Business Extra for the UK and Spain

Bargain price AURELIUS GROUP, which has offices in five European countries, is reportedly negotiating the purchase of the Body Shop from owners, the Brazilian company Natura & Co. If the deal goes through Aurelius would pay less than the £400 to £500 million (€459.9 to €574.6 million) quoted in some media reports, Reuters said.  

Tower power VIRGIN MEDIA O2 (VMO2), the Telefonica-Liberty Global joint venture, is selling a 16.67 per cent minority holding in their mobile tower company, Cornerstone (CTIL), to GLIL Infrastructure. The telecoms company, which will receive approximately £360 million (€413 million), will maintain a 33.3 per cent stake in CTIL.  

TSB stars THE TSB bank refunded 94 per cent of customers’ claims for authorised push payment fraud last year, compared with Monzo’s 6 per cent, the Payments System Regulator revealed.  Banks should return customers’ losses unless they suspect negligence, and stricter rules are planned for next year to balance inconsistencies in refund policies.

Taking a toll THE TSB bank refunded 94 per cent of customers’ claims for authorised push payment fraud last year, compared with Monzo’s 6 per cent, the Payments System Regulator revealed.  Banks should return customers’ losses unless they suspect negligence, with stricter rules planned for next year to balance inconsistencies in refund policies.

Cost-cutting ONLINE derivatives trading platform, IG Group, is planning hundreds of redundancies as it reorganises operations with a 10 per cent reduction in its global workforce, the company announced.  By eliminating 300 jobs plus introducing additional measures, the company expects to make annual savings of £50 million (€57.5 million).

Bank puzzle SPAIN’s high street banks – Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja – are reporting record profits and paying out the highest-ever dividends although Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank and Sabadell have between them lost 250,000 shareholders in the first nine months of 2023.  The exceptions are Bankinter, which had 6,538 new investors and Unicaja with 5,089.

Game over LONDON-based EY confirmed that it will no longer audit the Codere New Topco gaming company or its subsidiaries.  In an audit dated April 21, EY referred to the “existence of material uncertainty that the group can continue as a functioning business” after Codere Newtopco acknowledged net losses of €477 million in the 13 months ending in December 2022.

Fashion victim ASOS online fashion retailer announced that sales would probably fall by 15 per cent over the coming year after reporting a £300 million (€344 million) loss last year.  As shares dropped to 365p (€4.19) analysts foresaw that ASOS would need to raise new cash, possibly by selling its Topshop brand, as net losses reached £648.5 million (€744.3 million).

Shopping early JOHN LEWIS said shoppers were preparing for Christmas earlier this year, and  sales of seasonal ranges were 10 per cent higher than usual in October.  Although total holiday spending will rise by 3.4 per cent to £110 billion (€126.17 billion), GlobalData’s analysts predicted that British households would spend less and choose cheaper items this Christmas.

Stat of the week: €20 billion in profits during 2023’s first nine months for Spanish banks whose shares are quoted on the Bolsa (Stock Exchange), 24 per cent more than during this period last year.