MADRID, 7 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Spain Investors Day, Benito Berceruelo, has pointed out that, under the premise of a decrease in interest rates by the central banks in 2024 - as the vast majority of the market discounts -, there may be a resurgence of the Spanish market in the form of IPOs and mergers and acquisitions, which would be "a very positive change in trend."

Berceruelo has pointed out in an interview with Europa Press that, if the central banks of the United States and Europe actually lower interest rates, that "will reactivate the economies and could be good news"; Therefore, he has argued that for the year 2024, at least for the beginning of the year, expectations are good.

More specifically, the president of Spain Investors Day, a forum that will hold its 14th edition on January 10 and 11, has pointed out that in the first stages of the year "we can see new companies listed on the Spanish stock market" after "two or three years where there have been no entries into the market, but almost exits".

"There are Spanish companies that are studying going public, companies from different sectors: luxury, tourism, hotels or the automotive sector," he noted.

When explaining the drought in stock market debuts and major corporate operations in the last two years, Berceruelo has pointed out that, given the continued increase in interest rates by central banks, investors' accounts "were very difficult" and, therefore, the market in this type of operations was at a standstill, since, in addition, the leverage of the companies was progressively accentuating.

Asked about the impact on investors of announcements such as the extension to 2024 of the tax on extraordinary profits of financial and energy entities, in addition to its possible permanent nature, as announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, after the last Council of Ministers, Bercereulo explained that what investors are looking for is that "markets are predictable."

"What the investor needs is to know what the rules of the game are, to know what taxation exists in a market and that this taxation remains and has a certain constancy," added Berceruelo, to point out that "changes in taxation They are never good for investment, because when an investor does his calculations and suddenly the rules change, the accounts fail him and, therefore, that generates rejection and instability.

Therefore, "anything that involves asking the Government to be predictable, to not make changes on a continuous basis, I believe that it is a request that any investor makes to any government," stressed the director of the investor forum.

Linked to this, Berceruelo has commented that Europe, in general, and Spain, in particular, have economies with a very important weight of small and medium-sized companies, which is why they need larger companies, and for this reason he has expressed that The Government should "facilitate with taxes, with regulations, the integration of companies from important sectors so that groups are created that are capable of competing globally."

A claim that, after stating that Europe "does not have a Huawei, nor a Google or Apple", extends to the entire community framework: "Anything that Europe facilitates the concentration of companies and the creation of 'champions', Let's say, from companies with a size and capacity to compete with the Chinese or the American ones, since that is a need for the European market.

Likewise, he has highlighted that international investors "trust a lot" in large companies that are listed on the stock market, because they are companies that have a higher guarantee of the future and have certain transparency ratios.

Berceruelo has pointed out that, despite a hostile economic environment caused by wars, inflation, energy problems and interest rates, the stock market has had a "really good" 2023 and with an "extraordinary" performance.

An opinion that is based on the profitability that the Spanish stock market has given, above 20%, the largest in the world, "only equivalent to what has happened in the United States, Japan or Italy."

In a more focused way, Berceruelo has pointed out that, within the Spanish stock market, the financial and construction sectors "performed extraordinarily." Regarding the first, he commented that its sectoral revaluation of around 30% has been "very relevant", because "the weight of the financial sector in the Spanish stock market is very great."

For his part, he highlighted the names of companies such as ACS, Sacyr, Acciona and Ferrovial in the construction sector, which are Spanish companies with a "very strong" international presence.

Berceruelo has identified Spain's public deficit as "one of the great problems that the country's economy has and one of the great challenges for the future", since the pandemic and the economic crisis led many governments, including the Spanish one, to establish protection mechanisms that have increased the gap.

"It is true that in 2023, the private company behaved very well and demonstrated a very high resistance to the crisis, and even managed to lower its debt ratios; however, the public sector continued to increase debt and that did not is sustainable in the medium and long term.

Furthermore, he recalled that Europe's decision to return again to a certain discipline in the debt and in the fiscal structure with the reimplantation of the fiscal rules, which for him is "good news", is going to translate for Spain in an effort in 2024 and in the following years to contain the debt and try to reduce these ratios.

All in all, he has removed past ghosts of problems in public accounts and has expressed his confidence in the Spanish economy, which is among those that "grew the most in Europe", and in pillars such as tourism, "which continues to be very strong and which It doesn't seem like it's going to weaken."

Thus, he pointed out that "we need to carry out a program of debt reduction and adjustments, I think that is very clear", and if we do not do it, "the markets will end up doing it to us", he warned.

SPAIN INVESTORS DAY, ON THE WAY TO ITS 14TH EDITION

A few days before the celebration of the 14th edition of Spain Investors Day (SID), scheduled for January 10 and 11, Berceruelo has indicated that the forum is conceived as the great meeting of the Spanish business and economic world with international investors in the beginning of the year.

"It is the moment in which companies exercise transparency before international investors and where the Government also appears to explain a little about the project it has for next year," he commented.

Looking ahead to this edition, Berceruelo has announced that the opening line of last year will be maintained: "it was a forum very focused on listed companies and we have tried to also open the forum to companies in general that want to invest in Spain and that want to bet on Spain as an investment."

In this sense, it has aimed to hold a series of dialogue tables with actors from different backgrounds and focused on topics such as digitalization, biotechnology, health and the reindustrialization of Spain and Europe.