NEW YORK | In allegedly the most expensive shopping street in the world, Zara inaugurated Wednesday its new flagship store. Fashionistas, entrepreneurs and journalists attended the Spanish clothing retailer debut, which is their US largest bet so far. The company bought the real estate property for $324 million and claims the store to be a totally new concept. Would it be worth the money? Hard to say, but the visit of…
NEW YORK | It is the latest mantra on Wall Street: US companies are sitting on a lot of cash, $1,2 trillion, and that’s only counting non-financial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500, says the Association for the Financial Professionals. This is a record: up 70% from 2007 and 200% for the past 10 years. This huge war chest makes a lot of people wonder: what are they waiting for?…
Spain’s largest supermarket chain increased its turnover in 2011 to €17.831 billion, 8% up from 2010’s figures. The company, whose headquarters are in Valencia, brought some Mediterranean sun over the Spanish economy when it released this week its 2011 results. Mercadona’s productivity growth rate was 2%, earning a profit after tax of €474 million or 19% more than in 2010. Also, the supermarket has created 6,500 new permanent jobs in 2011,…
NEW YORK | “It’s the same Google experience that you’re used to, with the same controls,” said the company about its new privacy rules on Thursday. Really? Announced in January 24 and despite warnings from the EU earlier this week, Google’s highly controversial privacy changes took place on March 1st. European justice commissioner insisted they are in breach of European law. France’s regulator CNIL expressed its deep concern about the…
By Tania Suárez | The board of directors of Ibercaja and Caja 3 have agreed to initiate the merger process of their banking business, in order to develop a new bank. Last February the Spanish minister of Economy Luis de Guindos announced the outline of the financial reform. It has shaken the system and the public opinion, but it is now starting to reap the fruits. As the economist Juan Pedro…
NEW YORK | General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroën’s strategic pact announced Wednesday is meant to help both automakers squeeze $2 billion a year at their struggling European operations. The Detroit giant will acquire a 7% stake in French automaker PSA as part of a broad alliance that will include sharing vehicle architectures and pool the purchase of components. They will also cooperate in such areas as logistics and transportation to…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | In spite of the many difficulties that Spanish construction companies find in the UK, these firms remain undeterred and keep on defending their assets in Great Britain, as well as fighting to obtain new contracts in the country. This is the case of Abertis Infraestructuras, which will bring to court Luton Borough Council in a €360-million compensation claim if the local authority forced it to…
Through its subsidiary ScottishPower and National Grid, Iberdrola on Thursday announced the award of a £1bn contract to Siemens and cable manufacturer Prysmian, in order to build the first ever sub-sea electricity link between Scotland and England, Wales. The major grid upgrade will increase the capacity of electricity flowing between England and Scotland by more than 2,000 megawatts (MW), allowing new renewable energy projects to be developed in Scotland that could…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Repsol YPF’s petrol deposit finding in Vaca Muerta (Argetina) seems to have no end. An external audit commissioned by the company revealed that the reserves of unconventional oil (shale oil/gas) exceed initial expectations and increase to no more no less than an equivalent 22,807 million oil barrels, which according to the newspaper Negocio would mean a sixfold increase in the company’s reserves. Spanish analysts agree…
NEW YORK | You update your status. You share last weekend pictures in the snow and react on your colleague’s comments to the football game. You browse and snoop on people’s stuff and hit on the like and dislike buttons over and over… and everything goes into Facebook’s giant database. With 845 million users around the world (up 39% from 2010), the company is preparing for a public offering that…