Business

The Catalan pharmaceutical and chemical company was identified in a Wikileaks cable from the U.S. State Department as one of three strategic items the United States had in Spain, together with the natural gas pipeline from Algeria and the Gibraltar Strait. Grifols leads the blood plasma-based products’ market in Europe and is expanding its U.S. presence.

The technology multinational will open a Customer Centre in the Scientific and Technological Park of Lleida to serve the entire Iberian Peninsula and international clients.

The strike threatened by Spanish airport staff was finally cancelled as an agreement was reached between the ministry and trade unions. Air Berlin announced a flight increase in Barcelona: 38 flights per week will link the Catalan capital with Düsseldorf. The Spanish Minister for Transport insisted that the tender process to manage the airport will be issued before the end of the year.

The company sells high end clothing on the Internet. It distributes over 25.000 items of clothing daily amongst its 3,7 million clients. The centre will deliver on demand from Spain and Italy.

The new employees hired will be people currently out of work. The Spanish car manufacturer, which is part of the Volkswagen group, has its factory in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. SEAT will for the next five years invest 300 million euros annually.

However, the Catalan bank does not close the door to integrating a financial entity in the future. Banc Sabadell wants to take advantatge of the restructuring process of the financial system to grow throughout Spain, told its President Josep Oliu.

The Director of ESADE’s Master in Finance, Jordi Fabregat, recommends that Catalan savings banks speed up its transformation into private banks in order.

The company will initially invest between 12 and 14 million euros in a logistics centre, with an expansion possibility in the near future. The Chinese multinational company specialising in the tire, rubber and shoe industries chose Barcelona as its base to enter the European and North African markets.

Production will be transferred to the country of origin of the group, Italy. The Catalan motorbike brand Derbi was bought in 2001 by Piaggio. The decision affects more than 230 jobs.

Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary urges the Catalan Government to pay 11,5 million euros to the airline if it wants Girona’s airport to see all its Ryanair flights back from October onwards. O’Leary says that the Irish company cancelled 28% of its routes from Girona for the Spring/Summer season due to the “lack of commitment” from the new Catalan executive.

At the end of January, the Japanese motorbike company announced its decision and this week it issued its mass layoff plan. Yamaha will concentrate all its European production in its French factory. The Catalan factory was making profit and trade unions have stressed that the decision is only based on the company’s strategy. Yamaha will keep its commercial offices in Catalonia.

The Catalan multinational car components company Ficosa increased its sales in the US and Mexico by 20%. Ficosa is also expanding its Viladecavalls plant in the South of Barcelona to turn it into an international technological centre. The Catalan company will have more than 28% of the North-American market share of car mirrors.

Scott Sage (UK Investor): "Barcelona has been our focal point in Spain". A group of companies from the Catalan capital attended a meeting with investors in the United Kingdom.

CatalunyaCaixa won 109.1 million euros in 2010, 1.1% less than in 2009. The second Catalan savings bank is the result from the merger of Caixa Catalunya, Caixa Tarragona and Caixa Manresa. The resulting savings bank currently has 6.9% of core capital, far from the needed 10% by next September. The savings bank already announced its plans to become a regular bank.

602,611 people were unemployed at the end of February in Catalonia, which is 2.2% more than at the end of January.