No thanks

ONLY 9 per cent of Britain’s over50s who are retired said the Budget’s pensions giveaway could entice them back to work.

Measures included an increase in the annual pension allowance, eliminating the lifetime limit and hiking the amount that those who have drawn funds can put back each year, but the ‘back to work’ Budget did not sway retirees.

“For most, saving enough to breach the lifetime allowance or the annual pension allowance is a distant pipedream and for others little could induce them back to work,” financial experts agreed.

Down to earth

AENA has lost 90 per cent of the court cases that it has brought against rent defaulters.

Spain’s airports group had unsuccessfully hoped to be able to overturn new legislation affecting the rents paid by retail tenants, but 24 out of 26 sentences were entirely or partly in favour of claimants.

All had called for re­negotiated rents owing to the absence of passengers during the pandemic but the group considered that amendments to the law, obliging it to drop rents during this time, were unconstitutional.

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.