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Roca Group Earned 12% Less Last Year

ABC Staff
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Roca Group Earned 12% Less Last Year

The Roca Group earned 60 million in 2020, 12% less than in 2019, which attributes to the fact that sales were “strongly affected” during the first half of last year due to the pandemic .

The company has reported that it had a turnover of 1,684 million euros in 2020, 9.5% less, and points out that, despite the economic crisis, the operating result reached 306 million, 21% more.

Roca Group’s net result was affected by the strong increase in non-operating expenses , derived from temporary closures and periods of less activity in production plants during lockdowns due to the coronavirus, explains the company.

It also indicates that the restrictive measures to curb the virus caused a decline in sales -especially in Spain-, breaking “the sustained growth trend that had been maintained since 2014.”

Roca Group is optimistic about the coming months, since “in the second half of the year a progressive recovery began”. Despite the decrease in profit and turnover, Roca Group highlights “the positive behavior of operations in China, Germany, Austria, Poland and Switzerland , whose evolution managed to partially offset the decrease in turnover in other countries” .

Although “the evolution of turnover in the BRIC markets as a whole was also singularly affected by the depreciation of local currencies, particularly in Brazil and Russia.” In 2020, Roca Group made investments worth 106 million euros, mainly aimed at expanding its production capacity in Brazil, Russia and China.

The group’s CEO, Albert Magrans, underlined “the commitment, effort and professionalism of the entire workforce, in a context of exceptionality and great difficulties”.

“Despite this complicated environment, we have once again generated the necessary resources to continue gaining efficiency and optimizing the performance of our investments, promoting technology, innovation and digital transformation and advancing in our sustainability strategy to be a global benchmark in this matter, “he added.

In this 2020, Roca Group has acquired 75% of Royo Group and has incorporated a sanitary ware plant in the northeast of Brazil, as well as has bought the German firm Sanit .

Commission Of Experts Recommends A Minimum Salary Of Between 962 Euros

ABC Staff
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Commission Of Experts Recommends A Minimum Salary Of Between 962 Euros

The Committee of Experts that has analyzed in recent months the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI) proposes to raise the current amount of 950 euros per month (for 14 payments) to an amount between 1,011 and 1,049 euros (equivalent to 60% of the average salary) in 2023.

This is stated in the document delivered this Friday to the third vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, in a ceremony at the Ministry. The report proposes that the Government undertake the increase in a staggered manner since 2021, with increases of between 12 and 19 euros per month this year, and concentrate most of the increase in the last two years of the period (2022 and 2023).

According to the document, the Committee of Experts recommends that the SMI rise between 2021 and 2023 between 6.4% and 10.4%, which would mean going from the current 950 euros per month to an amount of between 1,011 euros and 1,049 euros in 14 payments. This would mean raising it between 61 and 99 euros to place the SMI at 60% of the average salary.

Political decision
Minister Yolanda Díaz explained that, after receiving this report, she will meet with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez , “to make a decision within the coalition government ” on a possible increase in the SMI already in 2021.

Until now, the own statements of Sánchez, of the second vice president, Nadia Calviño, and of the Minister of Finance and Spokesperson, María Jesús Montero , have put the accent on giving priority to economic and job creation, thus pointing in the direction of no undertake no increase in the SMI in 2021.

“When the outbreak of the pandemic I said that health should not be contrasted with the economy and now I say that we stop opposing job creation and a rise in the SMI”, Yolanda Díaz said after receiving the report from the experts.

The Labor Minister recalled that the CPI has risen to 2.7%, the increase in the price of electricity and products, in general. In addition, he pointed out that on average wages are rising in collective agreements by an average of 1.8%.

This context, according to Díaz “leaves out the weakest people”, which are the around 1.5 million workers (10% of the employed population) whose remuneration is guided by the SMI, “who have the face of the precariousness of young people and women “, he added, to defend the convenience of an improvement in the minimum wage already in 2021 .

“The need to give that positive message at a time when the crisis is coming out is what has led us to recommend this gradual rise in 2021”, pointed out the president of the Committee of Experts, Inmaculada Cebrián López, professor at the Department of Economics from the University of Alcalá de Henares.

