News

2023-06-30 04:00:00

On July 21, 2023, Philippe of Belgium celebrates his ten years of reign. Ten years during which the son of Albert II was anxious to be beyond reproach. Can we therefore speak of a reign without any missteps? Not so sure…

On December 1, 2015, a photo made the rounds of the press. We see King Philippe in a bathrobe sipping a fruit juice while quietly reading a book. A second shot shows Queen Mathilde sitting by her side in the same casual outfit. The couple is in fact undergoing a makeover, at the Quiberon thalassotherapy center in Brittany. What outrages the Belgians is the timing. The photos were taken on November 20, 2015, when Belgium went into a state of maximum alert in the wake of the Paris attacks. Our sovereigns benefit from the thalasso…

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#secrets #reign #thalasso #holiday #home #confinement #worst #missteps #Philippe #Mathilde #years

2023-06-29 22:33:30

Emirates today

The world is currently looking forward to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, “COP 28”, which will be hosted by the UAE in Expo-Dubai from November 30 to December 12, 2023. Concrete on climate issues, which are of great importance, in light of the exacerbation of the negative repercussions of climate change.
The UAE is working intensively, with its vast experiences and capabilities, to provide all opportunities to ensure the success of this conference, which will address many complex challenges that can only be dealt with by mobilizing collective international efforts. There is great international confidence in the UAE’s ability to organize A successful conference whose outputs reflect the determination of the international community to put an end to the negative repercussions of climate change.
The rich agenda of the “COP 28” conference and the priorities that it must address indicate its extreme importance, and its being a fundamental stage in climate action at the international level, through which the world aspires to launch a new phase of implementing commitments and pledges, involving everyone, and joining efforts to create Practical solutions that contribute to overcoming challenges and utilizing available opportunities to ensure a sustainable future for present and future generations, according to what the UAE seeks.
Perhaps at the forefront of these issues is the focus on how to finance the Loss and Risk Fund, as the conference is expected to provide answers regarding who will finance the fund, who will be eligible to receive financing, how to provide the required funds, and mechanisms to achieve a fair distribution of financial resources to those affected by the negative effects of the change process. climatic.
There is no doubt that dealing well with this pivotal issue, that is, addressing the risks and losses resulting from climate change through collective, coordinated international efforts, would push towards avoiding the continued exacerbation of the negative repercussions of climate change, and the UAE has confirmed on several occasions that it will make “COP 28” is an opportunity to achieve this goal, through its aspiration to work with all concerned parties to achieve balanced results that will be a legacy that gives hope for future generations. The UAE has a balanced foreign policy that has enabled it to weave a network of strong and well-established relations with countries all over the world and regional and international organizations.
In addition to the issue of financing the Loss and Risk Fund, which will be an important axis in the “COP 28” agenda, there are many other vital issues, including the global food supply issue, along with the energy issue, and monitoring countries’ commitments to reducing greenhouse gases, in addition to another very important issue. Actively involving youth in climate action issues, with the aim of enabling this community sector to participate in facing global challenges.

*About the “Akhbar Al-Sa’a” bulletin issued by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research.

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#rich #agenda #Cup

2023-06-30 04:00:00

Áreas straightens the course and considers the consequences of the pandemic to have been overcome. After having cut its losses by 70% in the last year, to just 30 million, the company has been awarded contracts worth more than 2,000 million euros in just six months.

Particularly noteworthy is the concession for the operation of restaurant establishments for eight years, obtained at Madrid’s Barajas airport for an amount of one billion; the award of 450 million for ten years in Houston (Texas, USA) or the service areas in West Virginia, also in the United States, for 248 million euros over 15 years.

The company is confident in the good prospects for this summer to thus exceed the 1,900 million euros in revenue that it registered in 2019, before the arrival of the pandemic, by the end of the year, as explained to elEconomista.es by Mathieu Herrero, head of the international strategy of the Spanish multinational.

Herrero argues that Áreas is favored by its geographical diversification -it is present in 10 countries in Europe and America- and business diversification, with almost 2,000 points of sale on highways, airports, train stations and urban leisure and business centers.

New opportunities

The manager argues that, despite the fact that the presence in airports reports half of the business, the establishments in other transport nodes have helped the group to overcome the effects of the pandemic better than other competitors, although the next large contracts are expected from New to the airfield.

Once the large concessions that had been paralyzed during the pandemic were awarded in Europe, Áreas now has its focus on the other side of the Atlantic, where the greatest growth currently occurs and new opportunities: “Only in the United States are there more airports with more of 10 million passengers per year that all over Europe gathers”, exemplifies Herrero. As of today, Spain and Portugal represent 30% of the company’s business, France another 30%, and the remaining 40% is shared between the United States, Latin America and other European countries, mainly Italy and Germany.

At the moment, contracts and concessions are multiplying. Last February, Aena awarded Áreas 64% of the restaurant offer at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, which will thus have 35 stores out of the 55 total distributed among all the terminals and which will operate under twenty different brands.

The Áreas offer will allow the group an estimated annual income of 125 million euros and involves the management of both international brands, such as Burger King or Starbucks, and national ones, such as Rodilla and SantaGloria. After the award, Óscar Vela, the group’s global CEO, admitted that “winning once more the tender for the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport strengthens our position as a world leader in the en route catering sector”, insisting that “we want to make Madrid airport our best commercial showcase and a benchmark for en route catering in the world”.

Just a few weeks following winning this contract, Áreas also won the tender for the William P. Hobby airport in Houston (Texas, USA), where it will operate 10 stores with an expected turnover of 445 million euros in ten years.

US growth

In this case, the company plans to invest 18 million euros in renewing the gastronomic offer of this airport, which serves close to 15 million passengers per year and adds flights to almost 60 destinations throughout the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. . The Houston City Council, which manages the airport, chose Areas, it said, “because of its ability to implement local concepts in the restaurant offer along with other international proposals, including the presence of chef Ronnie Killen, with Killen’s Barbecue”. Likewise, the firm will incorporate brands such as Yard House, SpindleTap Brewery, ThroughGood Coffee Bistro & Bar, The Spot or Starbucks.

Among the large contracts signed this year, the awarding of the catering service at the Guadalajara airport in Mexico, one of the most important in the country, with traffic of 20 million passengers per year, also stands out. In this case, Áreas will operate eight new stores distributed over 1,000 square meters, which is equivalent to managing 50% of the airport’s catering.

In April, the company also acquired catering services at the Ifema fairgrounds (Madrid), where it will invest 9 million and operate 32 establishments over the next ten years for 121 million, and at the Dresden station (Germany). , one of the main ones in the country, with a traffic of 60,000 daily passengers. In the latter case, Áreas expects to generate sales of more than 60 million euros in the next ten years of concession.

Pax Lux Equityco, the group’s parent company, with tax headquarters in Luxembourg, closed last year with sales of 1,698.4 million euros, more than double the year before. Losses were also reduced from 112.1 million to 31.4 million euros. It must also be taken into account that following the victory over Aena over the rental price, the company has reformulated its accounts, reducing losses. Initially, the company had declared losses following taxes of 245.1 million euros, but it has finally improved them, once reformulated, by 133 million. The operating result, likewise, has gone from being negative with losses of 127.5 million to black numbers of 5.5 million.

This is due to the fact that the Government forced Aena to reduce the rental prices for its airport stores and restaurants in all the contracts that were in force on March 14, 2020, with the start of the confinement due to the pandemic. .

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#Áreas #achieves #million #contracts #months #straightens