business

Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s biggest congress in the mobile phone industry, takes place from today until Thursday in Barcelona. The Catalan capital is hosting this event for the 9th consecutive year. More than 1,800 companies from all over the world showcase their latest products at the event and more than 77,000 visitors are anticipated at the conference centre at Fira Gran Via. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and new owner of Whatsapp, will follow today’s earlier speech by Whatsapp founder Jan Koum with his highly anticipated keynote talk. Virginia Rometty, IBM´s CEO and recently pronounced most powerful woman in Business, will also appear as a keynote speaker on Wednesday. Leading mobile phone companies such as Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Huawei, HTC and others are expected to launch their new devices at the exhibition.

Some 1,900 police officers, both from the Catalan Police Force (called Mossos d’Esquadra), and from the local polices of Barcelona and L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (Greater Barcelona), will ensure the safety of the 75,000 visitors expected to attend the Mobile World Congress, the main international event of the mobile-phone-related industry. This trade fair and conference takes place each year in Barcelona and the upcoming edition will run from the 24^th to the 27^th of February. With this safety reinforcement plan, plain-clothed police officers will be deployed in the pavilions of the Mobile World Congress, while the number of uniformed-police patrols will be increased to dissuade pickpockets. Furthermore, there will be more private security guards controlling the premises this year and a dedicated police station where attendees can report any loss or theft will be open all day long.

The Director General of Fira de Barcelona and Executive Vice President of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Agustí Cordón, presented on Wednesday the initiative ‘Mobile Ready’, a set of activities that will show citizens and tourists in Barcelona the potential transformations of mobile technology on their daily lives. ‘Mobile Ready’ will travel across the main architectural, commercial and entertainment points of the Catalan capital. Moreover, coinciding with the Mobile World Congress, the Fira de Barcelona facilities in Montjuïc will host the event ‘4 Years From Now’, which will bring together international investors and over 1,000 entrepreneurs in the Information and Communication Technology sector.

The Catalan Minister for the Economy and Knowledge, Andreu Mas-Colell, emphatically stated that if it is “neat, the conflict between Catalonia and Spain will not affect the economy” nor business activity. In front of about 250 employers who were invited at a luncheon organised by Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, Mas-Colell explained that “Catalonia had emerged stronger” from the economic crisis. The former Economics Professor in Harvard and Berkley also emphasised that the Catalan Government “will not do anything that may leave [Catalans] out of Europe”, thereby sending “reassuring” messages to business-owners. In his speech, the Finance Minister also defended the ongoing self-determination process, describing it as an attempt to respond to the Spanish Government’s centralist policy which is looking to “laminate” Catalonia’s Autonomy “using the crisis as an excuse”.

The business owners’ association Cercle Català de Negocis (CCN) insisted that neither Spain’s confederation of employer associations, CEOE, nor its Catalan member, Foment del Treball “represent anything other than themselves and the interests of large corporations linked to the Spanish Government”. After the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, asked employers to participate in the political debate, these two main employers’ associations have rejected getting involved in the self-determination process. However the CCN recalled that these large corporations only represent a tiny part of Catalonia’s business sector. The CCN stressed that SMEs account for 99% of all Catalan production and many of their owners “have mostly positioned themselves in favour of exercising the right to self-determination”. During a luncheon on Tuesday, Mas nuanced his previous statement, saying that he was “not asking for explicit statements” but “to be within” the political debate. 

Barcelona-based Gas Natural Fenosa earned €1.445 billion in 2013, 0.3% more than in 2012. The strong international customer base of the energy company has neutralized the “decline in business” in Spain. This fall at Spanish level was due to the fiscal pressure increase and to the impact of the latest Spanish Government’s reform of the electricity market, which led to a shortfall of €455 million in 2013 for the Catalan multinational. The aggregate EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) stood at €5.085 billion, 0.1% more than in 2012. International business accounted for 44.1% of the EBITDA, while it had represented 43.2% in 2012. In addition, the Spanish market contributed to 55.9% of Gas Natural Fenosa’s EBITDA, a 1.6% drop on last year figures.

Spain’s confederation of employer associations, CEOE, and its Catalan member, Foment del Treball – the largest business organisation in Catalonia, have rejected getting involved in the self-determination process. On Friday, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, asked employers to get involved in all of Catalonia’s three main objectives: fostering the economic recovery, maintaining social cohesion and enabling Catalonia’s self-determination. On Monday, Madrid-based CEOE and Barcelona-based Foment, representing the business establishment at Spanish and Catalan level, answered Mas: they rejected “getting involved” although on previous occasions they have lobbied against independence and against self-determination. They asked for “dialogue” between Spanish and Catalan authorities. Additionally, Foment asked for a “fiscal agreement” for Catalonia.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, has called on employers “to work together” on 3 objectives: lifting the economy, ensuring social cohesion through Welfare State public policies and driving forward the political process on Catalonia’s future. On Friday, Mas addressed over a hundred major employers in Catalonia at the Tower Sabadell, during the presentation of the book Capitans d'indústria (which would read as ‘Captains of industry’), written by journalist Francesc Canosa and Farran. During the event, the President of Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu, called for a “stable political environment” and “peace of mind” so that employers could “focus” all of their energy on their businesses.

