Business Extra

Time out UNDER Spain’s recently-passed Family Law, new parents may now take eight weeks’ leave, confirmed junior Employment Minister Joaquin Perez. Following pressure from the EU, the leave, which can be taken in one block or partially at any time until the child has reached the age of eight, will be paid.

What goes up TESCO chairman John Allan told a BBC interviewer that he could not forecast when food prices would peak.  He countered claims that Tesco took advantage of higher prices to make bigger profits and said the supermarket chain’s 4p (€0.045) in the pound margin was “slender” compared to other industries.

Doing well BANCO SANTANDER loans increased by 4 per cent so far this year and deposits by 6 per cent, executive chairwoman Ana Botin told shareholders. The bank was seeing a double-digit increase in earnings compared with the same period last year and had gained another million clients, Botin said.

Banks blanked INSIDERS revealed that 4,000 of the UK’s 5,500 high street bank and building society branches could close between now and late 2024 as the sector refashions its services. Opening hours and, counter services will be drastically reduced and customers encouraged to use in-branch ATMs and machines, they predicted.

Closed book AS Amazon slashes thousands of jobs worldwide, it announced the closure of its online Book Depository, which sells more than 20 million books annually on April 26. The UK-based bookseller, bought by Amazon in 2011, announced that its customers would be able to place orders until then.

Too much RIO TINTO, which has raised its chief executive’s pay by 70 per cent, now faces a rebellion from shareholders at the next meeting.  Jakob Stausholm took home £4.8 million (€5.48 billion) in 2022 after the FTSE100 mining giant made record profits on the back of soaring commodity prices.  

Going down SPAIN’S Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell by 0.8 per cent in February compared with February 2022. This was 2.2 points lower than in January, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on April 5, marking a return to negative year-on-year rates following January’s 1.2 per cent rise.

Holding on MORRISONS said that cutting £700 million (€800 million) in costs over the next three years would allow it to reduce prices during the squeeze on consumer spending. The supermarket chain also announced a 0.1 per cent increase in same-store sales during the three months to the end of January.

RIP Josep Pique JOSEP PIQUE, a Catalan politician, economist and businessman who headed several ministries between 1996 and 2003 during the governments of Jose Maria Aznar, died on April 6 in a Madrid hospital.  The former president of Vueling, who was 68, had been suffering from cancer for some time.

Online flatline Customers in the UK return £7 billion (almost €8 billion) of internet purchases each year, while more than a fifth of all the clothes that are bought online are sent back. Increased returns owing to the cost of living crisis, were responsible to Boohoo0s 94 per cent slump in pre-tax profits, retailer Boohoo said.

Picture that CINEWORLD will seek new funding as it announced having dropped plans to sell its US, UK and Ireland businesses after failing to find a buyer.  The world’s largest cinema chain said it had struck a $2.26 billion (€1.9) deal with lenders to restructure its substantial debt and exit bankruptcy. 

Gender gap SPAIN’S National High Court in Madrid voiced gender discrimination concerns since cabin crew, 94 per cent of whom are female, receive lower travel expenses than pilots.  Air Nostrum rejected employees’ claims, arguing that the groups were governed by different collective agreements and “did not perform work of equal value.” 

Co-op gloom THE Co-operative Group warned that profits could fall as inflationary pressures continued. This had contributed to an 11 per cent fall in profits for the grocery arm’s profits, which have more than 2,000 stores, although underlying operating profits across the business had remained steady at £100 million (€114 million).

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