Sabadell and CaixaBank, the Catalan companies that will rise the most in the Ibex 35 in 2025

BarcelonaBoth Sabadell and CaixaBank were the two Catalan (or Catalan-origin) companies on the Ibex 35 that grew the most in 2025. The year was marked by strong growth in the Spanish stock market and, from a Catalan perspective, by the recovery of Grifols and the notable declines of Puig.

A good year for banks

Of all the Catalan companies in the Ibex 35, Banc Sabadell garnered the most headlines in the press during 2025. BBVA's hostile takeover bid dominated the financial press for much of the year until its conclusion in mid-October, when BBVA's offer did not obtain the minimum 30% support of shares of the Vallès-based entity to carry out the operation. During these first ten months, Sabadell's shares followed an upward trend in the markets, which was briefly interrupted by the end of the takeover bid, but recovered from November onwards.

Thus, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu closed 2025 with a share price increase of over 80%, a rise driven by the takeover bid and dividend payments, which between 2025 and 2027 are expected to reach €6.2 billion, including the €2.5 million from TSB, the group's British subsidiary, in Santander. If Sabadell fared well, CaixaBank—at least on paper—fared even better. The bank led by Gonzalo Gortázar ended the year with its share price doubling. Both Sabadell and CaixaBank followed a similar trajectory, as can be seen in the chart, but CaixaBank ultimately finished with a larger gain.

While its Sabadell-based competitor returned its headquarters to Catalonia in 2024, the bank with the star logo still maintains it in Valencia – since the merger with Bankia in 2020, everything suggests it won't move in the short term – but its main shareholder, CriteriaCaixa – the investment holding company of La Caixa – does. She returned it last March in the well-known black skyscrapers of Barcelona's Diagonal.

The rises in both banks are in line with the rest of the financial companies in the Ibex 35, which, moreover, have a very significant weight in the index – the larger a company is, the greater its weight in the index calculation – and which announced record profits in 2025. In this sense, the European Central Bank's policy of reducing interest rates and the bank tax that the Spanish government maintains in force have not had a negative impact on the value of the shares of Spanish entities.

GDP drags down the stock market

In fact, the strong performance of the banks has boosted the Spanish stock market – a continuous market comprised of the Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, and Bilbao stock exchanges – which, like the country's economy, has led growth across Europe. While Spain's gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures a country's economic activity) grew the most among the continent's major economies, the Ibex 35 was the stock market index that rose the most: the Spanish benchmark closed on December 31st 48.2% higher than on January 1st. In 2025, the Ibex 35 reached record highs, surpassing the symbolic 17,000-point mark for the first time. However, with the exception of these two banks, no other Catalan company was able to close the year with gains of this magnitude. Grifols, Naturgy, and Colonial are the Catalan companies outside the financial sector that ended the year with a higher valuation than in January, while Fluidra, Cellnex, and Puig closed the year in the red. Grifols leaves behind the problems of Gotham

In the case of Grifols, the company's shares rose 13.2% in a year in which it was able to put behind it the headaches caused throughout 2024 by the hedge fund Gotham City Research, which accused it of manipulating accounts to inflate profits. Although the legal battle between the Catalan blood products company and the US fund is still ongoing, the company has been able to return to normal with a revamped management team. chaired by Anne-Catherine Berner.

The improvement in the pharmaceutical group's share price has been influenced by the resumption of dividend payments, amounting to €102 million, after four years without shareholder returns. Likewise, the opening of a subsidiary in Egypt has also expanded the group's business, which is consolidated in the US – its main market – and, by operating locally, is practically insulated from potential tariffs on European products.

As for Naturgy, the gas company's share price increased by 8.1% over the twelve months, with a strong focus on renewables and the shock of the exit of the US investment fund BlackRock last month, which caused the group's shares to plummet by 5%. Regarding Colonial, its share price rose by 4.5% in a year marked by the strong performance of the real estate sector in both Spain and France, where it concentrates its operations.

Puig registered the largest decline.

At the other end of the spectrum, Puig had a bad year on the stock exchanges, with an 18% drop, making it the worst-performing Catalan company in the index. In its first full year as a listed company – it went public in May 2024 and joined the Ibex 35 the following July – the perfume group announced sales increases throughout the year, but the higher revenue was not enough to stop the share price from falling.

Aside from Puig, Cellnex shares also suffered a decline – in this case of 12% – in 2025 due to increased losses for the group. However, in November, the multinational telecommunications infrastructure company announced a dividend of €1 billion.

Fluidra closed the year with a slight decrease in its market value of 2.9%. The swimming pool company from Vallès was impacted by the tariffs, as a large part of its business is in the US market, but at the same time it offset potential losses in this area with a cost-cutting plan that allowed it to increase its profit by 33% last October.