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Barclays
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Bemposta
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BP Portugal
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EDP Renováveis
HPP Saúde
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Logica
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Lusitania
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Millennium bcp
Sovereign
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- Interior Minister Miguel Macedo last week fired Guilherme Guedes da Silva, the country’s top police officer. He was replaced by Paulo Gomes. No official reason was given for the move, though media reported the government was irked by Silva’s critical comments in a recent newspaper interview.
- Jorge Silva Carvalho, the former spy and director of Portugal’s Defense Information Services, said last week that he is resigning from the Ongoing investment conglomerate. Carvalho said he quit to help remove Ongoing from the media spotlight. He said he had been the victim of a smear campaign that linked him to wiretaps and political influence-peddling. Silva said he planned to sue those responsible for the attacks.
- Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said last week that he’s not planning to cut the social tax rate this year. The so-called TSU, which determines the amount companies contribute to social services for its workers, is seen as damaging to business and a hamper to employment. While the “Troika” is keen to see the TSU reduced, the state is worried such a move would reduce income by a significant amount.
- Portugal’s air traffic controllers have scheduled a partial strike for February 8 and 12. The controllers are upset that the government hasn’t named a management team to run the company, called NAV, nor set out any specific strategic goals.
- Sporting’s investment fund last week bought 15% of the transfer rights to players Insua, Rubio and Wolfswinkel for €2m. The Fund has already spent 75% of the total €15m investment acquiring rights to a total of 15 players.
- The Catholic University’s economic studies department has forecast a recession of 3.2% for 2012, even more pessimistic than the government’s expectations of a 3% decline in gross domestic product. The NECEP said that uncertainty reigns and that economic activity will depend mainly on how austerity measures affect consumption.
- The International Monetary Fund last week said there was no need for Portugal to request further aid from the European Union or the IMF. PM Pedro Passos Coelho said the same thing, in response to an article in the Wall Street Journal that argued Portugal was under increasing pressure to request a bailout top up.
- The Competition Authority last week authorized the acquisition of baggage handling and airport logistics company Groundforce by the Spanish-run Urbanos logistics company. Urbanos is buying 50.1% of Groundforce from TAP Air Portugal for an undisclosed sum.
- The Portuguese Builders Federation has delivered a request to the government to facilitate layoffs and speed up restructuring in order to maintain operational. The FEPICOP has asked the government to declare the sector as in a phase of “restructuring”, which would give it legal clearance to increase flexibility in labor issues.
- Retailers and restaurateurs will be forced to upgrade their cash registers in 2012, if their annual billing topped €100,000. The government is requiring the upgrade to ensure the machines are capable of accurate accounting and designed to fight tax fraud.
- Retail conglomerate Sonae said last week it achieved sales of €4.56bn in 2011, squeaking out a 0.3% increase from 2010. Food sales rose 2% to €3.32bn, the company said. Sonae said its generic brands continue to find buyers, representing a total of 30% of sales last year.
- Metalworker Martifer said last week it plans to shutter its factory in Benavente, erasing some 120 jobs. The factory workers have been offered the opportunity to move to Martifer’s other facilities in Portugal or abroad.
- State owned Caixa Geral de Depositos will reportedly promote 15% of its employees in order to offset the impact of the state-mandated cut to vacation and Christmas bonuses.
- Portuguese investors withdrew €4.1bn from savings certificates in 2011, the Treasury said last week. December marked the 33rd straight month of net withdrawals from savings certificates, and the 2011 figure was twice what was withdrawn in 2010, spurred by the low returns paid on the certificates compared with other financial products.
- Customers of failed private bank Banco Privado Portugues will start receiving their indemnifications this week, according to the management of Portugal’s investor protection system, or SII. There are nearly 4,000 customers affected, and each may receive up to €25,000.
- Maria Luís Albuquerque, secretary of state for finance, last week warned of the risks involved in setting up deposits in currencies other than the euro. She said the talk of a rise in such products reflected “unfounded” fears about the euro, and carried foreign exchange risk, as well as higher costs than euro deposits.
- The Competition Authority last week approved the acquisition of BPN by Angolan’ owned Banco BIC. BPN was forced into the state’s arms in 2009, after its managers were accused of fraud and money-laundering.
- The Sol weekly newspaper is looking to downsize, planning to lay off up to 20 staff, including a number of journalists. Up to 20 people will be laid off as a result of the effort to reduce costs at the publisher.
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Madeira Financial Support Agreed; Austerity Looms
Portugal last week inked a deal to deliver €1.5bn in aid to Madeira to ensure it meets is social and financial obligations. The government will transfer the funds through 2031, said Alberto João Jardim, Madeira’s president. In return, Madeira will join the continent in putting together key austerity measures to reduce its huge deficit, agreeing to cut more than €600m off the island’s budget in 2012 alone. Madeira’s spendthrift ways came to light in the wake of the international bailout for Portugal in mid-2011, as it was revealed that Madeira’s budget deficit was almost €3bn, much more than expected.
