Home grown Britain eats 60,000 tons of blueberries annually, of which 90 per cent are imported, although sales of home-produced blueberries rose by 13 per cent this year. “Everyone thinks blueberries are a tropical fruit grown abroad,” the British Berry Growers (BBG) trade association said.
Going nuclear The Czech government has chosen Rolls-Royce to build mini nuclear power plants for state-owned energy company, CEZ. France, the US and Japan had also bid for the contract to supply the small modular reactors (SMRs), the first of which will be located near the Temelin nuclear power station and should be completed before 2035.
Wage scale The Ferrovial board was paid €25.5 million during the first half of 2024, 45 per cent more than in 2024, the Spanish multinational announced. The infrastructure company which now lists in New York as well as Spain, attributed the pay rise to “short-term and long-term bonuses” and the “significant” increase in Ferrovial’s share price from €26.773 to €36.045.
Not so dear Mobile phone prices fell 11.7 per cent in August, latest figures from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed. Computers were 5.9 per cent cheaper, INE said, owing to a wider technology offer and fewer people who worked from home.
Cutting down Metro Bank announced a series of job cuts as it carries out an £80 million (€95 million) plan to reduce costs. It expects to slash 300 posts in business operations, IT and support, following the £925 million (€1.1 billion) rescue operation in 2023 when Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal took control of the bank.
No problem Madrid approved BlackRock’s 20 per cent holding in gas and energy company Naturgy, which is regarded as a nationally strategic company. The world’s largest asset manager acquired the Naturgy shares on taking over Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in a $12.5 billion (€10.8 billion) deal in January 2025.
Fair dues Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte revealed that it plans to equalise parental leave for all staff in the UK in January 2025 by giving men the same 26 weeks of leave on full pay now received by women. It hopes this will make it easier for more women to progress in their careers and become partners, Deloitte said.
New look Fashion company Adolfo Dominguez reported €126.7 million in sales for the year ending February 29, 2024, compared with €114.18 million in 2023, and a net income of €730,185. This was an improvement on 2022-2023’s €158,656 although the company posted losses €1.4 million between February and May 2024.
Payback time INDUSTRY regulator has Ofgem ordered Ovo, the UK’s fourth-largest household energy supplier, to pay £2.37 million (€2.81 million) in compensation to 1395 customers owing to the time it took the Bristol-based company to deal with their complaints. In some cases these took up to 18 months to process, Ofgen said.
