Business Extra for the UK and Spain

EY in NI BRITISH multinational E & Y (EY) intends to create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next five years. The jobs in cyber security and data analytics paying an average £33,000 (€38,373) a year will be based in Belfast as well as a new hub in the Northern Ireland’s north-west.

New firms A TOTAL of 53,811 new companies opened in Spain between January and July, 15 per cent more than during the same period in 2022, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). This made 2023 the most dynamic period for new businesses in 15 years, INE said, followed by 2016’s 52,800 startups.

Power play A NEW iPhone in the UK could involve paying out another £19.99 (€23.26) as Apple changes the charging port and cables on new phones in response to pressure from the EU.  As the new cable is incompatible with most charging blocks, owners must buy a power adapter along with a phone.

Fair shares FLORENTINO PEREZ, chairman of civil engineering company ACS and its chief executive Juan Santamaria, will receive a respective 590,000 and 100,000 shares as a bonus over the next five years.  With shares currently valued at €32.94 each, they can expect to take home €23 million between them.

Dearer beer STONEGRATE group, which owns the Slug and Lettuce pubs in the UK, will charge an extra 20p (around €0.37) for pints in 800 of its 4,000 in the evenings and at the weekend owing to higher overheads.  Stonegate pointed out that the travel sector also increased prices in line with demand.

August inflation SPAIN’S consumer prices rose 2.6 per cent in August, an increase of three-tenths of a percentage point compared with July, owing to increases in fuel and transport prices, the National Statistics Institute announced.   Food price inflation steadied at 10.5 per cent after accumulating 17 months of double-digit growth, while underlying inflation fell by one-tenth of a percentage point.

Green fuel SOLARIS, Polish subsidiary of the Spanish company CAF, has received a €150 million order to build 200 hydrogen-powered buses for urban transport use in Italy and Germany although according to the terms of the contract, this could later be increased. The buses are destined for Bolina and Venice in Italy and Cologne in Germany.

Longer wait THE John Lews Partnership reported a pre-tax loss of £59 million (€68.5million) in the first six months of this year.  Although this was less disappointing than last year’s first-half losses of £99.2 million (€115.2 million) the company, which also owns Waitrose supermarkets, announced that its “turnaround plan” would take another two years to implement.

Hard cash FOR the first time in 10 years, cash was the second most-used payment method after debit cards in 2022 as Britain’s families were forced to budget more during the cost-of-living crisis. Cash was used for 6.4 billion payments last year, UK Finance said, 7 per cent up on 2023 and accounting for 14 per cent of all transactions.