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Lowdown on UK prices
It was topped only by Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Hungary.
BBC Verify asked Stride’s department which figures he had been referring to.
“We were told he was talking about the first three months of 2023, when UK food price inflation was 18 per cent and Sweden, Germany and Portugal were all over 20 per cent,” the BBC explained.
Executive chairman José Manuel Entrecanales Domecq admitted to shareholders that although Acciona viewed Ferrivial’s decision to decamp to the Netherlands as “legally impeccable”, the company was not contemplating a move.
“Naturally, like all options, we have studied it and our stance is that for the moment we are not interested,” Entrecanales later said to the media.
Acciona’s executive chairman did not go into details regarding the company’s decision not to move, but referred to “multiple reasons” behind the company’s refusal to emulate Ferrovial.
Takeover bid
MIAMI private equity fund I Squared Capital confirmed that, alongside TDR Capital, it was sizing up a €1 billion takeover bid for Applus Services.
Applus, a leader in the ITV vehicle inspection sector, informed Spain’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) early in May of “non binding and unsolicited expressions of interest” in acquiring it.
The UK’s 19 per cent food inflation in April exceeded the European Union’s 16.4 per cent average and was higher than in all major European economies.
Nationwide promise
NATIONWIDE, the UK’s biggest building society, will not leave any town without a local branch for at least three years.
Consumer magazine Which? estimated in May that more than 5,000 bank branches had shut since May 2015 but Nationwide’s Debbie Crosbie, who took over in June 2022, said last month that just 20 of the building society’s 600 branches had closed down during her tenure.
After Nationwide’s own survey found that 77 per cent of more than 2,000 customers “valued or depended” on physical bank branches, it extended an existing promise that no town or city where it operated would find itself without a branch.
The building society, which is owned by its 16 million customers, first made the pledge in 2019 and had previously renewed its commitment until 2024.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected energy prices, together with supplies of grain and fertiliser.
Self-sufficient
DECARBONISING Spain’s aviation industry will need an annual five million tons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2050. A report by the PricewaterhouseCoopers consultancy (PwC) for Iberia and Vueling calculated that between 30 and 40 SAF production plants throughout Spain would cover the entire national demand. Although PwC said this would involve investing around €22 billion, Vueling’s Sustainability director Franc Sanmartí, maintained it would give Spain “the opportunity of leading by example” by achieving energy independence. Sanmartí’s Iberia counterpart Teresa Parejo also pointed out that Spain had great potential as an SAF producer, owing to its wealth of forestry, agricultural and livestock residue and waste.
This followed rumours that buyout funds Apollo and Apax and an I Squared TDR Capital consortium were interested in Applus.
I Squared has now advised the CNMV that it has still to decide whether to launch an offer.
Downscaling
ROLLSROYCE would rejoin the market for smaller jet engines, its chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic said.
Speaking during the Paris air show, he said Rolls Royce was ready to reenter the market to build engines for singleaisle or “narrow body” jets, although it would probably take a decade before a new opportunity arose.
When he took over in January, Erginbilgic warned that Rolls Royce would have to transform if it was to survive, although while in Paris he also said that the company was “making great progress.”
Dow Jones
Right all along
FORMER Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, told the Daily Telegraph that Brexit was to blame for soaring inflation in the UK. “We laid out in advance that this would be a negative supply shock for a period of time which would result in a weaker pound, higher inflation and weaker growth,” Carney said.
Church mice
CHURCH OF ENGLAND vicars asked for a pay rise to help them cope with the cost of living crisis. More than 2,000 clergy and lay staff represented by the Unite union have submitted their first ever official pay claim, asking for a 9.5 per cent rise in their current annual stipend, which stands at £26,794 (€32,142).
