sacyr 39% more.
The technology sector is not experiencing its best moment, except when it comes to cybersecurity or defense. The telecommunications market is in full reconfiguration in Spain, with the ongoing merger of Orange and MásMóvil, and the purchase of Vodafone by Zegona. Telefónica managed to improve revenues and exceed 40,000 million, but lost 892 million due to the ERE in its Spanish subsidiaries and due to the deterioration of the goodwill of its United Kingdom subsidiary. The telecommunications tower operator Cellnex, now focused on organic growth instead of acquisitions, lost 297 million.
On the other hand, when technology touches defense, the numbers change. The invasion of Ukraine has given the United States arguments to demand more effort from NATO partners, and the Government has chosen Indra as the company that will bring together national efforts. Its profit increased by 20%, to 206 million euros.
