BBVA Spain earns 1911 million euros first 2021 half after losses a year ago and allocates almost 700 million for the ERE as BBVA earned 1,911 million euros in the first half of 2021, according to the results presented to the CNMV before the market opening. The entity thus emerges from the red numbers harvested a year ago when it lost 1,157 million euros because it had to make strong provisions to deal with the economic effects of the pandemic.

The bank points out that the results of these first six months of the year are due to the strength of income, above all, they point to those derived from the "typical" banking business where they collect the interest margin and commissions, as well as the lower write-offs compared to the first half of a year ago.

The bank signed an agreement with the unions on 8 June regarding the bank's first ERE. This will only affect its subsidiary in Spain and will mean the departure of 2,935 workers. The bank now collects net costs of 696 million euros in its accounts.

BBVA Spain earns 1911 million euros first 2021 half

In the first half of the year, the banking group closed its sale of its subsidiary in the United States to The PNC Financial Services. The posting, both of the results generated by BBVA USA since the announcement of the operation in November of 2020, as by the closing of the sale on June 1, 2021, generated a net income tax 582 million euros, of which 302 million were collected in the financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2020, and the 280 million remaining in the first half of 2021 (177 million in the first quarter and 103 in the second, respectively).

With regard to the bank's interest margin, the low interest rate environment continues to penalize the group's accounts. In this way, BBVA recorded an interest margin of 6,955 million euros, which represents a fall of 8%.

BBVA Spain earns 1911 million euros first 2021 half

What does improve are the revenue from commissions with the return of the economic reactivation and an increase in consumption. In the first half of 2021, the entity added 2,315 million euros for commissions, which represented an increase of 12% compared to data a year ago.

In the case of gross margin, this was 3.6% lower than a year ago, totaling 10,259 million euros. On the other hand, operating expenses fell by 1.3% to 4,598 million euros.

In relation to capital, the CET1 fully-loaded ratio, the highest quality, stood at 14.17% on 30 June 2021, a new level of capital that provides "broad strategic optionality", according to the entity. This ratio incorporates the positive impact of 260 basis points recorded this quarter by the sale of the United States (out of a total generated since the transaction was announced of 284 basis points) and the negative impact of 25 basis points of the restructuring process in Spain.

BBVA Spain earns 1911 million euros first 2021 half

BBVA has also begun to take the necessary steps for the process of repurchasing up to 10% of its shares and plans to start the program in the last quarter of the year, once the supervisor's approval has been obtained. The CET1 fully loaded pro forma ratio, including this share buyback plan, stands at 12.89%.

As for risk indicators, the default rate stood at 4.2% at the end of June 2021, slightly below the ratio of the previous quarter (4.3%). The hedging rate stood at 77%, while the cost of risk (in cumulative rate) evolved better than expected, standing at 1.00% at 30 June 2021. These figures exclude balances for the U.S. business sold to PNC.

BBVA Spain earns 1911 million euros first 2021 half

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Netflix paid more than a million euros in taxes in Spain during 2020, 130% more than in the previous year: why this figure will continue to grow

The pandemic has also yielded record figures in the income statements presented by Netflix subsidiaries in Spain. The streaming giant operates in the country through two subsidiaries, one called Netflix Streaming Services Spain, which provides support services to the Dutch parent group (marketing, public relations), and another called Los Gatos Entertainment, which is responsible for the production of content in Spain.

According to Avanza Cinco Días, which has had access to the income statements that both companies have filed with the Mercantile Registry, Netflix would have billed 46.2 million euros in Spain during 2020. This represents a growth of 74% compared to the immediately previous year, that of 2019. Of those 46.2 million, 34.4 million would have been billed by Netflix Streaming Services Spain and the remaining 11.8 million are listed in the accounts of Los Gatos Entertainment.

With that turnover, the two Netflix companies managed to close the year with an operating profit of 3.4 million and a net profit of 2.2 million. Netflix Streaming Services Spain closed 2020 with an operating profit of 2.3 million (91.6% more than in 2019) and Los Gatos Entertainment with an operating profit of 1.06 million.

The corporate tax that Netflix paid in 2020 has also grown by 130.1% to 1.1 million euros. Gone is the controversy for which in 2018, the year in which Netflix created its two companies, it paid only 3,146 euros for the type of companies: taxes similar to those already paid by a worker with an annual gross salary of 24,000 euros.

Netflix's 2020 accounts, now known, do not even include the decision that the streaming platform announced in November: its Spanish subsidiaries would charge the subscription of Spanish users from this year, something that the parent company of the European subsidiaries, based in the Netherlands, did so far. In this way, it is expected that next year some income statements of Netflix corresponding to this year will be known that will allow an idea of the turnover of the firm in the country.

With that decision, Netflix is expected to increase its turnover in Spain and, consequently, also the taxes it pays.

In 2020 Netflix paid, through its two companies, 15 million euros in staff costs. It represents an explosive growth, taking into account that in the immediately preceding year this disbursement was quantified at 6.9 million. In 2020 Netflix had 68 employees. In 2019, with 27.

Cinco Días, which has accessed the accounts of both subsidiary companies, also highlights how Netflix Streaming Services Spain multiplied its advertising spending by 72% to 19.7 million.