22 EWN 27 April - 3 May 2023
DEMAND for paper money around the world is at its lowest in 20 years, banknote manufacturer De La Rue said. The company, which designs a third of the ban knotes used worldwide, ex plained that the demand for cash had fallen since the pandemic when central banks stocked up on curren cy.
Stone profit MARBLE multinational Cosentino had a turnover of €1.7 billion last year, 22 per cent more than in 2021 and the company’s third consec utive year with a turnover topping €1 billion. Operating profits grew by 13 per cent to €312 million while net profits also advanced by 13 per cent to €117 million.
Tomato blow THIS year could see the low est production of British tomatoes since 1985. The National Farmers Union warned that steep rises in production costs, including energy to heat and light greenhouses, had forced many growers to make cuts, mothball greenhouses or shut down altogether.
Speeding up CAR production by 19.6 per cent during the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, manu facturers’ association Anfact announced. A total of 658,282 vehicles left Spanish factories thanks to a re newed supply of chips, al though production was 13 per cent lower than in 2019.
Quids in PEPCO GROUP, which owns Poundland, posted strong sales growth after rising prices and inflation drove shoppers to seek out bar gains. Turnover grew by 22.8 per cent to €2.39 billion for the six months ending March, following solid trade at its Pepco outlets where revenues soared by 36.9 per cent.
INEOS, the company founded and run by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will build an electric version of its new Grenadier offroad vehicle. Despite Ratcliffe’s staunch back ing for Brexit, the latest version of his 4x4 will be produced in Aus tria, using car parts from the Canadian manufacturer Magna. With production due to begin in 2026, the UK has once again missed out on building a second Ineos vehicle after Ratcliffe chose a French factory for the original Grenadier. Ratcliffe, who transformed In eos into one of the UK’s biggest private companies by taking over chemicals businesses, has since launched unrelated projects
INEOS GRENADIER: Electric version will be built in Austria.
which, together with the Grenadier, range from clothing to sports clubs. These include the Nice football team in France, the Ineos Britan nia sailing team as well as the for
mer Team Sky cycling team, since renamed the Ineos Grenadiers. He has also put in a bid for Manch ester United. With a personal wealth which the Sunday Times Rich List put at £6 billion (€6.8 billion), Ratcliffe lives in Monaco for tax purposes. He named the Grenadier after his favourite London pub, which he later bought, but despite the vehicle’s ostensible Britishness, the first version was built in Ham bach in eastern France. This came as a disappointment for Bridgend in south Wales where Ratcliffe had originally planned to build the Grenadier following the closure of the Ford engine plant.
FINANCE
Mammoth Aena contract STATEOWNED airports operator Aena is putting out to tender a five year, €1.5 billion contract for pri vate security. What is possibly the Administra tion’s largestever services con tract, seeks approximately 5,500 security guards and 2,000 assis tants for Aena’s 45 airports, two helipads and Murcia aerodrome. They will be required to provide adequate security at Aena airports which foresee 286 million arrivals during 2023, rising to 288 million in 2024, 301 million in 2025 and 315 million in 2026. Insiders familiar with the con tract specifications said in the Spanish press that this offered the option of an additional year, to provide the chosen companies with as much stability as possible.
Another London acquisition Getaways
INDITEX founder Amancio Ortega paid £82 million (€93 million) for another London property in Foley Street, via his Pontegadea real estate company. The 1920s building close to Oxford Circus and the British Museum, was origi nally built as a printer’s and later housed the BBC’s overseas service. This was the Zara bil lionaire’s second impres sive property deal in re cent months, following the €100 million purchase last March of an apart ment building in Dublin’s Hanover Square. The Foley Street build ing was bought from Abrdn formerly Standard Life Aberdeen in a trans action overseen by prop erty advisers Savills. Abrdn bought the 4,000square metre Foley Street building for £70 mil lion (€79.5 million) in 2017, leasing it for 25 years to the Kier Group in 2018. Undeterred by Brexit, Ortega continues to invest in the London property market with assets worth approximately €3 billion. His biggest purchase, The Post Building, was ac quired in 2019 for around €700 million. He owns properties in Oxford Street, St James’s Street and St James
Photo credit: La Sexta
On the cards
Grenadier goes to Austria Photo credit: Flickr/Mario AP
BUSINESS EXTRA
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AMANCIO ORTEGA: Inditex founder continues to add to property portfolio.
US investment fund, Apollo Global Management, has the John Wood Group in its sights. Usually referred to as Wood, the multinational engineering and consulting business headquartered in Aberdeen turned down four previous offers, main taining that they did not re flect its real value. Matters changed with
Square as well as Devon shire House, the former townhouse of the Dukes of Devonshire in Piccadilly. The Foley Street sale was one of London’s few largescale property trans actions in recent months, after sales slowed owing to the Bank of England's increased interest in crease.
An American suitor the fifth, which valued Wood at £1.66 billion (€1.84 billion), 59 per cent more than the share price before the first offer was made. The board of directors lis tened to Wood’s investors mainly big institutional funds and decided to open the books to Apollo. This follows a steady de
cline in Wood’s share price, partly to the problematical £2.2 billion (€2.5 billion) takeover of US engineering giant Amec Foster Wheeler, and attempts to diversify from oil and gas. The original deadline for a decision has now passed and has been moved to May 17.
A health unto His Majesty NYETIMBER, which produces English sparkling wine, predicted bumper sales for this summer. Eric Heerema, Nyetimber’s chief ex ecutive and chairman, said the Sussex based company was expecting “strong demand” over the Coronation bank holiday. Sales had already surged in recent years, Heerema pointed out, thanks in part to warmer weather which favoured production and shot up by 60 per cent over the late Queen’s Platinum
Jubilee weekend. Glasses of Nyetimber wines, which have been served at numerous royal events, will be raised again throughout Britain during and after HM King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, May 6. Nyetimber, like rival Chapel Down, is launching a £39.50 (€44.83) limited edi tion wine for the Coronation, made from West Sussex grapes. “Consumers are always proud to cham pion and celebrate British goods and craftsmanship,” Heerema said.
DESPITE the costofliving cri sis, spending on flights and holidays rose in the first three months of 2023. Details from more than 24 million UK bank accounts showed a 27 per cent yearon year rise on package holiday bookings, and a 36 per cent in crease in spending on airfares, according to analysis by digital advertising platform Cardlyt ics. While all the travel industry has enjoyed a postCovid re bound, figures suggest a trend towards lowcost options as budget airlines are up 42 per cent yearonyear compared with 29 per cent for more ex pensive carriers.
Best start
BANKINTER had an excellent start to 2023. The bank reported firstquarter profits of €185 million, 20 per cent more than the same period last year and Bankinter’s bestever Jan uaryMarch figure. It also takes into account the €77 million that Bankinter paid as the first instalment of the temporary windfall tax. This was introduced last year to fund government mea sures brought in to ease the cost ofliving crisis. The stock market immediately responded with a 5 per cent in crease in Bankinter shares al though these later fell back to around 2 per cent.
