BUSINESS EXTRA

Boohoo stake

FRASERS GROUP acquired a £22 million (€25.6 million) stake in fashion group Boohoo as owner Mike Ashley makes more online retail investments. The company, which owns Sports Direct, added the 5 per cent Boohoo holding shortly after announcing a 9 per cent stake in the electrical goods retailer Currys.

Going Dutch

PONTEGADEA, Inditex’s €15 billion real estate arm, has bought a €105 million logistics platform in the Netherlands. Pontegadea’s first incursion into this segment outside the US, the installation has been leased to transport and logistics company DVS until 2033, with an option to extend the contract until 2048.

Next up

FASHION retailer Next upgraded its 2023 forecast after better weather and UK workers’ pay rises boosted sales at the company’s 500 stores in recent weeks. Shares rose by almost 5 per cent and the company foresees a pre­tax profit of £835 million (€917 million), an increase of £40 million (€46.5 million).

Client catcher

THE BBVA bank acquired 476,000 new customers during the first five months of 2023, 11 per cent more than during the same period last year. Twenty per cent of Spanish clients who changed banks between January and June went to BBVA, while half joined via the bank’s e­channel.

Gold gone

MATT MOULDING, founder and chief executive of online retail platform THG, has finally relinquished his “golden share” enabling him to block any hostile takeover bid. Moulding’s controversial share was initially supposed to be cancelled a year ago “in furtherance of good corporate governance,” the company said at the time.

Linda Hall

BANCO SABADELL is looking for ways of divesting itself of provisions for risky loans.

Sabadell is also negotiating with other financial institutions to create a ‘bad bank’ where they can transfer loans to companies likely to default.

The bank, headquartered in Barcelona and Alicante, meanwhile contemplates shifting a portfolio of dubious loans, according to sources quoted in Spain’s financial media.

Sabadell has reportedly engaged investment company NK5 to sell the portfolio which includes bad loans as well as others to companies that have not defaulted

STAT OF WEEK €1 billion

turnover for L’Oreal Espana last year, 22 per cent more than in 2021 owing to increased sales in all its segments and integrating part of L’Oreal’s Portuguese operation.