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Iberdrola-Norges alliance
than 500 additional MW of renewable energy in the Iberian Peninsula.
Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, has approximately €1.4 trillion of assets currently under management, and holds stakes in more than 9,000 companies. It owns 1.4 per cent of all the world’s listed companies and 2.5 per cent of every listed company in Europe. The bank is also a principal Iberdrola shareholder, with a stake of more than 3 per cent.
The UK government should safeguard jobs from technologies like ChatGPT, they said.
Prospect’s findings coincided with calls from some tech industry figures to restrict the rapid development of AI.
Only 12 per cent of participants believed the government should not interfere because the benefits were likely to outweigh any disadvantages.
Goldman Sachs’ analysts recently predicted that AI could eventually replace 300 million people, affecting roughly 25 per cent of the global workforce, although many lost jobs would be replaced by new posts working alongside AI.
Happy earnings
SPAIN’S tax earnings increased in April, although more slowly than in April 2022.
Higher wages brought tax authority Hacienda an overall 10.8 per cent increase in revenue, including 11.3 per cent more from income tax (IRPF) and 25.6 per cent more corporation tax.
IVA addedvalue tax and nonfiscal taxes also rose in April.
erational, maintenance and other corporate services.
Meanwhile, Iberdrola and Norges are already working on further plans to expand their strategic alliance by more
Shunning the office
EMPLOYEES in the UK spend less time in the office than their counterparts anywhere else in the world.
According to a new survey of 9,500 workers and 6,650 companies by global workplace experts, Unispace, the former would prefer to reduce their office days still further.
Meanwhile, 74 per cent of firms wanted less working from home.
The Unispace study found that only 34 per cent of UK employees were in the office for four or more days a week and just 21 per cent were happy to spend that much time working outside the home
Seventy five per cent of employers pointed out that career progression including pay rises, promotions and bonuses would be negatively impacted for hybrid workers, a belief that was shared by only 59 per cent of employees.
Owing to this relationship, Norges has decided to make its first direct investment in renewable assets in Spain with Iberdrola, the largest electricity company by capitalisation in Europe.
Duty-free option
AENA has again put out to tender dutyfree shops in Madrid and Catalonia.
The company has invited bids from 13 international operators from Europe, Turkey, Bahrein, Korea, China and India ‘who showed interest’ in the first round.
Dufry, which runs the Madrid and three Catalan shops until next October, has already been allocated the AndaluciaMediterranean dutyfrees and controls Canary Islands outlets through Canariensis.
This could put the Swissowned company out of the running, as managing four shops in Madrid and Catalonia would give Dufry 90 per cent of Spain’s dutyfree trade, when existing rules limit this to 80 per cent.
Tax earnings brought in €90.68 billion so far this year, a rise of 5.5 per cent 6.5 per cent excluding refunds the Agencia Tributaria said.
This was the highest monthly increase to date, but some way short of the government’s 8.8 per cent forecast for 2023.
Alternatives
THE British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) plans to bring together economists and business leaders in an economic advisory council.
“We’re a year away from a general election and this is a pivotal moment for business,” the BCC’s director general Shevaun Haviland said.
“That is why we have set up the council for expert advice and feedback.”
The announcement also comes at a moment when the BCC and other groups are jockeying for position as potential replacements for the scandalbeset Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
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Sister act
ASDA is finalising a deal to buy UK and Irish petrol forecourts owned by its sister business, EG Group, in a deal worth £3 billion (€3.5 billion), enabling the supermarket to enter convenience retailing. A formal announcement is expected soon, revealing their plans to create a combined business worth about £10 billion (€11.66 billion).
No chance
A SEVILLA judge rejected an appeal by infrastructure company Urbas and a group of creditors against an earlier decision to accept Cox Energy’s €500 million offer for the now bankrupt engineering company, Abengoa. The company based in Cox (Alicante), and headed by Enrique Riquelmen, made a lastminute bid, preempting Urbas which Abengoa’s board preferred.
