BBVA Chairman Urges ‘Clarity' on Sabadell's TSB Disposal Plan
BBVA SA Chairman Carlos Torres said he wants more clarity regarding the process for a potential sale of Banco Sabadell SA 's UK unit.
'Sabadell has spoken about unsolicited offers, and then there are reports about an ongoing process' he said at a conference Monday. 'It would be good for the information to be clarified.'
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7.3% and 8.6% yields! 2 dividend shares to consider in July to target a £1,200 passive income
Though the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 remain on prolonged bull runs, many top UK shares continue to offer great value. The environment is especially attractive for investors seeking high-yield dividend shares to buy. Here are just two great dividend stocks with sky-high dividend yields to consider: Dividend share Forward dividend yield Supermarket Income REIT (LSE:SUPR) 7.3% Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) 8.6% Of course dividends are never guaranteed. But if broker forecasts prove accurate, a £15,000 lump sum spread equally across these companies will provide a near-£2k second income over the next 12 months alone (£1,193 to be exact). I'm confident too that each of these dividend shares will steadily grow the passive income they deliver over time. Here's why. As a real estate investment trust (REIT), this business is set up to deliver a consistent stream of dividends to shareholders. At least nine-tenths of profits from their rental earnings must be paid out each year under sector rules. Supermarket Income owns and lets 81 stores to the stable grocery industry's big beasts like Tesco and Sainsbury. This ensures a steady flow of income that's not vulnerable to changes in the economic cycle. As you may expect, the business is mindful of the growth of online retail and the threat this poses to future property demand. According to Statista, online penetration rates for food and other groceries in the UK have more than doubled since 2016. Consequently, the company's investment strategy is focused on so-called omnichannel stores that 'provide in-store shopping, but also operate as last mile, online grocery fulfilment centres for both home delivery and click and collect'. This helps to greatly reduce (if not totally eliminate) the threat of click-based shopping. I'm more concerned about the impact of future inflation on the business. A subsequent pickup in interest rates could dent earnings and pull its share price sharply lower again. But I feel the potential rewards of owning the REIT's shares outweigh this danger. Annual dividends have risen each year since it listed on the London stock market in 2017. Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Renewable energy providers like Greencoat UK Wind, on the other hand, have a rapidly growing market to capitalise on. The climate's especially favourable in the UK, with the current government putting Net Zero among its policy priorities. For dividend investors, this fellow FTSE 250 REIT has other attractive qualities. Due to the stable nature of electricity demand, cash generation isn't impacted by broader economic conditions like many other UK shares. What's more, its revenues are essentially guaranteed by long-term contracts with energy suppliers. This has resulted in annual dividend growth that, except for last year when payouts were frozen, goes back to when the company joined the London Stock Exchange in 2013. That's not to say Greencoat UK Wind isn't without risk, of course. Like that other REIT I've described, profits are sensitive to interest rate changes. With just 49 wind farms on its books too, it doesn't enjoy technological diversification that can protect earnings when the wind doesn't blow. That said, on balance, I think its other safe-haven qualities — allied with that 8%+ dividend yield — make it worth serious consideration today. The post 7.3% and 8.6% yields! 2 dividend shares to consider in July to target a £1,200 passive income appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Royston Wild has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Greencoat Uk Wind Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Sign in to access your portfolio
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GenAI job postings rise across Europe: Which countries lead the way?
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Indeed data shows that, as of 31 March 2025, more than 0.7% of Irish job postings include terms related to GenAI. This is an increase of 204%, with the share more than tripling in just one year. The figure was only 0.02% in the same period in 2023, highlighting a tremendous rise over the past two years. For comparison, job openings in Ireland for chefs currently represent 1.1% of total postings. Opportunities for lorry drivers and bartenders represent 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. These figures highlight Ireland's position at the forefront of digital innovation in the European labour market. "Ireland's leading presence in GenAI job postings reflects the country's well-established technology sector and its role as a European base for many global firms,' Pawel Adrjan told Euronews Business. 'With a high concentration of tech employers, including major multinationals and a number of start-ups, it's natural we would see a proportionate increase in GenAI roles there too,' he added. 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Related Highest-paying jobs in Germany: Official data and job postings reveal top salaries Jobs market at a crossroads: Which are the fastest growing and declining jobs? The UK has the highest share of GenAI-related job postings among the three largest European economies, at 0.33% as of 31 March 2025. That's up 120% from 0.15% the previous year. Germany follows with 0.23% (a 109% annual increase), and France at 0.21% (a 91% increase). GenAI jobs appear across a range of categories. Among the top occupations in Ireland where job postings mention GenAI, mathematics leads by a wide margin. As of March 2025, 14.7% of advertised roles in mathematics referenced GenAI, significantly higher than any other category. This was followed by software development (4.9%), media & communications (3.9%), architecture (2.4%), and scientific research & development (2.1%). 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Indeed analysed over 2,800 work-related skills to assess GenAI's potential to substitute employees. The findings show that around two-thirds (69%) are unlikely to be replaced by GenAI, underscoring the continued importance of human expertise in the workplace. The chart above shows the likelihood of certain skills to be replaced or substituted by GenAI. They are ranked from 'very low capacity' (hard to replace) to 'high capacity' (easy to replace). AI and Big Data, as well as reading, writing, and mathematics are on the 'high capacity' side of the scale. On the 'very low capacity' side of the scale, we can see sensory-processing abilities, along with empathy and active listening.