According to Cebrián, the group of experts saw this thesis reinforced after knowing the report of the Bank of Spain with an estimate of the impact on employment of the last increase in the SMI in 2019 to 900 euros. The Bank of Spain has estimated that this increase in the SMI slowed the creation of 154,000 jobs but allowed progress in social equity.

Three assumptions
Cebrián explained that the Commission has estimated three different minimum wage scenarios for 2023, based on different starting assumptions, once the data of what the average net salary was for a full-time worker in 2020 is known.

To begin with, the report has made three assumptions: that the average salary rose 0% in 2020; that it increased 0.9% or that it increased 1.8%. Based on each of these three assumptions, it is projected that the magnitude of 60% of the average net salary could evolve towards 1,011 euros, 1,027 euros or 1,049 euros in 2023. And for each of the three assumptions, a stepped path is proposed , throughout the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 to reach the goal.

Based on an average salary increase of 1.8% in 2020 and a projection of SMI of 1,049 euros in 2023, the Commission proposes this path to accommodate the increase of 99 euros compared to the current 950: increase of 19 euros to the month in 2021; 40 euros in 2022 and another 40 euros of increase in 2023.

If we start from a 0.9% rise in 2020 and a SMI projection of 1,027 euros in 2023, this path of increases is proposed to accommodate the rise of 77 euros: 15 euros in 2021; 31 in 2022 and another 31 euros in 2023.

For the third case, that of a null variation of the average salary in 2020 and a projection of SMI of 1,011 euros in 2023, the path to fit the increase of 61 euros is this: 12 euros in 2021; 24 euros in 2022 and 25 euros in 2023.

Expert Commission
The Commission of experts, which was established at the end of January, has carried out a technical analysis to establish the route that the SMI should follow until reaching, at the end of the legislature, 60% of the average salary in Spain, a goal to which it has committed the Government and which is also the one that establishes the European Social Charter.

Seven academics, three members of the Government and two union representatives are part of the SMI expert commission, since the representatives of CEOE and Cepyme decided to leave this commission days after its constitution, considering that it “distorted” the social dialogue.

On the part of academic professionals, members of this Commission are the president of the CES and professor of Economic Policy at the University of Barcelona Antón Costas; Professor of Economics at the University of Alcalá de Henares (UAH) Olga Cantó; the former associate professor of the Carlos III University of Madrid José Ignacio Pérez Infante; the professor of Applied Economics at the University of Salamanca Rafael Muñoz de Bustillo; the professor of Economics of the UAH Inmaculada Cebrián López; Sara de la Rica, Professor of Economics at the University of the Basque Country, and Gemma Galdón Clavell, member of the Department of Sociology at the University of Barcelona.

On the part of the unions, this group of experts includes María Jesús Cedrún (UGT) and Carlos Martín (CCOO), while on behalf of the Government are Manuel Lago (Ministry of Labor and Social Economy), César Veloso (Ministry of Finance) and Carlos Corps Caballero (Ministry of Economic Affairs and for Digital Transformation).

Sánchez Plans To Revise Growth Upwards

ABC Staff
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Sánchez Plans To Revise Growth Upwards

Sánchez plans to revise growth upwards. The president anticipates that 189,000 more affiliates will join Social Security in June.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez , has announced that he plans to revise the growth forecast for this year. Before a large audience of businessmen and executives in the final session of the Cercle d’Economia Meeting , the Chief Executive Officer has been very optimistic about economic developments.

In fact, he has ensured that activity has accelerated and anticipated that in June 189,000 more members of the Social Security are expected in seasonally adjusted terms and 222,000 more on average than in May.

He also stressed that the recovery of employment and the return of workers who were in temporary employment regulation files ( erte ) has benefited the sectors that were most affected by the pandemic, such as commerce and those related to turtism and the hostelry.

Sánchez explained that the Government wants the recovery to be “extraordinary, but also to be fair and lasting.” The president has considered it necessary to modernize, update, reform and reconvert “many of the traditional productive sectors” for a new era after the pandemic.

