Could

Meanwhile the IMF has raised Spain’s 2023 growth forecast by four‐tenths of a percentage point to 1.5 per cent but lowered next year’s prediction by another four‐tenths, to 2 per cent.

This year’s improved fore‐cast matches those of other organisations, especially af‐

Do Better

LADBIBLE GROUP, part of LBG Media, made light of a disappointing financial performance.

The group, which is based in Manch ‐ester, pointed out that it is now the lead‐ing news publisher on TikTok, and by De‐cember 31 last year the number of its followers had grown by 72 per cent com‐pared with 2021.

LadBible’s global audience grew by 39 per cent year‐on‐year to 366 million, with 98 billion content views, 56 per cent more than the previous year.

Nevertheless, pre ‐ tax profits dropped 10 per cent to £7.3 million (€8.3 million) over the same 12‐month period, while a 15 per cent revenue increase to £62.8 mil‐lion (€71.3 million) missed forecasts.

The year’s adjusted earnings before in‐terest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was also down 6 per cent at £15.7 million (€17.8 million).

ter Spain’s 2022’s strong 5.5 per cent growth. Two months ago the Organisa‐tion for Economic Co‐opera‐tion and Development (OECD) raised its 2023 fore‐cast to 1.7 per cent, while the Bank of Spain upgraded its own from 1.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent.

Despite these reasonably encouraging figures, they fall short of the Spanish govern‐ment’s overestimate of a predicted 2.1 per cent growth announced in its Budget.

Stepping stone

MULTINATIONAL natural stone company Cosentino continues to diversify production beyond its Sile‐stone brand.

After launching Dekton in 2013, the company has now opened a new €120 million factory covering 40,000 square metres in Cantoria (Almeria).

This brings up to 140,000 square metres the area allocated to Dek‐ton, with everything in place for a fourth production line in the near future.

Despite announcing plans to float the company in the first quarter of 2023, Cosentino said that its board had not made a firm decision.

“All options are on the table but it is not true that this has delayed until next year,” a statement insist‐ed.

ELEVEN top executives at Inditex received 202,500 shares that are worth more than €6 million.

This corresponds to the sec‐ond and last phase of the compa‐ny’s 2019‐2023 incentive plan, which makes up part of the vari‐able salary for senior executives and other personnel and is linked to meeting specified targets.

The volume of this year’s shares was 21 per cent lower than that distributed during the incentive plan’s first phase which ended in April 2022, although each share is worth €30.39, a 20 per cent increase on their 2022 value.

More to go

BARCLAYS announced that it intends to close 15 more branches across the UK this summer.

The high street bank re ‐vealed that it will be pulling down the shutters on two lo‐cations in Northern Ireland, one in Wales and 12 in Eng ‐land next July.

These latest closures bring a total of 73 Barclays branch‐es that have closed, or will close, this year.

The industry routinely jus ‐tifies closures by pointing out that fewer people now use branches after learning how to bank from home during the pandemic.

Dow Jones

Stretching it

DISCOUNT shopping chain Poundstretcher has reportedly hired ad‐visers to look into the possibility of a stock market float after sales boomed during Covid. The group, created in 1981, now has around 350 outlets and an ‐nounced in February that it would open another 50 stores across the UK in 2023.

Sea change

BANCA is preparing to sell a majority stake in frozen food company Nueva Pescanova. The fi‐nancial institution, which owns 97 per cent of the fishing group’s capital, is negotiating the transfer of 80 per cent of its shares to Canadian com‐pany Cooke Inc, which also specialises in seafood products.