The Spanish bank has strengthened its position in the Asian giant after investing 72 million euros in its partner, Bank of East Asia (BEA), through various transactions to purchase shares during the first six months of the year.
The objective of this investment is to increase its share by 1.1%, to hold a 17.67% stake in BEA in all, worth 1,300 million euros.
CaixaBank has increased its position through small transactions on the stock exchange, after its entry into China in 2007. As well as the investment made in the first six months of 2014, the Catalan group decided to receive the dividend distributed by BEA in shares so as not to dilute its stake, which amounted to 23.99 million, as published by The Economist.
In addition, the banking group has had two branches of representation in China since 2006 with the aim of analysing the complex regulation of the Chinese financial sector. CaixaBank carries out more than 15% of the transactions that are made for trade between Spain and China.
BEA and CaixaBank have strengthened their strategic alliance with collaboration agreements, including car rental and the development of banking products.
The Spanish clothing chain has made adjustments in the geographical location of its stores around the world, leaving five markets and reducing its points of sale in China from 163 to 96 after closing 30 own stores and 37 franchises, according to its sustainability report 2013.
Enric Casi, CEO of Mango, stated that the company has changed its overall sales strategy and is abandoning Corners, spaces in large department stores and multi-brand stores and has preferred to opt for its own stores.
The textile chain left five markets two years ago: Bulgaria, Brazil, Slovenia and Montenegro. In addition to the closures, Mango did not open in every country in which it was proposed in 2012. Among the new stakes of the brand, South Africa stands out, where it has gone from seven stores two years ago to 47 last year.
The most dramatic change that the company has carried out is its financial objectives for the coming years. Mango has also revised its sales prospects, leading to reducing growth by 34% by 2017, with an expected turnover of 3.274 million euros.
The Chinese company, Firevision Pyrotechnics, has been one of the five pyrotechnic companies chosen to participate in the VIII International Fireworks Competition in the San Mateo Festival held from 20 to 25 September, as published in La Rioja.
The Chinese firm was responsible for the fireworks during the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. The representative of Firevision Pyrotechnics, Weiying, said his company expected this participation in the celebrations in Logroño to help them open the doors of the Spanish and European market. This is the first time that a Chinese pyrotechnic company has performed a fireworks display in Spain.
Alongside Firevision Pyrotechnics, the company Pirotecnica Igual S.A. from Barcelona; Intermede, from France; Stephen Martin, from Granada; and Gironina, from Tarragona will also be performing
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Spain has overtaken China and has become the third most visited country in the world. The Iberian Peninsula last year attracted a total of 60.7 million foreign tourists, exceeding the 58.6 million in 2007, representing an increase of 2.7 compared with data from 2012.
The Asian country ousted Spain from the third place in the world rankings in 2011.
Ahead of the Iberian Peninsula is France in first place followed by the United States. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) France received 84.7million tourists, up 2% from 2013. Meanwhile, the American country was visited by a total of 69.8 million foreigners.
According to the WTO, on a global scale, 1,087 million international tourists travelled in 2013. The agency foresees that this year the figure will increase between 4% and 4.5%.
The University of Barcelona is among the top 200 in the world, according to the global academic ranking known as "Shanghai Ranking" of 2014, which puts a dozen Spanish academic institutions among the top 500 in the world.
For the first time a Spanish university - the University of Barcelona - is among the top 200 of the list recently updated by Jiao Tong University in that Chinese city, Shanghai.
Three other universities – the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of Valencia - appear in the middle of the table, in the group between positions 200 and 300 of the 500 that make up the whole list.
However, several univesrities have dropped places, such as the Complutense University of Madrid, which last year was in the former group and has now moved on to be placed between 301 and 400, like the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the University of Granada and Pompeu Fabra University.
Also included in this ranking, but among those classified as 401 to 500, we find the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of the Basque Country, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the University of Zaragoza.
The top five places are taken by the North American academic institutions Harvard, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California-Berkeley, in addition to the British University of Cambridge.
To develop the classification, quality parameters are taken into account such as the number of publications in international renowned journals and the number of citations of the work of their researchers.
Likewise, the number of Nobel prizes and Fields medals (Mathematics) who teach in their classrooms or have studied there are also considered.