The Executive maintains for now a growth forecast of 6.5% in 2021 and 7% in 2022. Sánchez has endorsed the words of the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, who in these same days said that Spain “will leave of the map “this year.

Economic activity has picked up pace during the second quarter, with an increase that the Bank of Spain estimates to be 2.2%, compared to the 0.5% drop experienced in the January-March period. Sánchez’s positive message, who recalled the boost that European ‘Next Generation’ funds will provide, comes after this morning, on the same stage, the Second Vice President and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, stated that “the recovery is underway . “

A Reduction Of Half A Point Of Personal Income Tax In Madrid

ABC Staff
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A Reduction Of Half A Point Of Personal Income Tax In Madrid

The persistent promise of Isabel Díaz Ayuso about a reduction of the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) is “imminent”. The call to be the next president of the Community from tomorrow has announced that a reduction of half a point in all sections will be applied in the income statement from 2022.

As a previous step to his foreseeable investiture on Friday after winning the regional elections on May 4, Díaz Ayuso has used his inauguration speech to announce his political and economic roadmap, which passes, among other issues, to approve this year the Income tax reduction of half a point in all sections, an electoral promise that the leader in Madrid has been dragging on since 2019 and which will be applied from 2022. Once underway, Madrid will have the lowest minimum section in all of Spain, placing it at 8 ,5%.

Ayuso’s plan will lower the income statement by half a point to all Madrilenians in the autonomous section of personal income tax. This reduction will benefit more than three million taxpayers, “especially the lowest incomes.” According to party sources, a global tax saving of close to 300 million is estimated , which will have a greater impact on low incomes, with 5.6%. For high incomes, the calculated savings stands at 2.4%, they point out.

As he recalled, the Community of Madrid is where the lowest incomes pay the least taxes. And he has given an example: with the new reduction, a Madrilenian who earns 20,000 euros a year, will pay 340 euros less than a Catalan and an average of 150 euros less than workers in the regions governed by the PSOE.

Party sources indicate that low taxation has meant a tax saving of 53,000 million euros since 2004, or what is the same, 16,500 euros per taxpayer . In this sense, they emphasize that Madrid is the most fiscally competitive region and the one with the lowest autonomous income tax rates in Spain: for the lowest incomes, a minimum rate of 9% is applied in Madrid, which will remain at 8 , 5% with the decrease that will be undertaken in the coming months.

According to data from the Autonomous Fiscal Panorama of 2021 of the General Council of Economists-Fiscal Advisors (Reaf) published in March, although Madrid is the Spanish region with the lowest rates of personal income tax, it is also the autonomy in which taxation per inhabitant in this tax is higher , with an average of 3,280 euros, which represents a percentage of 16.72% of the average disposable income per inhabitant. In Catalonia, for example, taxpayers pay an average of 2,439 euros.

Ayuso insists on addressing “the largest tax cut in history” this year
The measure is part of “the largest tax cut in history,” which will be introduced in the fall . In a message against the “interference” that the Government has tried to apply tax increases in Madrid, Ayuso has rejected any interference.

The leader of the PP has insisted on several occasions that she would fulfill the promise to lower personal income tax, especially during the Government’s offensive to implement the fiscal harmonization of the communities this year. Already in December, Díaz Ayuso indicated that “the Community is an alternative plan that compensates. We are not going to allow what they call fiscal harmonization , which is to raise taxes on Madrilenians. We are going to fight every battle to prevent it.”

In his speech, Díaz Ayuso pointed out that his government, which will only have nine ministries, “will influence a policy that works” and that makes Madrid the “national economic engine.” As he has defended, the taxation of the region is “the one that most resembles that of the rest of Europe” where, he recalled, there are no inheritance, patrimony or donation taxes.

In the event of interference from the Government, the popular leader has assured that she will go to court before any attempt to modify her fiscal policy because “a free Madrid without low taxes is not understood . “

Ayuso Announces New Maternity Aid In Madrid

ABC Staff
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Ayuso Announces New Maternity Aid In Madrid

The acting president of the Community of Madrid and candidate for the inauguration of the Presidency, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has bet on the first Investiture Debate for the birth rate and maternity aid to strengthen economic growth. In this way, Ayuso has announced, in addition to the personal income tax reduction by half a point , aid of 14,500 euros to pregnant women under 30 years of age, who have incomes of less than 30,000 euros per year and who have been registered in the Community.