Musical Chairs At Millennium, Santander Totta
Millennium bcp’s CEO, Carlos Santos Ferreira, made it clear in a newspaper interview that he will step down as soon as the bank’s shareholders call a general meeting to change the bank’s corporate governance model. Media reported that Snatander Totta’s CEO, Nuno Amado, is the man who will succeed Santos Ferreira at the helm of Portugal’s largest listed bank. The naming of Amado was said to be a result of lobbying on the part of Sonangol, the Angolan petroleum giant that is Millennium’s biggest individual shareholder. Late last week Santander said that Antonio Vieira Monteiro, the deputy CEO, will replace Nuno Amado in the top seat. The changes come as Portuguese banks gear up to post their first-ever annual losses, mainly the result of one-off writedowns for sovereign debt and the transfer of their pension funds to the social security system. Analysts say Millennium is likely to post the biggest loss, while Santander Totta will be one of the only banks with positive results, helped by the fact that its parent bank has modest exposure to peripheral European assets.
Pennies For The President After Silly Gaffe
Aníbal Cavaco Silva, President of the Republic, got into hot water last week with an off the cuff comment that suggested he might have trouble paying his basic living expenses if he relied only on the state pensions he has accumulated. Since these include funds from the Bank of Portugal, his time as Prime Minister, and other positions, the media quickly did the math and reported that Cavaco might have a hard time scraping by on just over €10,000 a month. That set off a national furor, including a Facebook driven campaign to shame the President by urging citizens to contribute a penny each to his standard of living fund. Hundred gathered outside the Presidential residence to deliver the coins. Cavaco was also mocked in the media and on other social media sites for the embarrassing gaffe. By week’s end he had explained that he had no intention of belittling the suffering many Portuguese face in the wake of the government’s new austerity programs, saying he was only trying to show that he was paying careful attention to the impact of the austerity on families.
Hopeful or hopeless?
Europe struggles to find a strategy to grow out of its debt crisis. —  |
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CCL-Talk2Me
Avenida das forcas armadas, ed ISCTE
1649-026 LISBOA
T: 217 903 990
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Main Activity: Education
Main Contact: Mr. Robert McKinnon-Szabo | |
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If you wish to
attend one of the events listed below, please contact:
Mª Helena Fernandes, BPCC, Lisbon.
Phone: +35 1 213 942 020, fax: +35 1 213 942 029,
email: h.fernandes@bpcc.pt
This Diary of Events has now been expanded to include
a selection of initiatives organised by the Commercial
Section of the British Embassy* in Lisbon |
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1 February (Porto) – Informal Business Drinks at The Winsor Bar at the Grande Hotel do Porto. Let us know of your intention to attend and turn up from 6.30pm onwards.
1 Fevereiro (Porto) – Almoço-Debate com António Amorim sobre o tema “Cortiça - a afirmação de uma liderança” no Hotel Infante de Sagres.
2 Fev (Porto) – Worskhop sobre “A Troika, o Acordo de Concertação Social e as Mudanças na Legislação Laboral” com a PLMJ.
2-4 Feb (Algarve) – The Algarvean´s Pantomine 2012 “Aladdin” at the Lagoa Auditorium. Bookings t: 282 789 608/289 561 594 or e.mail algarveantickets@hotmail.com
7-8 Fev (Porto) - Business Training / Curso de IRC através do INEDEM com certificação DGERT.
28 Fev (Lisboa) – Almoço-Debate com Dr. Pedro Reis, presidente do AICEP no Corinthia Hotel Lisboa.
29 Fevereiro (Lisbon) – Workshop sobre o “Novo Acordo Ortográfico” com Euroscript no Hotel Inspira Santa Marta.
15 Março (Porto) – Almoço-Debate com o Senhor Prof. Dr. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa no Intercontinental Porto Palácio das Cardosas.
26 Feb – 1 Mar (London) – HOTELYMPIA at ExCel in London.
8 March (Porto) – QSP Summit 2012 “New Wave of Marketing” na Exponor-Porto.
20-22 March (London) – ECOBUILD 2012 at ExCel in London.
Power Network lunches are organised on a regular basis (by invitation only) throughout the country. Should you wish to receive an invitation to attend the next one in your area, contact us on info@bpcc.pt |
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With respect to
information in the publication, neither the British-Portuguese
Chamber of Commerce nor any of our employees, makes
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or usefulness of any information. While the BPCC believes
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Accenture
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Aguirre Newman
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British Council
BT Portugal
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Claranet Portugal
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Colt Telecom
HN
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Jaguar Automóveis
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Jones Lang LaSalle
Moneris
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Praia d´El Rey
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Sage Portugal
Tejo Energia
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Xerox Portgual
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