A brief note from analysts at Renta4 about Spain’s Telefónica announcing that it will create a London-headquartered unit, Telefónica Digital, which is part of further restructuring plans to become a global player in the sector.
Renta4 says trading shouldn’t be affected, although Telefónica’s move certainly looks positive on the paper:
“The Board of Directors Monday announced a profound organizational change in order to participate more actively in the digital world and take advantage of the opportunities that its global scale and industrial partnerships provide.
We summarize the main changes: the creation of a new business unit, Telefónica Digital. This unit will be constituted by professionals from Terra, Tuenti, Jajah, Telefónica I + D, and Media Networks. The manager will be Mathew Key (former head of Telefónica Europa).”
Telefónica’s geographical structure has been simplified.
“There will be two rather than three divisions due to the integration of Spain into the Europe division. José María Álvarez-Pallete will lead this division (formerly Telefónica LatAm). The LatAm division will be led by Santiago Fernández Valbuena (formerly Strategy, Finance and Corporate Development General Manager). Angel Vilá will substitute Santiago Fernández-Valbuena. Finally, a Global Resources operating unit has been created that will take advantage of the scale of the group to transform the Telefónica group into a global company. Guillermo Ansaldo will head this new division. No impact on trading. We reiterate our recommendation to hold.”
So this must be good news for London, too, as Telefónica feels being near the Thames’ waters is a better location for digital business than the Manzanares’.
Why do yo say “…is coming to Londos? Isn`t &R4$ a spanis’h company?
@ Quincoces77 There’s a reasoning behind that verb choice: Telefónica has chosen London for its digital division in order to send the message that it is now a global company and London is as much its ‘territory’ as it is Madrid. That, it’s true, sends back a message to Madrid, too: Spain’s capital should put more effort to become part of globalisation trends. Food for thought.