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In orbit again

RICHARD BRANSON’S foundering Virgin Orbit project has been thrown a last minute multi­million lifeline.

The company was recently preparing insolvency plans following its much­publicised but failed satellite launch from Cornwall two months ago.

Instead, Virgin Orbit shares rose when it emerged that the company would be signing a £160 million (€180.9 million) deal with a Texan venture capital investor, Matthew Brown.

Talks between Brown and Branson commenced when Virgin Orbit announced that it was pausing operations and furloughing most employees while it sought financial support.

Brown, who has already invested in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Rocket Lab, will acquire a controlling stake in Virgin Orbit through his family firm, Matthew Brown Companies, large families earning medium­to­high incomes, found an EsadeEcPol thinktank survey.

Virgin Orbit’s finances have suffered since a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger raised £186 million (€210.1 million) and not the £313 million (€353.6 million) that was expected.

Fewer than one in three large families amongst the country’s poorest 20 per cent of households are receiving the deductions, EsadeEcPol said. The percentage rose to 38 per cent for medium­tolow incomes, reaching more than 50 per cent for mediumto­high.

Unlike many other government measures introduced to counteract the cost of living crisis, the reductions were not linked to income and the EsadeEcPol analysists concluded that families with more time and information at their disposal were more likely to obtain them.

“The energy reductions have insufficient coverage, something which is especially serious for families that are structurally vulnerable. In their present form there is a misalignment between those who need the discounts and those who receive them,” the authors of the study said.

Ice cap

MULTIPACKS of Magnums now contain three ice creams instead of four, following a reduction in size from 110 to 100 millilitres last year. Neither has there been a change in the £3 (€3.4) price, which manufacturer Unilever attributed to the skyrocketing cost of ingredients and raw materials.

Pay scales

SPANISH government officials earned more last year than its politicians, with most going to Belen Gualda, who heads the State Industrial Ownership Corporation (SEPI). She received a pretax total of €237,986 compared with the €87,814 earned by Pedro Sanchez, president of the Spanish government.

In fashion

MARKS AND SPENCER recently received upgrades from three City brokers as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and BNP Paribas raised share target prices and ratings. The latter described M&S as the “most improved brand since Covid” with analysts raising the target price from 140p ((€1.58) to 160p (€1.81).

Seat bonus

SEAT personnel at the Martorell plant in Barcelona will receive a €1,599 bonus thanks to the carmaker’s 2022 operating profit of €33 million, the UGT and CCOO trade unions announced. The employees will receive the bonus, the largest amount that Seat has ever paid out, on April 14.

Sell it

NOSTALGIA is pushing up the value of retro items like Pokemon cards, Casio watches and Polaroid cameras, which can sometimes fetch thousands of pounds at auction. Millennials and Gen Z could be sitting on a fortune, dealers said, as prices have risen by 200 per cent since 2019.

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