IAG: PARTNERSHIP WITH AMEX RENEWED (ANÃLISIS BANCO SABADELL)
IAG has announced a multi-year renewal of its global commercial partnership with American Express. Through this agreement, AMEX will pay IAG £ 750 M (€~830 M; ~18% of IAG’s market cap), which includes an upfront purchase of Avios for American Express’s different loyalty programmes.
Positive news due to the substantial cash inflow. The company had already announced that it would use all the tools possible to continue increasing its liquidity. In this regard, note that in late April IAG’s liquidity totaled € 10 Bn, allowing it to face the rest of the year with little trouble. In this regard, we would like to point out that the current operating situation seems to be worse than expected, as passengers are reluctant to fly, and the situation of key activities, such as the resumption of transatlantic flights (~50% of capacity) remains uncertain. Thus, we do not rule out that IAG may revise its forecast in its results presentation on 31 July, and we believe we will have to cut our estimates.