Spain’s Magnificent Seven companies

Iberdrola is back amongst the world’s 500 leading brands after having dropped out in 2022.

Each year, Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation consultancy, analyses 5,000 globally important companies which it classifies according to sector and country.

The consultancy then lists the 500 most companies it considers to be the strongest and most financially valuable.  This year, they once again included Iberdrola which occupied 453th place in the rankings.

The multinational energy company was preceded by Santander, Zara, Movistar, BBVA, Mercadona and CaixaBank.

Santander was ranked in 101st place – up from 116 in 2023, with Brand Finance concluding that its value increased by 8 per cent thanks to its increased net profits.

The bank chaired by Ana Botin was followed by Zara (120), Movistar (290), BBV (316),  Mercadona (395) and Caixabank (404).

Energy and petrochemical firm Repsol, included in the 2023 listings, was absent from this year’s Brand Finance Global 500.

Between them, Spain’s seven leading companies are worth €62.5 billion, 12 per cent more than in 2023.

Apple took first place with a value of €482.1 billion, ahead of Microsoft ((€317.8 billion) and Google ((€311.2 billion).