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Spain’s Top Three
INDITEX, Mercadona and El Corte Ingles have been listed amongst the world’s 120 largest familyowned firms.
Multinational auditors
EY and Switzerlandbased St Gallen University, who publish their Family Business Index every two years, placed the three Spanish companies high on their list.
Inditex, which owns Zara, Pull & Bear and other labels, was ranked in 51st place in the 2023 edition, followed by supermarket chain Mercadona (54) and
On the hunt
HUNTER BOOT whose £125 (€140.7) wellingtons are worn by royalty and rainedon festival goers, is seeking a buyer.
The company, which was founded in 1856 and holds two royal warrants, is seeking potential acquirers amid a postCovid boom. Sales plummeted during the pandemic but demand surged during the summer festivals once restrictions were lifted. The Edinburgh company is nearing completion of a £7 million (€7.8m) cash injection, in addition to separate sale discussions. Its most recent accounts revealed a £5.1 million (€5.7m) loss on £10.8 million (€12.1m) sales in the year to January 2022.
the El Corte Ingles department stores (117).
Eight other Spanish companies, Acciona, Gestamp, Ferrovial, Grifols, Catalana Occidente, Antolin Irausa, Prosegur y Tecnicas Reunidas were named in the Index’s 500strong list.
Between them, these 11 companies, all of them family owned, had a turnover of €120 billion, and employed a total of 445,000 people. Worldwide, family businesses earned more than €8 trillion and provided jobs for 24.5 million people, a 10 per cent increase on the 2021 index.
“According to the International Monetary Fund, the global economy grew by 6 per cent in 2021 and is forecast to grow by 2.7 per cent in 2023,” said EY’s Global Family Enterprise
FCA gets tough
BARCLAYS is allegedly under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding possible flaws in compliance and antimoney laundering measures.
The FCA requested an independent review of the bank’s systems last year after noticing a high volume of moneylaundering and “know your customer” incidents, the Financial Times said.
“Know your customer” checks, which focus on a new client’s identity and risk factors, are aimed at preventing the concealment of funds obtained from criminal activity.
The Financial Times stated that the FCA had written to Barclays’ requesting a “skilled persons review” by an outside party like a legal or accounting firm.
The financial regulator has brought several highprofile money laundering and compliance cases in recent years as it attempts to lose its reputation for being overlenient when dealing with financial offences.
EXTENDING BarcelonaEl Prat airport could involve a 3,400runway, one nautical mile (1.8 kilometres) out to sea.
A private consultancy firm has sent details of the €2.1 billion project to Catalonia’s regional government, where sources said all options should be studied and it was “positive” that experts were working on the issue.
The chosen location would lessen the environmental impact on the area, the scheme’s supporters maintained, although Barcelona city mayor Ada Colau immediately criticised the project.
It would be very expensive and the money would be better spent on the Mediterranean Corridor rail link between Catalonia and Valencia, she said.
No problem
leader, Helena Robertsson.
“This shows that family enterprises have been growing at nearly twice the rate of advanced economies and at around one and a half times the rate of emerging market and developing economies.
“In fact, their contribution is so significant that if they were a national economy, they would be the third largest among the club of 19 ‘trilliondollar economies’ that exist in the world, after the US and China,” she said.
Top earners
SPAIN has 11,113 taxpayers who earn €601,000 a year or more.
Almost half live in the Madrid Community, the only region in the country which charges no Wealth Tax at all although those who would be liable to pay it elsewhere must make a yearly declaration.
This strategy has clearly paid off, as 5,176 (47 per cent) of the country’s biggest earners live in the Madrid Community, Tax Authority Hacienda revealed.
Next comes Catalonia which has 2,334 taxpayers earning an annual €601,000 or more (21 per cent) followed by the Valencian Community’s 887 (7.9 per cent) and Andalucia with 799 top earners (7.2 per cent).
THE European Banking Authority’s president said he did not believe that Spain’s bank windfall tax would have a negative impact on banking or limit credit.
Referring to the 4.8 per cent tax on a bank’s net income and net commissions above €800 million, introduced to subsidise inflationbusting measures, Jose Manuel Campa told an El Pais interviewer that the tax was valid.
It had been proposed by the government and approved by parliament, the Oviedo born economist and former politician pointed out. “It is legitimate. There’s nothing more to be said,” he declared.
Spy game
COURIER firm DX Group admitted that rival Tuffnell Parcels Express was taking legal action against the company following accusations of corporate espionage. The admission followed a Sunday Times report which revealed that three DX staff members, all former Tuffnell employees, had conspired to obtain daily customer service reports.
A DX employee allegedly offered a Tuffnell traffic clerk a £50 (€56) payment in exchange for the confidential information.
Sheffieldbased DX declined to comment further, “as matters are now subject to legal proceedings,” a company statement added.
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