Specifically, women under 30 will receive a grant of 500 euros per month from the fifth month of pregnancy and up to two years. The receipt of this income for 29 months, which totals 14,500 euros, will be fully compatible with the performance of a paid work activity by the beneficiaries.

The regional government foresees that between 12,000 and 14,000 women will be able to apply for this aid and that it will involve an investment of close to 250 million euros each year.

Likewise, pregnant women up to 35 years of age will have priority in the presentation of housing rental applications within the Vive Plan, and all mothers in the region who are unemployed, regardless of their age, will be able to participate in specific adapted job boards to their needs and in training plans with educational support in case they want to complete their studies.

“Without the growth of the birth rate, we will not have solid economic growth,” Díaz Ayuso stressed, while adding that “true feminism is to help women whatever their life project and not to confront them with men.” .

“The country needs twice as many births”
The candidate for the inauguration of the Presidency recalled that 56,000 children were born in the Community of Madrid in 2019, 24,000 fewer than in 2008 and has assured that “a country with a future needs at least twice as many births.”

“It is true that Madrid continues to be one of the youngest regions in Spain, and that we are one of the three communities in which there are more births than deaths, we want a Madrid that is committed to life, a region where children are the protagonists , a capital region, but human and joyful, that looks to the future and builds it, the region of families “, Díaz Ayuso highlighted.

Likewise, he has considered “essential that children are born for intergenerational solidarity to work, that the elderly pass their economic, cultural and personal inheritance to the youngest and live in a society capable of caring for them and giving them back what they have given us.”

“Ultimately, it is about the coexistence of the different generations,” said Ayuso, while ensuring that “economic deterioration and demographic deterioration feed off each other.” “As you do not see a future, you do not have children; and, as you do not have children, there is no future,” he declared.

Aid for the rental and purchase of housing
After announcing the largest tax reduction in the history of Madrid , the candidate for investiture has announced housing aid for young people, ranging from mortgage deductions, rental aid and direct aid to facilitate access to the purchase of a property.

In this sense, Ayuso has highlighted that the deduction for rent in personal income tax will be extended up to 1,200 euros, 20% more than the current limit, maintaining said deduction until the age of 40 if there is a situation of unemployment or family obligations and responsibilities. The deduction in the personal income tax fee of 25% of mortgage interest will also be maintained, with a maximum of 1,000 euros per year for people under 30 years of age.

In addition, the Community will complete the ‘Rent Young’ plan that, as Ayuso has pointed out, began on April 21 with the extension of the non-payment of income insurance up to two years for those under 35 years of age.

On the other hand, direct aid will also be provided to make it easier for young people to buy a home with the launch of the ‘My first home’ program. As Ayuso has highlighted, the plan will be aimed at those who, being solvent, do not have enough savings to contribute at the entrance and will help themselves with up to 20% of the value of the home by articulating a guarantee or insurance that allows them to access the mortgage.

Will The Price Of Amazon Prime Also Go Up In Spain

ABC Staff
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Will The Price Of Amazon Prime Also Go Up In Spain

Amazon is at the gates of its Prime Day 2021. Two days – this June 21 and 22 – in which the e-commerce giant will be filled with offers for its Prime customers, those who pay an annual membership for having exclusive advantages as free and fast shipping.

Amazon launched its Prime program in 2004 , initially to break the low recurrence of its customers in the United States, still not used to buying online. The promise: buy as much as you like with no shipping cost for two days.

That later evolved to the model we know today, getting users to receive their orders within 24 hours at home.

Today Prime users have many other benefits , such as access to Prime Video series and movies, Prime Music music, file storage in the cloud with Amazon Photos, flash offers and, of course, 24-hour delivery. and free shipping costs on thousands of products.

The price of Amazon Prime in Spain and how it has grown
Today, the cost of all these advantages in Spain is 36 euros a year , just 3 euros a month. The service arrived in Spain with Amazon in 2011 with a price at that time of 14.95 euros. Then it went up to 19.9 5, and in 2018 it did so to the current 36 euros per year.

