Finance Extra for the UK and Spain

Powering up ROLLS-ROYCE will invest £55 million (€64.4 million) and create 300 jobs as demand grows for engines for large non-military aircraft, chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic announced.  Half of the investment and 200 of the new jobs will go to the Derby plant while the remainder will be going to the Dahlewitz (Germany) site.

Tesla hike OWING to stalled sales, the cost of Tesla’s Model Y went up by €2,000 on March 22 after the company announced price increases in several European countries.  Although the electric carmaker did not specify the countries involved beforehand, sources revealed that Spain, where the cheapest Model Y cost €42,900, would be affected.

Going further ASTRAZENECA will pay $2.4 billion (€2.2 billion) for Canadian cancer specialist Fusion Pharmaceuticals, which is developing next-generation treatments that minimise damage to healthy cells.  This follows the UK company’s $1.2 billion (€1.1 billion) purchase of Chinese cell therapies company, Gracell Biotechnologies.

Ads slump AS advertising revenue dips, ITV is cutting jobs at its inhouse advertising agency and introducing £150 million (€175.6 million) cost-cutting plans a year earlier than intended.  Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall also announced further restructuring that would save an additional £50 million (€58.5 million) each year.

Slim chance MEXICAN business magnate Carlos Slim controls practically all of Spanish property developer, Realia, after acquiring the 15 per cent owned by the Polygon Group for €138 million via FCC, which he bought in 2016, and his company Finver Inversiones.  Slim now owns 92.6 per cent of Realia, currently valued at €865 million.

Fizz fears CAVA, Spain’s answer to champagne, enjoyed a record year with 252 million Designation of Origin (DO) bottles sold worldwide in 2023 and €2.2 billion in sales that were 8 per cent up on 2022.  Bodegas nevertheless warned that drought will  take a toll, especially in Cataluña where grape production has fallen by almost 30 per cent since 2021.

That’s rich BENTLEY, now owned by Volkswagen, delivered 13,560 cars in 2023, making an operating profit of €589 million with sales of €2.9 billion which gave the luxury carmaker its best-ever year after 2022, the company announced. “Our customers can still afford our cars,” Bentley’s chief executive Adrian Hallmark said “even if some hesitated before committing.”

Home truths FIFTY-ONE per cent of Spanish employees whose work could be carried out remotely told an EADA Business School survey that they preferred this to working in an office and felt they were more productive.  Fifty-seven per cent said they would change jobs if their company was not prepared to let them work from home.

Next up FASHION and home products retailer Next said that despite the Red Sea chaos, its prices were 2 per cent lower than in 2023 and it foresaw a 0.5 per cent deflation by the end of the first half of 2024.  Shipping times had increased by up to 10 days but this was factored into prices, the company said.