European Press Roundup: UK Housing Market Faces Grim Outlook, Unicaja and Liberbank Postpone Capital Increase

In Europe today, the Stoxx Europe 600 is dragged by declines in banks and auto stocks as concerns about global trade and economic growth linger, and the British pound edges lower after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote. The top business story is Societe Generale shares sliding after the bank issued a profit warning, blaming the challenging environment in global capital markets. Read about the above topics on Dow Jones Newswires or WSJ.com.

In Other Media...

The outlook for the U.K. housing market is the worst in two decades, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. A total of 28% of members expect sales to fall over the next three months, with lack of clarity on Brexit cited as the main reason. This is the most negative reading since records started 20 years ago. -BBC

Unicaja and Liberbank will postpone until 2020 their planned capital increase of between EUR300 million and EUR400 million, as this isn't immediately necessary for the Spanish banks' merger. The banks have enough capital to maintain a comfortable solvency ratio after the deal. -Cinco Dias

In France, a draft law on recycling includes an "Amazon section" which will force online retailers to pay their part for waste management. Online players have until now avoided paying the contribution, which their brick-and-mortar peers are already forced to pay to help finance waste management and recycling. -Les Echos

Dublin Airport has begun seeking contractors for about EUR1 billion of work due to be completed in the early years of the next decade. State company DAA, which owns the airport, will spend EUR900 million adding new passenger gates and aircraft stands to both its terminals which it hopes will be ready in 2024. -The Irish Times

French real-estate company Covivio has struck a deal to divest of EUR482 million in nonstrategic assets. The move is part of its strategy to shift toward the high end of the market. -BFM

Austrian Airlines says it will no longer fly to destinations in Germany from regional airports in Austria, ceding these flight routes to its parent company Lufthansa and rival subsidiary Eurowings as it moves to concentrate its operations out of Vienna. -Der Standard

Spain's public debt climbed up 0.7% on month in November to 1.17 trillion euros, representing 97.5% of GDP, according to data from the Bank of Spain. In September public debt reached 98.3% of GDP. -Expansion

Allianz CEO Oliver Baete says he is optimistic about the company's future even though the outlook for the global economy has "darkened significantly" over the past two years. The insurer has learned its lesson from previous financial crises and is making progress in clearing away older liabilities and phasing out old products, Baete says. -Sueddeutsche Zeitung

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2019 07:10 ET (12:10 GMT)

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