- Cash generation remained strong throughout the first half of the year, driven by the €1.07 billion in dividends received from its investees, as well as the monetisation of the share buyback programmes carried out by CaixaBank and Naturgy’s tender offer targeting its own shares.
- Over the coming months, CriteriaCaixa will adapt its Strategic Plan so as to ensure its alignment with the principles enshrined in ”la Caixa” Foundation’s Strategic Plan 2025–2030, which was recently unveiled in June 2025.
- CriteriaCaixa has delivered a social dividend of €360 million to the Foundation up to June, which in 2025 has a record budget of €655 million set aside for social endeavours.
Barcelona, 1 August 2025. CriteriaCaixa, the holding company that manages the business assets of ”la Caixa” Foundation, posted a net profit of €1.36 billion in the first six months of 2025, up 7% on the same period of 2024.
Operating cash generation was robust throughout the first half of the year, driven by the dividends received by CriteriaCaixa from its investees in the period, which amounted to €1.07 billion, as well as the monetisation of the accretion on Criteria’s stake inCaixaBank (€184 million), following the retirements of shares repurchased by the bank on the market, which continued in July to generate a further €111 million; as well as the voluntary tender offer carried out by Naturgy targeting its own shares, for which Criteria received €705 million in cash in exchange for 2.74% of the company’s share capital.
The total dividends received by Criteria notably included those delivered by CaixaBank (€637 million), Naturgy (€155 million), Telefónica (€85 million), Colonial (€33 million), Grupo Financiero Inbursa (€27 million), The Bank of East Asia (€24 million) and ACS (€12 million), along with those received the rest of the portfolio (€101 million).
This strength in cash generation and the positive change in the value of investees (+€5.54 billion), driven by the revaluation of the stakes in CaixaBank (+40.5%), Naturgy (+15.5%) Telefónica (+13.2%) and ACS (+21.7%), among others, pushed up the Net Asset Value (NAV) to €32.03 billion (+27.7%). The Gross Asset Value stood at €37.25 billion (+22.7%), versus €30.36 billion at the end of 2024.
Key investments in the first half of the year included a total of €1.05 billion to increase CriteriaCaixa’s stake in Veolia to 5.01%, along with further investments in collective investment schemes, with the value of the corresponding disbursements amounting to €152 million at the end of June. At 30 June, there were outstanding investment commitments in collective investment schemes amounting to €609 million.
Financial strength
Criteria’s gross debt at 30 June 2025 fell to €5.22 billion and the net debt ratio was 11.1% (€5.29 billion and 13.2%, respectively, at the end of 2024). The average cost of debt fell to 3.3% and the average maturity improved to 4.4 years; the result of proactive debt management to afford the company greater financial flexibility.
In February, Criteria issued a €500 million bond maturing in 2031 and paying an annual coupon of 3.25%. The funds obtained were used to repay the outstanding tranche (€420 million) of the bridge loan worth €1.15 billion taken out in 2024. Meanwhile, maturities of bilateral loans were renegotiated to extend them to five years on average and improve the financial terms and conditions.
The company’s liquidity (cash and undrawn credit facilities) stood at €2.54 billion at the end of the first half of the year.
In June Moody’s and Fitch reiterated Criteria’s credit ratings (Baa1 positive and BBB+ stable, respectively), backed by its conservative investment policies, prudent financial management and a high quality asset portfolio.
Criteria and ”la Caixa” Foundation, two sides of the same coin
In June, ”la Caixa” Foundation unveiled its Strategic Plan 2025–2030, which broadens its scope of action to respond to new social challenges and envisages an annual budget of €800 million by 2030. In total, the Foundation is expected to invest upwards of €4 billion between 2025 and 2030 in three main areas: social, research and grants, and culture.
Notably, the social endeavours of ”la Caixa” Foundation cannot be promoted or take place without the proceeds from the investments made by CriteriaCaixa, the Foundation’s wholly-owned holding company.
For this to happen, the Strategic Plan sets out a broad framework to ensure coordinated and consistent action between the Foundation and CriteriaCaixa, enabling them to work together towards their shared goal of advancing Welfare Projects. This is achieved through the responsible and sustainable management of assets, aligned with an efficient, socially-focused economy.
Against this backdrop, CriteriaCaixa will revise its own Strategic Plan in the coming months to ensure it is fully aligned with the principles enshrined in the Foundation’s plan.
