European markets open mixed after reaching record high

Spain’s fourth-largest lender Banco Sabadell on Friday posted a quarterly profit beat and increased shareholder returns, as its CEO slammed the odds of a hostile takeover from domestic peer BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria).

Amid an all-time high annual contribution from British unit TSB, Sabadell reported fourth-quarter net profit of 532 million euros ($552 million), up 5.7% quarter-on-quarter and beating analyst expectations of near 436 million euros, in a Reuters-cited poll.

Annual net profit jumped 37.1% year-on-year to 1.83 billion euros in 2024, with return on tangible equity — a measure of profitability — hitting 14.9% over the full-year stretch, compared with 11.5% in 2023.  

The bank said it would hike its shareholder returns to 3.3 billion euros, compared with a previous 2.9 billion-euro estimate, and announced a 1 billion-euro share buyback.

It remains steadfastly opposed to last spring’s merger offer from BBVA, which the Spanish government has also questioned on competition grounds, Sabadell CEO César González-Bueno told CNBC Friday.

“We are Spain’s fourth largest bank, but we are key for the SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] business. If we disappeared that competition would suffer. And that is creating this phenomenal execution risk because it is the result of a social reaction to something that Spain does not want. And of course, as I said in the beginning, on top of that, they are not paying the price,” he said on “Squawk Box Europe.”

Expressing doubts that the deal would progress in the absence of an improved offer, he stressed: “With everything that it’s on the table, the answer is a very, very clear ‘No.'”

 — Ruxandra Iordache

Investors have piled into actively managed funds at a much faster pace relative to their passive peers, with their assets under management surpassing $1 trillion for the first time in 2024, data from Morningstar showed.

Here are the top 10 ETFs by AUM as of early February:

The average house price in Britain rose 0.7% month on month in January, lender Halifax said on Friday, bringing it to £299,138 ($372, 013) — a new record high. On an annual basis, average house prices were up 3%, according to Halifax’s House Price Index.  

The January move followed a monthly price decline of 0.2% in December.

Property prices in London rose 2.8% year on year to reach an average £548,288 in January.

— Chloe Taylor

London’s FTSE 100 is expected to open 24 points lower at 8,712 points, according to IG data. The German Dax index is slated to open 17 points lower at 21,896, the data suggests, while the French CAC 40 is expected to shed 22 points to 8,000 at the market open.

— Chloe Taylor