Business

The leading e-commerce company plans to generate 1,500 jobs within three years of the opening of its new logistics centre, expected by autumn 2017. Amazon’s new infrastructure, which will have a surface area equivalent to that of 8 football pitches, will be located in El Prat de Llobregat, the same village where Barcelona El Prat airport is located, a municipality 10 kilometres away from Barcelona. The decision to expand its operations in the region is “not casual”, stated Amazon Spain Fulfilment’s Director of Operations, Fred Pattje and emphasised different assets besides El Prat airport such as Barcelona’s Port and “the economic sectors around the Llobregat delta”.

Seven Catalan start-ups are in London this week for London Technology Week. Finanzarel, Captio, TECH4FIN, Private Network Investments, Capital cell, ECrowd Invest and Social Currencies Management are in the mission organised by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency ACCIÓ. Heading the event is Núria Betriu, Director of Industry of the Catalan Department for Business and Knowledge. She will hold meetings with the Government of Wales and visit British companies and investment funds, as well as present at the event Barcelona's Upcoming Tech Scene: New Horizons in Catalonia. The start-ups will participate in individual meetings and networking activities among other things, in order to experience first-hand one of the ecosystems with the most private and alternative investment culture at an international level.

Catalonia would be the eleventh country in the EU in terms of exports if it were to become independent, and would be ahead of Austria, Denmark and Finland. Catalan companies’ exports to the rest of Spain and to the whole of the EU represent 47.7% of Catalonia's GDP, which is 14 percentage points higher than the EU average (33.2%). 2015 marked a new record for Catalan exports, reaching 102,487 million euros and Catalan companies which export regularly already represent 34.4% of the Spanish figure overall. Regarding exports per capita, an independent Catalonia will rank ninth, with 13,650 euros, ahead of France, United Kingdom and Portugal. These figures were released by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency, ACCIÓ.   

Emirates airline is bringing the airplane with the highest passenger capacity in the world to El Prat airport in the Catalan capital. Specifically, the plane will pass through Barcelona on the 25^th of June and on the 16^th, 29^th, and 31^st of July. It can hold 615 passengers, of which 557 will go in economy and 58 will be sat in business class, stated the CEO of Emirates in Spain, Fernando Suárez de Góngora, during lunch with the media on Wednesday. The airplane, which is a modified (to be able to hold as many passengers as possible) A-380, will use Barcelona’s international tourism as its asset: “it is a promising sign, and we are convinced it will be filled completely”, stated Góngora. Although it has apparently been “a real challenge”, according to the CEO, to completely fill the flights, Barcelona is becoming a more popular tourist destination in Asia in general and “in the Middle East in particular”. 

13 Catalan SMEs have been selected by the London Stock Exchange among the 1,000 most inspiring in Europe. This 1,000-component list is comprised of small and medium companies that “have a more pronounced growth in the EU”, explained the Director of Government Relations at the London Stock Exchange, Xavier Solano. The report was presented in Brussels, and the event was attended by two of the selected Catalan SMEs, KpSport and Liquats Vegetals. This project should help small and medium companies receive funding, which has “always been a little difficult”, according to Director of Operations at KpSport, David Pons. Solano spoke about the importance of giving these SMEs “visibility and support” so that they can continue to create jobs, also recognising the importance of presenting the report to the European Parliament. Additionally, liberal CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa emphasises “the importance of promoting the initiative on a European level.”

Alstom, a French developer and marketer of systems, equipment and services for the railway sector, is to hire one hundred new people for the first time in many years. These new employees will work at the Santa Perpètua de Mogoda plant (in the Vallès Occidental area, next to Barcelona), and the contracts will begin to be made from September 2016 until the end of the year. These posts will be added to the already existing 550 direct employees and 250 indirect jobs. The President of Alstom Spain, Antonio Moreno, stated that another novelty is a 30,000-metre-square park for suppliers, in which suppliers can interact with the process, which will become more streamlined. Moreno also explained that workload is guaranteed for the coming two years, and the company already works on transport systems in many foreign countries. By 2017, Alstom will also be more digitalised, utilising tools such as tablets and virtual reality.

Carbon dioxide emissions by Catalan companies subject to EU regulation grew by 4% between 2013 and 2014, according to the report entitled “The Situation of the Worldwide Emissions of CO2”, and published by the Business and Climate Foundation, an organisation that works for an entrepreneur agreement on the fight against climate change. The figure is lower than the Spanish one, which increased by 7.2%. It is the first year that CO2 emissions have grown after many years of declining figures in Catalonia and one of the explanations given for the phenomenon by the author of the report, Arturo De las Heras, is the “reactivation of the economy after the closure of companies during recent years and the associated decrease in production”. Catalan companies emitted 13.5 million tons of CO2, which puts Catalonia in fourth place in the ranking among other Spanish regions, after Andalusia, Asturias and Galicia. 