Source: lavanguardia.com; 2014-08-21
Posted by flytobarcelona.org
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The new plans for internationalization of the Catalan company Custo Barcelona involve opening their first store in Egypt and settling in Russia and Peru this fall.
The arrival of the fashion in Egypt had took place in the mall for luxury and international brands, 'Cairo Festival City', where they opened their first store in the country. Within the strategic plan for Egypt, they plan to open two more stores between 2014 and 2015, one more in Cairo and one in Alexandria.
Besides Egypt, Custo Barcelona are still working on their international expansion and entry into new markets such as Russia, where they will open their first store in September in the city of Samara, and a second will be opened in the same region in the spring of 2015.
The Latin American market is another of the objectives of the Catalan fashion firm, and in the fall of 2014 they will open for the first time in Lima (Peru), where they held a fashion show in May. "The Latin American culture is colourful and that creates a great understanding of women with the spirit of Custo" said the designer Custo Dalmau.
In the European market, Custo Barcelona is present in Milan, where they own two stores; and in Nice, Rome and Switzerland, with one point of sale in each city. As for the Arab market, the brand has two stores, one in Dubai and another in Saudi Arabia.
In the Americas, the brand has divided their presence in two. In the US, Custo Barcelona has one establishment in New York, where they hold fashion shows twice a year, in addition to six stores in Florida, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego.
In Latin America, Custo Barcelona began their expansion in this market in 2008 when they opened their first store in the city of Maracaibo in Venezuela. Later, the company developed a network of establishments that have led them to be present in Colombia, with two stores; Puerto Rico, with two more stores; and Venezuela, with three outlets.
Currently, the company operates in the Spanish market with around twenty establishments.
Yet the firm’s expansion also covers new distribution channels, as Custo signed an agreement in June with the supermarket chain Lidl to sell in its 530 stores the capsule collection: ' Growing by Custo', created especially for time limited sales in this supermarket chain. "They are very functional items for people who value easy access to products," said Custo in an interview published by ABC.es, adding: "These garments are aimed at all those people who have little time to go shopping". This is a collection "of 22 items. It is not a sophisticated level of fashion. It's easy fashion".
Source: icex.es; 2014-08-26
Posted by flytobarcelona.org
The Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, advanced on Thursday that international tourist arrivals to Spain increased 5.9% in July, this being the second highest figure in history, surpassed only by August 2013.
Soria pointed out that this growth shows that the tourism industry is consolidated in Spain "as an engine of economic recovery". He added that this year it is conceivable that tourism will again show "extraordinary behaviour".
Thus, according to markets, the largest increase was recorded in tourist arrivals from France, which increased by 12.1%, while the number of visitors from the UK increased by 4.6%.
Pending the official survey data from Frontur on Friday 22, Soria stressed in a press conference in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria the fact that tourist arrivals had increased in all the communities, mainly in the Canary Islands, where they rose 8.8%. Although Catalonia and the Balearic Islands were the ones to lead the entry of international tourist in July.
Source: hosteltur.com; 2014-08-26
Posted by flytobarcelona.org
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The Port of Barcelona increased passenger traffic by 17% with Italy, and by 5% with the Balearics during the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.
Until June, 230,531 passengers were transported between the Port and the Balearics and 162,952 between Barcelona and the Alpine country, as reported by the Port of Barcelona in a statement on Wednesday.
Vehicular traffic is also growing with Italy and the Balearic Islands, with 46,430 cars and a 70%increase and 35,741 units, and 14% increase, respectively.
A total of 11,256 cars were loaded or unloaded by rail through the terminal Moll Costa, which represented an investment of 2.5 million euros and has a railway line 530 metres long with Iberian and metric gauge and an overpass that connects the infrastructure with the dock concourse.
This summer is the first anniversary of the finishing of the short distance transport terminal, Grimaldi Terminal, in which Grimaldi invested 20 million euros.
Inaugurated in July last year, the infrastructure comprises a three storey building of 3,750 square metres over an area of 63,000 square metres reclaimed from the sea, and has a capacity for 3,600 passengers.
Source: hosteltur.com; 2014-08-24