Jimena girl starts out in the comics business

(From TioJimeno) 'El Paso' is a three-volume hard-back comic book in the European style. Each volume consists of 40 to 50 pages. The reason we have put this up here is that one of the two authors is Rocío Sánchez, daughter of Federico Sánchez Tundidor, teacher at Instituto Hozgarganta and an old friend. We have known Rocío for some time, too, and are delighted with her progress. She writes the story and does the colouring while Ramón Gardón, her partner at RaroCreative, is the designer and painter; they are financing the first volume of the work via crowdfunding, in order, she says, 'to give it a professional finish and pave the way towards a future in the comics industry.' Good luck!

(More info: http://www.verkami.com/projects/5561-el-paso)

Tourism workshops scheduled for Jimena, other business sectors in other places

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR Andalucía Emprende, a public foundation of the Junta's Department of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment, has scheduled a series of workshops aimed at entrepreneurs thinking of entering, or already in, the following sectors: boating, active tourism, agriculture or food production, rural tourism (See where and when below). Attendance is free but limited to 15 participants each. These workshops (in Spanish) are very useful for networking, accessing useful information, expanding your business, etc. etc. (CampoPulse will be attending the workshop in Jimena). For further information, contact 856 106 329, cade.sanmartindeltesorillo@andaluciaemprende.es or the website www.andaluciaemprende.es. >>>

Small business initiative creates mini-factory for food production

Ayuntamiento, Castellar Nuevo

CASTELLAR Making food at home for sale does not meet health and sanitation requirements. So Castellar Council is promoting the idea of a small multi-purpose factory where food can be made according to current standards, which will allow it to obtain all the necessary permits for sale to third parties. The mobve comes from a recent seminar on food production held in the village, where numerous residents presented their interest in producing such items as yoghurts, cheeses, jams, sweets, marmalades, jams and even canned vegetables fronm materials available in the municipality. The idea then took a turn of reality when Mayor Juan Casanova suggested it would be possible to turn municipal premises next to the football grounds, consisting of some 250 m2, into a small factory for this purpose. It will need to get a Registro Sanitario de Industria (RSI) certification, which is not seen as an obstacle so far. The idea is for a cooperative effort to take shape, which it is hoped will at least employ several people at present unemployed and having a hard time of it.

Spain's share of the cruise ship business tops the European list for growth

Málaga cruise terminal

MALAGA The European Cruise Council (ECC) recently placed Spain at the top of its list of growing host countries. The country shows growth of 18% over the last ten year, ahead of Germany (13%), Italy (12%) and Britain (8%), according to a report by GP Wild for the Council. This growth has made Spain a strategic market for the cruise industry and one that places it fourth at European level with 703,000 passengers in 2011. The evolution of the market means a considerable contribution to the Spanish economy, not exactly at the best of times at present. For instance, it generated well over 25,000, direct, indirect and induced jobs in 2010, growing by 4% over the previous year. (A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com)

Spain also has a tax on savings, 'but not like Cyprus'

Cristóbal Montoro

SPAIN At a recent press conference called by Minister Cristóbal Montoro (Hacienda) announced that Spain is about to introduce a tax on savings accounts ranges from 0.1% to 0.2%. Montoro said that, unlike what is happening in Cyprus, the tax is to be paid by the banks, not the savings account holders, although soon after, the media reported that the banks have responded by sating that the tax would have to be passed on to the savers. In fact, a state tax on bank deposits was announced last December and has been in effect since January 1 but for the moment remains static at 0%, having been created not as a method of collection but to 'guarantee market unity' and to prevent regional authorities from creating their own tax, which was already happening in Andalucía, the Canaries and Extremadura.>>>

What’s happening at the CEOE?

MADRID The Board of the Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales (Confederation of Spanish Business Organizations, the equivalent to the UK’s CBI) held its monthly meeting in February, and is due to have the March meeting any day soon. On the agenda for debate were a number of routine issues, plus the postponement of debate on the organization’s new statutes until April. What was not on the official agenda but must surely have come up under the Any Other Business section, or at least in private conversations before and after the meeting, is the damage the CEOE is undergoing thanks to corruption scandals in its ranks. (A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available at SpainInformer.com)

Barclays Spain cuts 30% of staff and concentrates on banking for the wealthy

MADRID The Spanish branch of Barclays is retrenching, as part of an overhaul of its entire worldwide operations. It will be focusing on investment and private banking because, in common with most of its competitors, retail banking is not profitable enough. Jaime Echegoyen, Chief Executive since March 2011, has decided he doesn’t need so many branches or employees. The bank announced last month that it was starting negotiations with the unions aimed at eliminating 1,100 employees – 30% of the total – and closing 160 branches – 37%. There would be some 2,500 jobs remaining, and 271 offices. If negotiations work out in the banks favour, some 1,800 jobs and 320 branches would have been eliminated since 2011.

