Business Extra

Not so sweet SUGAR has been more affected by inflation than any other product in Spain, with a 52 per cent price rise.  As the country does not produce enough sugar to cover its needs, has been  exposed to international events in general and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in particular.

Jobs query THOUSANDS of jobs in the City are at risk following the emergency merger between the Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse.  UBS has 6,000 London employees and Credit Suisse approximately 5,000, but neither bank has yet revealed how the rushed “shotgun marriage” will affect them.  

Outward bound SUPERDRY, whose shares fell sharply in January, sold its intellectual property assets in much of the Asia-Pacific region to South Korea’s Cowell Fashion Company for approximately £40 million. (€45.2). Cowell will own and use the brand in its home market before extending to other countries, including China.

Big money ACCORDING to Bank of Spain figures, deposits in the country’s savings accounts amounted to €1,612 billion at the end of 2022. Santander, BBVA and Caixabank between them accounted for €935 billion – 57.5 per cent of the total – compared with 53.8 per cent at the end of 2021

Booked up JULIA QUINN, the American author of the bestselling Bridgerton series who has sold 20 million books in the US alone, said she was optimistic that human creativity would survive, despite book-writing chatbots.  Meanwhile romantic fiction sales in the UK have doubled over the past three years.

Ice cap MULTIPACKS of Magnums now contain three ice creams instead of four, following a reduction in size from 110 to 100 millilitres last year.  Neither has there been a change in the £3 (€3.4) price, which manufacturer Unilever attributed to the skyrocketing cost of ingredients and raw materials. 

Pay scales SPANISH government officials earned more last year than its politicians, with most going Belen  Gualda, who heads the State Industrial Ownership Corporation (SEPI). She received a pre-tax total of €237,986 compared with the €87,814 earned by Pedro Sanchez, president of the Spanish government. 

In fashion MARKS AND SPENCER recently received upgrades from three City brokers as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and BNP Paribas raised share target prices and ratings. The latter described M&S as the “most improved brand since Covid” with analysts raising the target price from 140p ((€1.58) to 160p (€1.81). 

Seat bonus SEAT personnel at the Martorell plant in Barcelona will receive a €1,599 bonus thanks to the carmaker’s 2022 operating profit of €33 million, the UGT and CCOO trade unions announced.   The employees will receive the bonus, the largest amount that Seat has ever paid out, on April 14.

Sell it NOSTALGIA is pushing up the value of retro items like Pokemon cards, Casio watches and Polaroid cameras which can sometimes fetch thousands of pounds at auction. Millennials and Gen Z could be sitting on a fortune, dealers said, as prices have risen by 200 per cent since 2019.

All at sea APPROXIMATELY 1,400 oil and gas workers employed by five North Sea rig-servicing companies announced plans to strike between late March and early June in protest at their pay and conditions. The industrial action was announced as fossil fuel firms reported bumper profits totalling £146 billion (€165 billion) in 2022. 

New image AS post-pandemic retail sales fall, Spain’s wine industry is looking for ways to shed its reputation as a bulk provider and become a quality supplier, the Spanish Wine Federation (FEV) announced.  “In the present context of inflation, people are prioritising other products, said the FEV’s director Jose Luis Benitez.

Poll success POLSTERS YouGov reported pre-tax profits of £21 million (€25.7 million) in the six months ending in January, up from £9.2 million (€10.4) last year. Revenue rose 30 per cent to £131.4 million (€148.6 million) thanks to sales growth in the company’s custom research arm, Chief Executive Stephan Shakespeare said.

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