Business Roundup for Spain and the UK

Just the ticket SPANISH company Indra has won a 10-year contract with Ireland’s National Travel Authority.

The publicly-owned IT and defence systems company will provide a fare collection system for trams, buses, the national rail network and the future Dublin MetroLink, Indra said.

The company described the contract as “significant” and worth “hundreds of millions of euros” without giving details of the amounts involved.

Indra also said that the Ireland deal would reinforce its position in the English-speaking market, where it has already been allocated major contracts in the US, UK and Australia.

Losing traction ASTON MARTIN shares lurched downwards by 14 per cent on May 1 as the company announced its first quarter results.

The carmaker admitted dipping £139 million (€162.5 million) into the red between January and the end of March, compared with £74 million (€86.5 million) 12 months ago.

Overall sales fell 10 per cent to £268 million (€313.4 million), hindered by a 63 per cent decline in SUVs sold to dealerships.

Aston Martin’s billionaire executive chairman Laurence Stroll said the unimpressive figures were inevitable during a transition period when the company had ceased manufacturing old models and was preparing new versions.

Merger between giants A&O SHEARMAN announced the “successful completion” of the merger between the British law firm Allen & Overy and the US law office, Shearman & Sterling, on May 1.

Equally conversant with British and US law as well as the laws of the countries where the world’s most dynamic markets are located, the global firm has 47 offices in 29 countries, with 7,000 employees and roughly 4,000 lawyers, of whom 800 are partners.

The merged offices will have a combined annual revenue of $3.5 billion (€3.28 billion), the third highest for any law firm worldwide.

The company’s Spanish partners and co-directors Antonio Vazquez Guillen and Ignacio Ruiz Camara will play “a relevant role”, according to Spain’s’s financial media.  Vazquez-Guillen heads Procedural Law worldwide, while Ruiz-Camara is in charge of Continental Europe.

Slower inflation April’s non-food prices rose at their slowest rate since December 2021 as clothing and footwear stores slashed prices.

The British Retail Consortium’s monthly report announced that shop owners struggling to move summer stock during a wet, cold spring helped April’s non-food prices to fall at an annual rate of 0.6 per cent.

Food prices increased by 3.4 per cent last month compared with 3.7 per cent in March, the Consortium said. Combined food and non-food inflation stood at 0.8 per cent in April, compared with 1.3 per cent for the year ending March 2024, its lowest level since December 2021.

Iberdrola in Oz THE Australian government has granted Spanish energy multinational Iberdrola a feasibility licence for its €6 billion Aurora Green offshore windfarm.

Five more companies were granted feasibility licences for the project off Gippsland coast in Victoria state, while a further six licences will be issued once other companies have completed consultations with Indigenous groups.

“A guiding principle behind Iberdrola Australia’s offshore licence application is a commitment to sharing the benefits of the energy transition with local communities and businesses,” the company’s chief executive Ross Rolfe said.

Flood or storm BUTLINS is fighting a legal battle to define the weather conditions which forced its Minehead (Somerset) camp to close in September 2023.

The company’s insurers say the site was affected by a storm, with compensation limited to £25 million (€29.25 million).

Butlins insists it was flooded and has claimed a £60 million (€70.15 million) payout for flood damage.

“As a matter of ordinary English and/or a matter of law, a ‘storm’ occurs only where there is high wind,” legal documents seen by the Telegraph maintained.

Portugal deal agreed SPANISH supermarket chain Dia has sold all of its Portuguese business to France’s Auchan Group for €155 million.

Dia announced on April 30 that the deal was able to go ahead after receiving approval from Portugal’s Competition regulator, an essential condition for the transaction.

The Spanish company announced its intention of selling its 489 owned and franchised stores in August 2023.  This would enable the supermarket chain to focus on its strong points of local food distribution, chief executive Martin Tolcachir explained at the time.

Dia will actually receive €72.5 million “net of financial debt and other adjustments”, an amount which it would receive over the next two months, Dia said on April 30.