Pret profit COFFEE and sandwich chain Pret a Manger reported profits of £50.6 million (€58.4 million) for 2022 after making losses of £225.9 million (€260.67 million) in 2021 owing to the pandemic. Sales during the first half of 2023 also rose by 20 per cent to £429.9 million (€496 million), the company said.
Lips sealed A NATIONAL High Court judge in Madrid is keeping open an enquiry into producer and ventriloquist Jose Luis Moreno who allegedly headed a scheme to defraud banks and private investors of at least €50 million. The judge announced a six-month extension to examine all documentation seized during the investigation.
Unsafe rig AN Aberdeen court fined BP £650,000 (€750,075) following the death of a worker who suffered fatal injuries after falling through an open grating on the lower deck of company’s Unity North Sea oil platform in 2014. The company had breached health and safety regulations, the court ruled after an eight-day trial.
Not going MEMBERS of Spain’s Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) have voted in favour of removing the existing restriction that limits presidents to serving two consecutive four-year terms. This clears the way for its current president, Antonio Garamendi, to continue at the head of the association for a third term.
Argos exit ARGOS, owned by Sainsbury’s, which is shutting 100 stores between now and 2024, has already closed four stores in England with 34 planned for Ireland. The catalogue retailer confirmed that some will close next month, starting with the Grimsby centre which relocates to Sainsbury’s between August 9 and 10.
Stat of the week: €300 million will spent by Seat on building a plant in Martorell (Barcelona) to assemble the battery cells that are produced for electric vehicles at Volkswagen’s gigafactory in Sagunto (Valencia).
Off-the-grid NATIONAL GRID has sold another 20 per cent of its National Gas holding to the existing majority owners, a consortium headed by Australia’s Macquarie Asset Management. National Grid said that the sale would be “financially equivalent” to the 60 per cent stake it sold for £9.6 billion (€11.5 billion) to the consortium in January.
Fine stuff CATALUÑA’S regional government, the Generalitat, is currently exploring the possibility of sanctioning Spain’s electricity supplier Endesa for allegedly infringing the rules that govern energy self-consumption. Using practices that imposed “unjustified conditions, difficulties or delays” which hindered Cataluña residents’ access to individual energy autonomy could now bring a fine of between €600,000 and €6 million.
Best yet BANKINTER concluded the first half of 2023 with profits of €418 million, a 54 per cent increase on the same period last year and the bank’s best-ever figures for the period between January and the end of June. This result also took into account the €77.5 million “windfall tax” on last year’s profits which fell due in 2023.
Bank note THE Bank of England has paid out £25 million (€28.8 million) in staff bonuses despite warnings from its governor, Andrew Bailey, that employers needed to show “restraint” over wage rises as inflation continued to rise. The Bank confirmed that 429 employees were given annual bonuses of more than £10,000 (€11,514) in the past year, with some receiving £22,500 (€25,907).
Source : Euro Weekly News