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an hour ago
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Europe Wants Green Steel but Can't Afford It
The European Union has pledged billions in rearmament spending. It also just pledged billions in higher NATO spending. Steel is a crucial part of the rearmament drive. Without it, you can't build tanks and make weapons. But Europe does not just want any steel—it wants it green. And green steel is so expensive, companies are walking away from green steel projects in droves. This week saw one of the world's largest steelmakers, ArcelorMittal, ditch its plans for the conversion of two plants in Germany to green hydrogen as an energy source because the costs were exorbitant. Importantly, the German government had promised the steelmaker $1.5 billion in subsidies for the conversion projects. Still, they turned out to be too expensive. Germany's ThyssenKrupp, meanwhile, is sticking with its green steel plans, although it noted the 'crisis' in the industry. At the same time, ThyssenKrupp is laying off 40% of its workforce and slashing production capacity by a quarter, the Financial Times reported at the end of 2024. 'The first electric arc forges are being built in countries that can offer competitive and predictable electricity provision,' ArcelorMittal said, as quoted by Reuters. 'Electricity prices in Germany are high both by international standards and compared to neighbouring countries.' There are two ways to decarbonize steelmaking, which is an important point on the EU's net-zero agenda. One way is hydrogen, and more specifically, green hydrogen, produced through electrolysis, enabled by wind and solar power. The other way is swapping blast furnaces fueled by coal to electric arc furnaces, fueled by, once again, wind and solar. Those electric arc forges that ArcelorMittal was referring to are being built in nuclear-heavy France. Because nuclear is cheap and reliable. Wind and solar appear to be the opposite of green hydrogen is several times costlier than any other variety. The reason is that electrolysis is, somewhat ironically, an energy-intensive process that uses electricity generated by wind or solar installations to split water molecules. Despite its net-zero desirability, the process cannot violate the fundamental laws of physics, meaning that the end product, in terms of energy, is considerably smaller in volume than the amount of energy expended on producing it—which is why green hydrogen's cost is unlikely to come down anytime soon. It is that cost that is sapping industrial appetite for making the switch from hydrocarbons to green hydrogen. 'The business case for green steel is not there in Europe,' the head of Eurofer, the EU's steel industry association, told the Financial Times. Some still had hopes for the future, Alex Eggert noted, but others had given up with 'I don't have time for this.' Europe itself does not really have time for this. Europe has stated quite clearly it plans to build a lot of things that require steel to replenish its depleted reserves after sending most of its inventory to Ukraine. And it needs to do that fast, based on its own claim that Russia is about to invade. But at the same time, Europe wants to do its rearmament in a green way—which is at odds with the need for speed. The problem becomes even bigger in the context of broader steel production. Steel is not only essential for weapons production. It is essential in construction, too, and a myriad other industries that feature the construction of something or other, up to and including wind turbine installation. Europe, then, needs a lot of steel—and it wants to reduce its import dependence by producing more of it locally, but also cheaply. Once again, the EU is trying to do two mutually exclusive things at the same time. The cost of electricity in the countries with the highest portion of wind and solar in their energy mix should proof enough that the transition is anything but cheap, and yet this fact continues to be overlooked in favor of ever more subsidy commitments and claims that ultimately this low-carbon energy will become cheap. The steel industry clearly does not have time to wait for this to happen. The steel industry is prioritizing energy affordability over emission footprints. Because the steel industry has realized that there is no other way to survive, especially with cheap, emission-heavy imports from China flooding the market. The EU introduced the carbon border adjustment mechanism to stem that flood. In fact, it introduced the carbon border adjustment mechanism to stem the flood of all sorts of cheap imports that undermine the competitiveness of European products—because of high energy costs. The EU is using CBAM to treat a symptom, and not the root cause of the energy cost disease. That root cause is the urgent transition. 'In the end, we will also have to discuss how quickly the transformation can take place, because the speed largely determines the cost,' RWE's Markus Krebber said this week, as quoted by the FT. It was this speed that prompted the conversion of 40% of Europe's steelmaking capacity to electric arc furnaces. It was this speed, and the lack of any desire for long-term planning that prompted talk about green hydrogen as replacement for coal. Now, the jig is up. Europe must decide between rearming and net zero. By Irina Slav for More Top Reads From this article on