Sotogrande loses €68 million in 2012

Losses are up by 115% over 2011

SAN ROQUE / Sotogrande NH Hotels owns over €97% of Sotogrande S.A., which is its real estate arm headquartered in San Roque. It recently reported a loss of €68 million, which is up by 115% from the previous year's €31.6 million. Income for 2012 amounted to €548,000, against costs of €4 million. All this, and more, according to the company's report to the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV, or Stock Exchange Commission).

How much can you pay in cash?

SPAIN When the subject was first mooted, cash payments of over €2,500 when one or more of the parties to a transaction is a professional (dentist, doctor, lawyer, etc.), self-employed or representing a business, is now forbidden by law. The idea is to do away with an underground economy that pervades the country and detracts from its income. The part of the new anti-tax evasion law that now comes fully into effect in fact began on October 31, 2012,  but this section was delayed mainly in order to allow small businesses to adapt to it. The maximum amount of cash as part of a transaction allowed to non-residents is €15,000 because the Government does not want to interfere in the tourism business. (A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com)

Car sales in Spain drop to more than half those of Europe

Illustration only

SPAIN The auto market in Spain is in decline. This is not news, but alarm bells are ringing as a result of the figures for 2012. According to the Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, in its Automotive Retail Business report,  the annual downward spiral has been spinning at an annual 13.4%, compared to the European average of 6%. Although the decline is almost universal but particularly so in Europe, Spain is well behind individual countries that are reference points in vehicle manufacturing: Italy went down by 7.8%, the UK by 4.1%, Germany by 1.4% and France by 0.7%. (A more detailed article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com)

Are the Paradores headed for privatization?

Parador at León, in the old
Monastery of San Marcos

Paradores, one of the jewels of Spanish tourism

MADRID The Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, confirmed earlier this week that 'logically' the Paradores that under renovation or construction would be finished. But at the same time he said that the Government was 'not contemplating any new building work'. He even said that, given the 'delicate' situation they are going through, privatization has not been eliminated. The Minister, interviewed at the World Travel Market fair in London, added that there are 'restrictions' surrounding privatization, as some of the Paradores are within buildings that are not owned by the State. "We'd have to look into it on a case by case basis, but nothing has been discarded.">>>

KKR posed to buy Sotogrande owner in private equity deal

MADRID (Investment Europe) NH Hoteles, Europe's third largest business hotel operator by rooms count and owner of Sotogrande S.A., has long been tipped as a private equity target given its large debt and that of its savings bank shareholders, which together own nearly a third of the firm. According to Spanish media, KKR could invest in NH Hoteles by first acquiring a 15.7% stake held by the parent of nationalised lender Bankia, worth about €100m or through a capital. NH Hoteles has nearly €1bn of debt and €193m of operating cash flow in 2011, and has been trying to sell its assets to COMING SOON:

Spain ranked 136 out of 185 countries in 'ease of doing business' survey

Bureaucracy by Quino

More difficult than Zambia to set up a company

MADRID The World Bank's Doing Business 2013 report was released last week. It says that Spain is among the most difficult countries in which to set up a company, in terms both of procedure and cost. This despite the need for the country to crawl out of its present financial crisis, a country where over 80% of GDP is brought about by small and medium companies, a country that loses scientists and entrepreneurs to other more welcoming business climes. The WB's report places Spain three spots below the same survey carried out last year; it takes 10 separate bureaucratic procedures and 28 days to set up a company, at a cost equivalent to 4.7% of the average per capita income. An example from the report, and the subject of a separate article in El País, is that of a businessman in Seville who>>>

