Although the tango says that 20 years are nothing, the same cannot be applied to the Spanish stock market, which has varied substantially since the highs achieved in 2007, the date prior to the start of the great financial crisis when the Ibex 35 index set highs of 15,957 points and the records reached in these days of 2025. First of all, the companies in the main index of the Spanish market are worth more. In November 2007 the sum of its capitalizations reached 544,801 million euros and this year in the same month it moves to 822,644 euros, according to data provided by Spanish Stock Exchanges and Markets (BME). And the Spanish stock market in 2007 has a lot and little to do with the current one, depending on how you look at it. Arrival of renewable energies, internationalized construction companies more dependent on the concessions business, fiascos in Latin America, mergers, tourism boom, business failures and successes and the omnipresence of banking that continues to mark the evolution of the indicator. In these 18 years, banks have gone from deciding 33.5% of the Ibex and now their weight is slightly greater, up to 35%. Raymond Torres, director of Economic Situation at Funcas, highlights that, in general, the return to stock market highs responds to the overall recovery of the economy and the greater strength of sectors such as tourism. And then he appreciates very special cases both in the world of telecommunications that he attributes to strict regulation on competition issues, as well as the success of values linked to the distribution industry. «I don’t know if the comparison in this period between peaks clearly shows the diversification that has occurred in the Spanish economy. The productive base has expanded in all types of non-tourist services, with a relevant impact on the balance of payments,» he concludes. Part of the economic history of recent years, marked by the great financial crisis, can be seen in the values that left the stock market; Some disappeared, but most were integrated into other companies. Banco Popular, the tobacco company Altadis, Unión Fenosa, Abertis, Gamesa, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, Cintra, Iberia, Aguas de Barcelona, Telecinco, Sogecable, Banesto or NH Hoteles are no longer listed on the Spanish market. Business absorption operations by other companies in the same Ibex explain part of this phenomenon. Foreign capital has also been relevant. For example, NH Hoteles was acquired by the Thai group Minor, which definitively took it out of the market, and the same thing happened to Altadis, bought by the British group Imperial Brands, and Aguas de Barcelona left the market in 2010 after becoming controlled by Suez Environnement. The German company Siemens also incorporated Gamesa, the Spanish windmill manufacturer, and the Swiss group Six took BME out of the market after acquiring the Spanish stock market operator. Banco Santander has been very active in recent years and came to the rescue of Banesto and Banco Popular, through sealed auctions. The concessionaire Cintra was integrated into Ferrovial, Gas Natural bought Unión Fenosa, giving rise to Naturgy, Telecinco was absorbed by the Italian parent company Mediaset, Iberia became part of the Spanish-British group IAG, Prisa acquired all of Sogecable and ACS partially integrated the company resulting from the merger of Abertis with the Italian Autostrade. Other operations have not produced name changes or exits from the market, such as the one carried out on Endesa, now in the hands of the Italian public electricity company Enel.
Ups and downs in enterprise value
Ignacio Cantos, managing partner of atl Capital, indicates that what «impresses me most is the loss in value of Telefónica from the 108 billion it was worth in 2007 to the current 25 billion. This trend has also occurred in other telecom companies such as Deutsche Telekom and responds to the European regulation of these companies that forces them to share networks with the competition. In a way, they give away their network at low prices so that they can take away customers,» he indicates. And the good performance of other regulated sectors such as electricity companies stands out, with an excellent performance by Iberdrola and a very acceptable performance by Endesa. «Inditex is an example of good management that has resulted in the rise of its capitalization, which not long ago exceeded 100,000 million euros. There is a lack of representation from other groups such as El Corte Inglés or Mercadona, the latter of which would have seen a strong increase in the market if it were listed.» Finally, the good performance of construction companies such as ACS, Ferrovial or Sacyr Vallehermoso stands out, which have internationalized and have done very well, in addition to achieving recurring income with concessionaire businesses. As a general reflection for the Ibex as a whole, this expert sees that those companies that have internationalized in Latin America have had many problems and have not achieved the expected profitability of these investments. Repsol’s problems in Argentina, the situation in Venezuela or the progress of Brazil have not responded to the investments proposed by companies such as Telefónica or banks. Regarding financial entities, the purchase of Bancomer by BBVA stands out positively and also indicates that Ferrovial has done better by investing in the United States compared to those that have invested more in Latin America. In 2007, Telefónica led the ranking by stock market value with 108,000 million, followed by Santander (91,000 million), BBVA (64,000 million), Iberdrola (56,000 million) and Repsol with a value of 33,000 million euros. Currently, the ranking of the five largest is made up of Banco Santander (128,000 million), Iberdrola (118,000 million), BBVA (99,000 million, Inditex (93,000 million and Caixabank with 55,000 million). The oil company Repsol is worth 18,000 million, almost half of what it was 18 years ago when the stock market marked its previous maximum. But this 2025 Stock Market also shows new faces and investment options. Amadeus, AENA, IAG, Cellnex, Merlin Properties, Naturgy, Grifols, Unicaja, Logista, Fluidra, Puig Brands, Laboratorios Rovi, Solaria and Acciona Energía are part of the renewed Ibex 35 menu.
Type dependence
«The Ibex-35 continues to be an index that is very dependent on two sectors mainly: banking and profits. Both sectors are very sensitive to the evolution of interest rates. In the case of banks, for much of this period the low interest rates, which have become negative, have greatly penalized their business, since they have put downward pressure on their margins, causing many of these entities, the majority, to have been destroying value for shareholders for many years,» explains Juan José Fernández, Director of Management of Collective Investment Institutions at Link Securities. And he adds: «In recent years, the rise in interest rates and the recovery of the economy after the pandemic have driven up the results (margins and profitability) of these entities. The great performance of the sector is the main reason that has allowed the index to recover the levels it had before the great financial crisis,» he concludes. As for banking, Ignacio Cantos believes that they maintain the same weight now as they did almost four decades ago. And in these years almost half of the financial system disappeared, that is, the savings banks. “The banks were also forced to participate in the restructuring of the sector, taking charge of the savings banks, with a deep real estate crisis and default rates skyrocketing.” The analyst expects the sector to remain strong after recovering its profitability in the last three years.
