mexico

Banc Sabadell, the second largest banking company in Catalonia, has ended 2013 with a net profit of €247.8 million, three times more than in 2012, after consuming €1,736.6 million in provisions and allowances for non-payments of loans, impairment of property and other financial operations. Due to the new regulations of the Bank of Spain on credit repayment and the acquisitions of other banking companies, the percentage of delayed or unpaid loans has climbed to 13.63%, 46% more than in 2012. Without the refunding operations, it would have been fixed at 11.13 %. The bank’s core capital, which is the main solvency indicator, stood at 12% and, with the new Basel III, it was set at 10.1%. Jaume Guardiola, CEO of Sabadell, believes that this trend can be the “turning point” of a crisis that was first anticipated when the results for 2012 were announced.

Barcelona-based SEAT, which is part of the Volkswagen group, sold 355,000 vehicles last year, representing a 10.6% increase on 2012 figures. The Catalan brand has not sold so many cars since 2008. The SEAT Leon car model was the company’s strongest asset, with 102,000 cars purchased in 2013, which is a 44% sales increase on the previous year. SEAT’s President, Jürgen Stackmann, highlighted “the commercial impetus” that the company currently has, “especially in Europe, when in a market context of sales drop, SEAT is growing faster than its competitors”. In Western Europe, which is the brand’s main market, the Catalan company increased sales by 9.4%, selling 273,200, 23,500 more cars than in 2012.

Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, the ‘best restaurant in the world’ according to Restaurant magazine, will temporarily close its doors in August 2014 to take a tour in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The Roca brothers – Joan (Main Chef), Josep (Sommelier) and Jordi (Dessert Chef) - have decided to take this ‘Roca & Roll World Tour 2014’ to “renew” the “illusion” and give “new impetus” to the “creative work” of everyone involved in the iconic three-Michelin-stars restaurant, located in Girona (North-eastern Catalonia). Thanks to this unique “adventure”, named ‘Haute cuisine with values’, Catalan cuisine reasserts its position in the highest culinary ranks at international level. This announcement occurred only a few weeks after Michelin stated that all the awarded restaurants in Catalonia had successfully retained their stars.

The German chemical and pharmaceutical company has picked Barcelona to provide shared services to its subsidiaries in Greece, Turkey and Latin America, which account for 25% of the total group sales. Bayer’s Shared Service Centre in the Catalan capital will expand its tasks and responsibilities by taking over the accounting, controlling and IT services for these geographical areas. The expansion will take place over 2014 and the centre will pass from being in charge of 11 countries to 22, managing over 50 Bayer subsidiaries. The General Manager of Barcelona’s Centre, Erik Schonebeck, stated the project would “consolidate” the 300 existing jobs in the Catalan capital but no further new jobs would be created in the short-run. Barcelona hosts one of Bayer’s 5 global headquarters.

The Catalan company, which is the main bank operating in the Spanish market, will sell half of its shares in the Mexican GFI, the financial group owned by the billionaire Carlos Slim. Caixabank currently controls 20% of the GFI shares. The Catalan bank has confirmed it will sell 3.7% of GF Inbursa to Inmobiliaria Carso, which is also owned by the Slim family, for €387 million, corresponding to 250 million shares. With this operation, Caixabank will earn a capital gain of €33 million. Besides, the Catalan bank aims to sell another 6.4% of GIF shares to institutional and retail investors from Mexico and international markets. After completing both sales, Caixabank will control between 9% and 9.9% of GFI.

Barcelona-based car manufacturer Seat, which is part of the Volkswagen Group, delivered 8.3% fewer cars in 2012 compared to the previous year. In total, it sold 321,000 vehicles, instead of the 350,000 units of 2011. The decrease is due to the drop in car sales in Spain because of the economic recession. However, Seat sold 22.5% more cars in Germany and 8.2% more vehicles in the UK. The Catalan car manufacturer also increased its sales in Mexico by 16.5%. Overall, the Volkswagen Group sold 9.07 million cars in 2012, an increase of 11.2%. The group obtained positive results in all markets except Southern Europe (-0.3%) and Western Europe – excluding Germany – (-6.5%).

The production of the new Seat León, the brand’s flagship model, guarantees 1,600 direct jobs and 6,000 indirect ones in the supply industries. The car manufacturing company, owned by Volkswagen, has its only plant in Martorell, Greater Barcelona. The company has great expectations of the new Seat León, which will be distributed worldwide from Catalonia. The new car model is the milestone of Seat’s commercial and strategic plan for this year, with the objective of becoming profitable again. It will be sold in three different versions: a five-door and a three-door model, and a station wagon car.

The Barcelona-based multinational will manage more than 7,500 kilometres of toll highways worldwide and will increase the company’s annual turnover by €1 billion. The Catalan company Abertis will become the world’s leader in the highway management sector after adding OHL’s concessions in Brazil and Chile. In exchange, OHL would buy ACS’s shares in Abertis, which represent 10% of the Catalan company. The operation is not fully closed yet, pending to be approved by the respective boards, but it has already been officially announced.

The 21-year-old Mexican midfielder will have a buyout clause of 30 million Euros. Jonathan dos Santos started his Barça career with the Infantil B team and has worked his way up to the Barça B squad. Guardiola calls him sometimes to play wit Barça’s first team, such as in the last Champions League game against AC Milan.