Business Extra

Business Extra

ASOS: Online fashion chain is €339 in the red Photo credit: Asos

Rescue op  ONLINE fashion firm Asos is raising £80 million (€93.2 million) from shareholders and borrowing £275 million (€320 million) from Bantry Bay Capital, which recently bailed out Superdry. Following £291million (€339 million) losses, the funding would give it “financial headroom” to return to profitability, Asos said.  

Getting lower SPAIN’S Consumer Price Index (IPC) stood at 3.2 per cent in May, nine-tenths below April’s 4.1 per cent rate, the Institute of National Statistics (INE) announced, the lowest level since July 2021’s 2.9 per cent.  The reduction was due to the moderation in food prices and lower fuel prices, INE said.

Top earner ALEX MAHON, chief executive of Channel 4 which narrowly avoided privatisation last year, could receive the channel’s highest-ever annual income.  Mahon, who received a total of £1.2 million (€1.4 million) in 2021, could receive approximately £1.4 million (€1.6 million) for 2022 if she meets top performance targets.

New faces TELEFONICA added another three directors to the board of its Telefonica Audiovisual Digital (TAD) subsidiary, which is responsible for paid television channel Movistar Plus productions and key areas including the purchase of audiovisual rights.  This was TAD’s second major renewal in the last two years.

Powering down ROLLS-ROYCE is planning cuts that could see the loss of around 3,000 jobs as the engineering giant revealed that it intended to transform “several areas” of the business.  The announcement followed reports that the company has plans to merge several departments “to improve organisational efficiencies.”

More shops CORNWALL fashion brand Seasalt will open new stores following buoyant sales that tripled profits to £6.5 million (€7.56 million) in the year ending January 2022. Turnover rose by more than a third to £96 million (€111.75 million) according to its latest accounts sent to Companies House.   

Classy glass COCA-COLA EUROPACIFIC PARTNERS is expediting plans to supply glass bottles to the 10,000 Spanish bars and restaurants currently offering only cans or plastic bottles.  Environmental concerns apart, the company found that 25 per cent of consumers would happily pay 20 cents more for a glass bottle.

Stepping aside ANNE BODEN, founder of Starling Bank, is bowing out as chief executive in a move that she explained was made to skirt a potential conflict of interest, as she is a major shareholder.  Boden, who launched the online bank in 2014, will remain on the board as non-executive director, she said.

Small spender IN 2022, Spain spent approximately €5.2 billion of the €37 billion it has so far received from Europe. This amounted to 0.4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and 20 per cent of what it had budgeted for, according to official European Commission figures reported in the Spanish media.

Pub gloom ONLY 29 per cent of UK hospitality business owners told a survey by data and analytics company Nielsen that they regarded the coming year with optimism.  Energy costs were the biggest worry for the remainder, with overheads including dearer food and higher wages rising by 81 per cent in the past year.

No chance A SEVILLA judge rejected an appeal by infrastructure company Urbas and a group of creditors against an earlier decision to accept Cox Energy’s €500 million offer for the now bankrupt engineering company, Abengoa.  The company based in Cox (Alicante), and headed by Enrique Riquelmen, made a last-minute bid, pre-empting Urbas which Abengoa’s board preferred.

Going further FRENCH hotel group B&B appointed Enrique Francia, former chief executive of Spain’s VIPs fast food chain, as the company’s non-executive president for Spain and Portugal, in a bid to ramp up the company’s expansion in the Iberian Pensinsula.  At present B&B owns 45 hotels in Spain and 11 in Portugal which have more than 4,000 rooms between them.

Sister act ASDA is finalising a deal to buy UK and Irish petrol forecourts owned by its sister business, EG Group, in a deal worth £3 billion (€3.5 billion), enabling the supermarket to enter convenience retailing. A formal announcement is expected soon, revealing their plans to create a combined business worth about £10 billion (€11.66 billion).

No takeover ROYAL MAIL’S biggest shareholder dismissed rumours of a takeover bid for the UK postal group but warned it should “adapt” to be successful. Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who owns 25 per cent of Royal Mail’s parent, International Distributions Services (IDS) also said that the company should remain on the stock market where British citizen “could invest” in its shares.

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Written by

Linda Hall

Originally from the UK, Linda is based in Valenca and is a reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering local news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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