Business Extra

Iberdrola posts THE board of Spain’s energy multinational Iberdrola is set to re-elect Juan Ignacio Sanchez Galan as its chairman until at least 2027, when he will be 76, while ratifying Armando Martinez as CEO.  Both appointments will be formalised at the shareholder’ meeting in Bilbao on April 28.

Not convinced THE UK’s Competitions and Market Authority expressed concerns regarding Asda’s £600 million (€683.9 million) deal to take over 132 Co-op petrol forecourts.Warned that the deal could mean higher prices or less choice for consumers, Asda was given five working days to address the regulator’s doubts.  

NHS info DOCTORS will sue the UK government over plans that could hand the medical records of millions of NHS patients to Denver-based Palantir, which makes FBI and CIA surveillance software. The £480 million (€447 million) privately-run database would include all health information held by the NHS.

More employees THIRTY PER CENT of Spanish companies plan staff increases during 2022’s second quarter, a further 20 per cent foresee reductions but others expect to remain the same.  Businesses located in Andalucia, Extremadura and Canaries were the most optimistic, with 22 per cent taking on more employees.

Read it up BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING, buoyed by demand for fantasy novels and academic digital resources, expected full-year profits comfortably exceeding forecasts. The group envisaged a pre-tax profit of around £30 million (€34.2)  for the year ending on February 28, instead of the forecast £26.9 million (€30.6).

Energy plan CENTRICA, which owns British Gas, announced that it would extend the lives of two nuclear power stations in Heysham (Lancashire) and Hartlepool (County Durham) until 2026.  It hopes in this way to “strengthen the UK’s energy security in uncertain times”, Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea said. 

An all-rounder VOLKSWAGEN gave a preview in Barcelona on March 15 of its ID.2all prototype, an electric car that will be produced at the Martorell plant from 2025 onwards.  Priced at under €25,000 it would be “as roomy as a Golf and as affordable as a Polo”, VW said at the presentation. 

Pay scale JUNIOR doctors will challenge the government over pay by pointing out that they could earn more at Pret a Manger.  Pret employees’ April rise – their third in 12 months – will bring them up to £14.10 (€16.06) an hour, compared with the £14.09 (€16.05) doctorss earn during their first year. 

Online fans A SURVEY by Adevinta, which owns several web portals, found that 97 per cent of those interviewed said they had bought or sold products online.   A further 67 per cent said that they did so habitually, an increase of 16 per cent on a similar Adevinta survey in 2021.

Losing out  MORRISONS suffered a £1.5 billion (€1.7 billion) loss during its first full year in private-equity ownership, the supermarket chain’s latest results revealed. The grocery retailer was bought in October 2021 by the US private equity firm, Clayton, Dubilier and Rice for (CD&R) for £7 billion (approximately €8 billion).