Criteria Caixa, the company that manages the business assets of Fundació La Caixa, obtained a recurring consolidated net profit of 744 million euros in the first half of 2022, 26% more than in the same period of the previous year.
This increase was due to a 12% improvement in the contribution of its banking holdings (mainly CaixaBank), and a 49% improvement in the industrial and services portfolio (Naturgy, among others).
However, in this period consolidated net income decreased by 50% compared to the same period of the previous year if the extraordinary results of 891 million euros corresponding to the impact of the merger between CaixaBank and Bankia (which was formalized at the end of the first quarter of 2021).
The gross value of the assets of Criteria Caixa, chaired by Isidro Fainé, amounted to 24,732 million euros at the end of the first half, 3.9% more than at the end of 2021. Of the total, 82.7% corresponds to income listed equity, 10.5% to real estate, 3.4% to unlisted equity, 0.8% to fixed income and others, and 2.6% to cash and equivalents.
The dividends received in the first half of 2022 amount to a total of 564 million euros, and already exceed those received during the entire 2021 financial year (525 million), thanks to the improvement in the results of the investee companies after the initial impacts of the pandemic and the lifting of restrictions on the remuneration policies recommended by the ECB for financial institutions. Of the total dividends received this first semester, 354 million correspond to CaixaBank, 129 million to Naturgy and 20 million to Bank of East Asia.
In turn, in the first six months of the year, CriteriaCaixa has distributed 205 million euros in dividends to its sole shareholder, Fundación La Caixa.
In recent years, CriteriaCaixa has been carrying out an exercise to diversify its portfolio into different minority holdings in listed companies, prioritizing companies belonging to OECD countries (Europe and the United States). The portfolio already reaches more than 80 companies from 15 different countries. Around 63% of them are large caps (companies with a market capitalization of more than 10,000 million euros).
In the first half of 2022, a net investment of 172 million euros was made to expand the diversification portfolio. In the chapter on divestments, it should be noted that, following the takeover bid (OPA) launched in 2020 by Veolia for 100% of Suez, Criteria Caixa sold 5.8% of its stake in it, for a total of 737 million euros.
At the end of the first half, Criteria Caixa's gross debt amounted to 4,762 million euros, compared to 5,713 million euros as of December 31, 2021, after the redemption of a senior bond of 1,000 million euros.