Chinese businessman offers to buy fire station

Before the translator arrived

He wanted to buy the fire trucks at first

JEREZ / JIMENA We have been asked several times why Jimena's fire station is up for sale. There was a sign up saying so, so it must have beeen, right? Well, no. It was a way for the firemen to protest about not having been paid. Fire stations throughout the province of Cádiz have been festooned with SE VENDE signs, Jimena being one of the less intensely so. But there's a good story about what happened at one of the fire stations in Jerez. Here goes: YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS LIKE THIS UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE. Subscription info coming soon>>>

It's official: Eurovegas chooses Madrid for European expansion

No details have emerged about tax, labour or environment concessions

MADRID (Agencies) As we reported recently, the company owned by billionaire magnate Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands, has chosen Madrid as its site for expansion into Europe. The battle between Spain's two major cities, was won by the nation's capital instead of Barcelona, which announced recently that it planned its own 'theme park'. Both cities vied for the gambling centre on the assumption that it would employ some 200,000 people, directly and indirectly, particularly during the construction stages. Las Vegas Sands says it means an investment of some €17,000 million. SOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS SUCH AS THIS WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION>>>

64% of Jimena's cork growers did not harvest

Orange groves also impacted by drought

JIMENA The municipality depends largely on its agriculture, a very large proportion of which is cork oak and citrus, both sectors which are in deep trouble. This naturally impacts the families that depend on the work in the groves and on the mountainsides. The summer cork harvest goes a long way to keeping food on the table of many for the rest of the year, and the same applies to the winter citrus harvest. But this year, according to the PSOE, which is asking for government subsidies to help out at this gruesome time, some 4,100 work days have been lost in the cork harvest alone because 64% of the municipality's growers have been unable to strip their trees because of the long hot summer that came after a very dry winter. Some 26 tons of cork remain on the trees this year. (See How did that cork get in your bottle?)

Fire destroys part of barrel-makers' in Jerez

Fire began in the roof as workers were about to leave

JEREZ (Agencies) This item would not be our usual fare except for the interesting fact that the cooperage company, Tevasa, supplies American oak barrels to the whiskey industry in Scotland, aside from being a well known established business in the sherry town. The fire apparently started close to the roof, just as the shift was leaving the premises. It was they who first began to try to extinguish the flames, before the fire brigade arrived. Some 600m2 were devoured by the conflagration, which took hold in the plastic rooftops of the main workshop.

Large business salaries and profits to be scrutinised

©JimenaPulse 2012

Minister says those who have more should set example

MADRID (Agencies) In a radio interview on Onda Cero, the Minister for the Economy and Competition, Luis de Guindos, asked that all vigilance should be aimed at the salaries, profit margins and pensions of the larger companies. "We are asking for an effort from the average Spaniardand especially from those who are in more privileged positions," he said, "It is they who must give an example." Solidarity, he added, is "fundamental" and begins with those who "have more.">>>YOU WILL SOON BE UNABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS SUCH AS THIS UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE. Subscriptioninformation will soon be available.>>>

Spanish property market at bottom of the pit

Illustration only

Media reporting 'state of collapse' · Cádiz sales at historic low

MADRID The property market balloon in Spain is more than punctured. If you read the national media, paper and online, the language will offer a picture of Daliesque collapse, with deflated balloons hanging from the skeletons of unfinished buildings instead of clocks from tree branches. The latest report from the National Statistics Institute (INE) on the subject, for June 2012, shows historic minimums: only 681 property sales took place that month, 585 of them urban. In June 2011, there were 800 such sales and loud warnings were issued. The figures offer a year on year downturn of 15%. Agents and government bodies confirm that neither rentals nor sales are working,  and estate agents are clinging to the precipice by the fingernails.>>>

Tourism is still the largest employer in the province

Larger proportion of temporary contracts

CADIZ Tourism-related business is still one of the largest employers in Spain, especially in the summer season. This is no less true in the province of Cádiz. The second quarter of the year has seen a total of 33,454 contracts, up by 22.8% year on year. Of these, 4,579 are in the Campo de Gibraltar (13.6% of the province's total). Algeciras (1,799 people, +20.8%), Tarifa (986, +19.9%) and San Roque (669, + 11.1%) are in the top five municipalities with most tourism-related contracts. They are followed by La Línea (630 people), Los Barrios (427), Castellar (37) and Jimena (31). These figures are for total employment contracts, not exclusively new ones. The latter tend to be short-term, temporary or seasonal employment, so we can expect local unemployment numbers to rise again in September, when some sources say, a large number of bars and restaurants in the area may be closing.