Exports in high technology from Catalonia have increased by 4.2% year-on-year, according to the data of a report published by the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat) on Monday. Sales of high-level technology (10.4% of foreign sales) and medium-level technology have also increased in the first quarter of 2016. However, according to Idescat, other levels have decreased in terms of foreign sales. Industrial products of medium-low technological level and those of low technological level both fell in the first quarter of 2016. Geographically, EU-28 exports show a positive performance in high- and medium-high-level technology, while other levels decreased. As for imports, medium-high technology is creating the highest numbers with a 7.2% year-on-year increase, followed by low-technology imports and high-technology imports; imports of technology of medium level have however decreased. 

Unemployment has fallen again in Catalonia, with the number of people registered on the unemployment lists of the Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC)  recorded as 470,205 people, 15,918 fewer than in April, according to the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. This is the fourth consecutive month of decline in unemployment for Catalonia, showing numbers that have not been seen since January of 2009, seven years ago, before the economic crisis. In annual terms, there has been a decrease in unemployment by 61,694 people, and 35 consecutive months of annual decreases have now been recorded; additionally, these figures represent the largest drop ever recorded in absolute numbers since the beginning of the records in 1996. Specifically, the services sector saw the most significant decline in unemployment. In Spain as a whole, unemployment has also dropped, to 3,891,403 registered people.

The BIZBarcelona fair, geared towards ‘solutions for SMEs and entrepreneurship’ has begun, taking place at the Fira de Barcelona fairground facilities in Montjuïc. Since its opening on Wednesday, the number of accreditations has already increased by 30% compared to last year, according to director of the event Aleix Planas, showing a large number of young people in attendance. BIZBarcelona is ideal for entrepreneurs who want to speak to all the people necessary to start or grow their business, but in a matter of hours instead of weeks. However, according to the director, the crowd is “very heterogeneous”, as attendees range from all ages, including seniors. As regards the economic and unemployment situation of the country, Planas adds that the fair is a true picture of reality

The American airline has started this Thursday its summer travel season launching the service between Washington-Dulles and Barcelona-El Prat airports. The flight will be offered until the 29th of October and will leave Barcelona every day at 11.15 am and arrive in Washington at 14.30 pm the same day. The return leg will take off from the United States at 18.10 in the evening and land in Barcelona at 08.05 the following morning. The Barcelona-Washington non-stop daily flight is the latest addition to the intercontinental offering from the Catalan airport, which also has connections with New York and Sao Paulo, amongst others.

Ferrari Land, the international brand’s first theme park in Europe, is closer to its opening in Vila-Seca, a town in the southern Catalan region of Tarragona. Over the next few weeks the operators will carry out the urbanisation of 60,000 square metres of the amusement resort, located next to the Port Aventura theme park. Ferrari Land represented a €100 million investment and will include simulators, shops, restaurants, as well as replicas of Italian buildings. However, one of its main attractions will be ‘Cavallino Rampante’, Europe’s tallest rollercoaster, reaching 112 metres high. The attraction should allow visitors to feel the acceleration experienced by a F1 driver, reaching 180 km/h in 5 seconds.Ferrari Land is set to increase by 20% the number of visitors to Port Aventura, which will break all records achieved since it opened in May 1995.

Three Catalan business schools were ranked in the fifty best in the world category, according to the the 18^th edition of the elaborate analysis by the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education 2016. The three schools that received the highest scores were the Iese Business School (in first place), the Esade Business School (in eighth place) and the Eada Business School Barcelona (in 44^th place). The final analysis was a composite of two separate rankings, a combination of Customised Programmes and Open-Enrolment Programmes. The Iese Business School was placed as number one in the Customised Programmes Ranking and number two in the Open-Enrolment Programmes Rankings, “coming closest of any school since the survey was launched in 1999 to topping both rankings”, according to the Financial Times. 

The Catalan company Grífols announced on Tuesday that they have purchased 20% of Singulex, the American multinational life science product provider based in Alameda, California. The acquisition was made after signing a capital increase worth $50 million, according to a statement given by Singulex to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Singulex, which is valued ‘pre-money’ at $200 million, works in the field of diagnostic technology, such as technology used for screening blood and plasma donations, which could be used in the future to ensure the safety of transfusions and other similar procedures. The acquisition will not only grant Grífols a place on the American company´s board, but will also give the Catalan company access to the worldwide licence for the use and commercialisation of Singulex technology.

The Catalan Government wants to put a stop to ‘binge tourism’ and will therefore expel from the Catalan Tourism Agency (ACT) those establishments which promote it. The decision came after a meeting with representatives from the Association of Tourism Employers of the Counties of Penedès and Garraf (ADEPG). Director General of Tourism Marian Muro called on businessmen of the sector “to be brave” and preserve Catalonia as a prestigious tourist destination and “contribute” so that its image “won’t be damaged”. Indeed, an operator that organised the so-called ‘Karibean Spring Break’ in Salou, which was promoted directly to young foreigners and used binge drinking and the expectation of sex as a promotional tool to lure the young tourists, has withdrawn this tourism package from the market.