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the club had to rethink its plans.

This involved reducing the number of bonds and taking on a bank debt that will be guaranteed by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Initially, Barcelona had hoped for a €1.5 billion pri‐

These plans came to nothing. Beset by the Ne‐grerira scandal over bribes to the vice‐president of the football referees’ commit‐tee, which coincided with last March’s banking crisis,

A smooth ride

NATIONAL EXPRESS reported a rise in first ‐ quarter revenues thanks to its UK buses and German rail improvements.

Overall earnings rose by 25 per cent to £774.4 million (€879.7 million), consis ‐tent with expectations, while Spanish subsidiary ALSA reported solid growth, especially on long haul and Morocco routes.

UK earnings rose 27 per cent year ‐ on ‐year, with scheduled coach revenue up 87 per cent on 2022, reflecting the recov‐ery from the Covid ‐ related restrictions 2021 and the impact of rail strikes.

Thanks to its first ‐ quarter results, Na ‐tional Express shares immediately rose 4.25 per cent after having fallen by around 48 per cent over the 12 months.

The company’s German rail interests rose 10 per cent on 2022 while it expects a 13 per cent price increase on the US bus contracts once these expire.

Some finer points have still to be decided, including the final amount of both the bonds and the bank loan. Sources close to the process suggested that ultimately the bond issue would be somewhere under €1 billion and the loan somewhat over €500 million.

Meter pact

ENERGY FIRMS agreed to ban forcible installation of prepayment meters in the homes of customers who are over 85.

Representatives must in future wear body cameras as part of a new code of conduct, the Guardian revealed.

Suppliers reached agreement with the government regarding new guidelines for installing the meters in situations where house‐holders have run up an energy debt. There will be no repetition of agents brandishing court‐approved entry warrants to break in to install them, power companies pledged.

They must now make at least 10 attempts to contact a customer and then conduct a ‘site welfare visit’ before a prepayment meter is installed.

THE Bank of Spain (BDE) revised the number of mortgages eligible for social protection measures agreed with the government and finance sector in late 2022. The updated and extended Code of Good Practice was ex‐pected to benefit one million vul‐nerable households and those at risk of defaulting on mortgage payments.

Instead, Spain’s supervisor cal‐culates that this would assist 550,000 families should the inter‐est rate rise from the current 3.5 to 4 per cent.

Nevertheless, past figures for households accessing the 2012 Code also suggested that only 200,000 households would bene‐fit, according to Bank of Spain’s latest Financial Stability Report.

Cheers Heineken

HEINEKEN has finished the first quarter of its fiscal year with buoyant sales in Spain.

The multinational brewing company reported that its net in‐come grew by more than 20 per cent owing to increased volume and the combination of channels and brands.

Sales of the 0.0. non‐alcoholic brand performed exceptionally well in Spain, together with the entire premium range led by El Aguila.

In addition, Spain is one of six markets that have completed the transition to Eazle, one of the largest e‐commerce platforms in the world, the company said.

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