Google’s Spanish profits

GOOGLE SPAIN made a €44.7 million profit in 2021, a 79.5 per cent increase on 2020.

Income rose to €214 million, 44 per cent more than during the previous year, thanks to increased demand for the company’s services, according to Google Spain’s accounts filed with the Registro Mercantil.

The Venezuela exports also required US State Department authorisation as its oil­for­debt arrangement was halted two years ago when Washington

No quick solution

MARGHERITA DELLA VALLE, Vodafone’s new chief executive, confirmed on May 16 that the company would “strategically review” the future of Vodafone España.

The telecoms company faced stiff competition in a country that was “obviously very complicated,” Della Valle acknowledged on the same day that she announced worldwide staff reductions of 11,000, approximately 10 per cent of Vodafone’s workforce.

She was reluctant to specify whether this review envisaged a sale of Vodafone Spain, as analysts already suspect.

“We cannot jump to conclusions about the steps we will take,” she said, while admitting that there were no quick solutions for Vodafone’s Spanish business.

The company had a turnover of €3.9 billion in its fiscal year that ended on March 31, a 6.5 per cent reduction on the previous fiscal year’s €4.18 billion.

“Venezuela is at present burning gas it cannot use, although its gas is not subject to sanctions, only oil,” he told news source last month. “It is one of the countries that produces the most methane but this is benefiting nobody, while in the EU we need gas,” Borrell said.

Up for sale

THE Center Parcs chain of holiday villages has been put up for sale by its owners, the Canadian private equity firm Brookfield.

The company, which bought the business for approximately £2.4 billion (€2.77 billion) in 2015, expects to raise between £4 and £5 billion (€4.61 and €5.76 billion), the Financial Times said.

Center Parcs real estate was independently valued at £4.1 billion (€4.7 billion) in April and Brookfield has also spent £100 million (€115.19 million) on technology upgrades.

Revenues for the year ending April 21, 2022, reached £503.4 million (€571.9), with £245.6 million (€282.9) profits returning the company to the black following 20202021’s pandemic losses.

As is habitual with US technology multinationals who operate abroad, these figures do not reflect the company’s real business in this country.

Google Spain registers its sales in Ireland and only takes into account earnings from marketing and support services to Google Ireland and research and development services for Google LLC.

Bank offers

SPANISH banks continue to vie with each other to attract new customers.

Banco Santander, for instance, promotes online accounts by paying €50 for each recommendation resulting in a new customer whose salary is paid directly to the bank.

The new customer also receives €150 thanks to this offer which ends on June 12.

Another Santander offer, which continues until June 30, pays €150 to new customers who open an account and pay in a monthly salary of at least €600. This rises to €350 for salaries of more than €2,500.

Dow Jones

No break

SEAT plans to take on 900 temporary workers between June and September to ensure that production need not be affected during the holiday period. Above all, this should prevent the Martorell (Barcelona) factory from having to close in August and allow the plant to produce an additional 14,000 cars, principally the Cupra Fomentor model.

Going up

CURRYS increased its annual earnings outlook following better­than­anticipated sales across the UK after initially reducing its full­year prediction to £104 million (€120 million). The electrical goods retailer adjusted its forecast and now expects pre­tax profits of between £110 million (€126.8 million) and £120 million (€138 million) for the 12 months ending on April 29.