Could you raise this price soon? The company has not given signs or announcements that it is going to do so, but if we look at the price in Spain compared to other countries, the truth is that in our country it is still extremely economical, even despite not having all the advantages it gives. in the United States, where the selection of articles or the Prime Video catalog is greater.

These are the prices of Amazon Prime in other countries currently:

  • United States: $ 119 per year
  • France: 49 euros per year
  • Germany: 69 euros per year

In the United States, the country of origin and reference, the last price increase also took place in 2018, when it went from 99 to 119 dollars a year . Before, the price had been $ 79 until 2014.

More than 2 million offers this Prime Day
For now, Amazon Prime subscribers in Spain can already enjoy the more than two million offers that will be available these days.

With offers in all categories and in its ‘Prime Video’ and Amazon Music services, this new ‘Prime Day’ will begin at midnight from June 20 to 21 and will last until June 22 for Amazon Prime customers in Spain , Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, United Arab Emirates, United States, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Singapore and Turkey.

Within the offers, more than one million will be from small and medium-sized companies around the world . Amazon Prime customers in Spain will be able to benefit from offers on products sold by SMEs in categories such as home, garden, food and sports, among others.

Amazon has highlighted that on this ‘Prime Day’ and throughout the year 2021 it will invest 85 million euros to support small businesses that sell their products through the company, including promotional activities.

The National Bank of Ukraine has revealed a multi-million scheme of gathering payments for illegal gambling and illegal betting through the payment system “Leo”

Claire James
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The National Bank of Ukraine has revealed a multi-million scheme of gathering payments for illegal gambling and illegal betting through the payment system “Leo”

The National Bank of Ukraine conducted an audit of the financial company FC Leogaming Pay LLC for 2019 and 2020, which owns the brand of the international payment system Leo, a non-bank financial institution licensed by the National Bank of Ukraine to transfer funds in national currency without opening accounts. According to the regulator, the company does not provide the NBU with reliable information on all financial transactions.

According to the audit results, in May-December 2020 alone, the participants of the international payment system “Leo” made financial transfers in the amount of over UAH 462 million for the “sports poker and e-sports tournament” service. The major share of these funds (56.6%) went to the accounts of Digispace LLC (on behalf of illegal online casino Cosmolot brand at the time of the inspection) and Redsin LLC (on behalf of the illegal online casino 1xbet brand).

Also, regulator detected miscoding: more than 90% of financial transactions using Visa and Mastercard initiated by payment cards holders on the resources of LLC FC “LEOGAMING PAY» are assigned as High-Risk Merchant Category Code 7994 – Video Games, that is used to legalize money from illegal gambling.

According to the State Register of Legal Entities, Digispace LLC and Redsin LLC have never organized sports poker and eSports tournaments. Instead, they entered a different business profile in their registration documents – “computer wholesale”.

Which companies received funds for the “sports poker and e-sports tournament” under the Leo payment system?

Service provider Amount of funds received, UAH million * % of the total amount of funds
LLC “Digispace” 254,2 55
Whitehall LLC 65,7 14,2
Melbron LLC 80,6 10,4
Vimes LLC 26,9 5,8
Celios LLC 26,6 5,7
Redsin LLC 7,4 1,6
Neuron Gold LLC 0,0495 0,0001
Clarity Trade LLC 0,3441 0,0007

* for the period from May 14, 2020 to December 10, 2020

However, according to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, in accordance with the rules of sports competitions in the sport of “sports poker”, online tournaments are not provided at all. And according to the Unified Plan of Physical Culture and Sports Activities of Ukraine for 2020, in the field of sports “sports poker”, poker tournaments were held only offline from January 26 to February 3.

At the same time, payments with the purpose of “sports poker and e-sports tournament” were received through FC Leogaming Pay throughout 2020.

The transfer of funds was carried out by six acquiring banks, which ought to control the prevention of the miscoding scheme (a separate type of fraud in the banking acquiring network, which consists in substituting the purpose of payment) during financial transactions.