In 2013, the consolidated net profit of VidaCaixa, the insurance branch of Spain’s largest bank CaixaBank, amounted to €420.1 million. The figure represents a 46.2% decrease on the previous year, when it had reached €789.5 million. This decrease is due to the effects of the reinsurance transaction on the company’s ‘vida-risc’ life insurance, which occurred in the last quarter of 2012, bringing in an extra income of €600 million back then. On the other hand, the net recurring profit for 2013 totalled €328.3 million, 3.1% less than the previous year. VidaCaixa has reached 3.6 million customers and exceeded €50 billion of assets under management, both figures amounting to a 14.1% increase on the previous year.

The President of Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls, stated on Thursday that the independence process was not affecting Catalonia’s economic recovery. During a press conference, Valls emphasised that such a statement was based on concrete “facts”. He stressed that Catalonia had tripled the amount of incoming foreign investment compared to the Spanish average, and that the Catalan economy had also registered better figures in enterprise creation and business confidence, employment and other indicators showing an economic recovery According to the report on conjecture and economic perspectives, the Catalan GDP grew by 0.7% during the fourth quarter of 2013, whereas the Spanish GDP dropped by 0.1%. Valls also recalled that the consultation vote on the political future of Catalonia would involve “citizens and not businesses”, thus responding to the employers who recently voiced their opposition to Catalonia’s independence.

Chinese Group Platinum Estates has purchased the former headquarters of Telefonica in Barcelona, located in the Eixample neighbourhood, for €56.4 million, according to a statement by Renta Corporación, which managed the transaction. Furthermore, investors will allocate €45 additional million to transform the building, once belonging to the first telecommunications company in Spain, into a block of flats. The building, located on the Roma Avenue, was the propriety of Cerep Investment, a company controlled by private equity Group Carlyle, until it went bankrupt in the spring of last year. The buyer is a family group based in Hong Kong, which is part of Platinum Estates and is led by textile tycoon Harry Mohinani, of Hindu origin.

Around 60 German businesspeople working in Catalonia have issued a manifesto against independence from Spain. They warn against “the dreadful consequences” that independence would bring for the Catalan economy. The manifesto signers, who work in companies that invested millions in Catalonia and in the rest of Spain, state that independence would represent the automatic expulsion from the European Union. They also add that “it is doubtful” it could still use the Euro. Furthermore, they “warn about the dangers of a nationalist fervour, which in the last century, has brought immeasurable suffering to Europe and which will neither bring anything good to Catalonia”. Besides, on the same day, the President of Spain’s main employer association, Juan Rosell, stated that independence would be “disastrous” for human relations. The Catalan Government respects their opinion but has refused to comment on the manifesto.

The Catalan Government has approved 3 new environmental taxes on the air pollution emissions of commercial flights, industrial gas and particle emission, and the nuclear production of electric energy. €50 million are expected to be raised per year once the law will be enforced, which is scheduled for mid-year. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, has admitted that flights at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport would likely be affected. However, he ensured that none of these 3 new taxes would have a negative impact on the consumers. The law specifies that the tax cannot affect pricing, neither for plane tickets nor for electricity, pointed out Homs. He then put in contrast the €98 million fees an airline can have to pay to the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA) with the €1 million in taxes that may be levied by the Catalan Government.

At ten past twelve this Thursday morning, an Airbus A380 belonging to Emirates has landed at the first terminal of Barcelona’s El Prat Airport. It is the very first of such aircrafts, the largest in the world, to operate on a regular route in Spain. The A380 will allow Emirates to expand by 40% - with 2,200 additional seats per week - the current daily number of passengers flying between Barcelona and Dubai, a route which was launched two years ago. Emirates has decided to introduce the A380 in Barcelona due to increasing demands as well as to reinforce the company's commitment to an “important market for Europe” according to Emirates’ Vice-President of Commercial Operations in Europe, Thierry Aucoc.

After a great controversy and outraged reaction from businesspeople, politicians and academics, the Spanish Government has amended its previous decision and on Tuesday evening it announced that it will publish the so-called fiscal balances. This financial instrument shows how much money the citizens and companies from a territory give to the central government and how much of this money comes back in form of funds, investments and services. Previous studies showed that Catalonia has been giving away an average of 8% of its GDP each year since 1986, which represents 6 times the entire Marshall Plan in comparable currencies. The Spanish Government was supposed to publish the fiscal balances in December but a month later it announced it would not do so since they were “used to foster Catalonia’s independence” claims. Catalan parties warned Rajoy not to alter the figures and calculation to produce the result he wishes.