For almost 130 years, Ercros has been the benchmark in Catalonia for the chemical industry, one of the country's most important sectors, always at the top of the export ranking. The company's history is long. At the end of the eighties of the last century, ERT and Cros merged, and Ercros emerged, destined to be the giant of the Catalan chemical industry. In the nineties, however, with KIO as the main shareholder, it experienced the largest suspension of payments in Spain up to that point. The rescue was borne by small shareholders and, since then, the company has been led by Antoni Zabalza, an executive who is now stepping down after Bondalti's successful takeover bid for the Catalan chemical company.

Now that we have the draft of the disposable income, I often remember a phrase from a professor of mine many years ago: “I always hope it turns out to be payable.” At that time I didn't understand it. Now I do.

At a time when there seems to be an avalanche of losses from large Catalan family businesses, a great exception emerges. It is Mango, the textile empire founded by the late Isak Andic and chaired and managed by Toni Ruiz. When asked if they plan to buy or go public, he is very clear: "No and no. We are not considering acquisitions. One buys when one does not know how to develop their business. We have many opportunities and markets to grow." And about the stock market, he is even more direct: "I have many friends who are CEOs and they don't talk to me about clients or business, but about worrying about quarterly reports, bonuses..." He doesn't need to add much more.

A vanilla ice cream inside a plastic casing shaped like a toucan. In mid-March, the ice cream maker La Menorquina announced that they would discontinue the iconic Punky, the company's vanilla ice cream sold in a very original wrapper. "New generations are looking for other things and adults... well, you remember it fondly, but you're too embarrassed to order it in public," explained the Minorcan-Catalan company on its social media. From here on, the island's most famous toucan became a viral phenomenon on social media; especially thanks to an Instagram account that dedicated itself to demanding its return with a handful of pranks at La Menorquina's offices.

Fifty or a hundred years from now, if a costume designer or wardrobe supervisor for a film needs to dress actors as people did in 2026, they will most likely have a serious problem. Bea Castelló is very clear about this: “Nowadays, nobody keeps clothes. Almost everything is of poor quality and disposable. It’s rare for someone to wear clothes they wore two seasons ago.” This wasn't the case before. She knows what she's talking about. Her business, Las Pepitas, which she inherited from her mother, has been serving the fascinating field of clothing for many years. Both for wearing and for the home.

In a year like 2025, with record stock market gains, the main executives of the Ibex companies, the main benchmark of the Spanish equity market, overwhelmingly earned very significant incomes, further widening the gap with the average earnings of their staff. The link between remuneration and stock performance contributed to boosting the incomes of many senior executives. A clear example was Manuel Manrique, president of Sacyr, who topped the rankings by earning 32.6 million euros, 384.59% more than the previous year, thanks to a bonus for the company's stock market rise since the pandemic. As a consequence of this plan, this executive, one of the founders of Sacyr, multiplied his remuneration of around 6.7 million from 2022, 2023, and 2024. The fact is that Manrique's remuneration was 628 times the average earned by the company's staff, which is around 52,000 euros, according to the directors' remuneration report published by this company.

The war in Iran does not impact our economy due to our economic and commercial relations with the area, but rather due to the effect on energy markets, especially oil and gas, which it has and will have in the near future. What truly weighs is not Tehran on our trade and our prices, it is Hormuz. We only need to recall the advanced CPI figure for March, 3.3%, one point higher than in February, with no change in the underlying inflation and, therefore, due to the increase in energy prices, in a context of weak growth in Europe and a not negligible slowdown of about one point in Spain and Catalonia, where the average citizen does not perceive growth improvements, per capita income does not change, and where the Treasury will be one of the beneficiaries of this higher inflation given that it does not correct tax progressivity (essentially income tax).

The blueprint dates from November 15, 1904. Drawn with great precision, it shows an elongated handle, a toothed piece, a few small screws, and a thin, sharp metal blade. It is the patent for the shaving machine invented by King C. Gillette, an American entrepreneur who understood the commercial potential of disposable products before many others.

Easter has arrived with a surprise. Although a change at the helm of the technology and defense company Indra was already expected after the resignation of Àngel Escribano as president, the appointment of Àngel Simón to replace him has made all the headlines. Simón's proposal was made by the Spanish government through the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), its investment arm, which is Indra's largest shareholder with 28% of the share capital. the appointment of Àngel Simón to replace him has made all the headlines. Simón's proposal was made by the Spanish government through the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), its investment arm, which is Indra's largest shareholder with 28% of the share capital.

Until 2022, and for more than 10 years, a hamburger chain sold one of theirs for 1 euro. Today, one costs 1.85. This is one of the clearest examples of inflation. And your salary, has it increased by 85% in 3 years? This is one of the best examples of the loss of purchasing power.

One of the songs from the final stage of The Beatles was The long and winding road (The long and winding road), on the album Let it be, the last one published, even though it was recorded before Abbey Road. Surely the title and parts of the lyrics come to mind for Alícia Romero's Ministry of Economy: "You left me standing here. A long, long time ago. Don't leave me waiting. Guide me to your door." Not only because of the difficulties she has in approving the first budgets of Salvador Illa's legislature, which also, but because of the obstacles in achieving another objective pursued by the different Catalan governments, which is to make the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) a true public bank to cover areas that private financial entities do not reach, or barely do.

Jordi Muntañola (Barcelona, 1978) has been the CEO of Salvat laboratories for a year. This molecular biologist from Esteve, who also held positions of responsibility at the Werfen group, has placed Salvat in the club of 100 million in turnover 12 months after initiating a major transformation to enhance the values and characteristics of a family-owned pharmaceutical company with over 70 years of history; a portfolio of its own products, with brands like the antiseptic Cristalmina, and a foundation to which it dedicates a portion of its profits. And, moreover, with great prospects, with the acceleration of the third-party production business and the launch during the first half of this year of a new product in the USA, with the prospect of marketing another next year and another in China. Always accompanied by a local partner, the formula it uses for internationalization, which has led it to be present in more than 60 countries. And without ruling out possible acquisitions, a path that the company may incorporate into the 2027-2030 strategic plan, which it expects to have ready this summer.

Anyone who has done a renovation knows the headaches it causes. Calls with more than one operator – the electrician can't now, the plumber will come tomorrow, the painter doesn't answer – and little control over when the works will actually finish. Aware of this, Francisco Morán, a businessman with many years of experience in the real estate sector, decided to launch Aquí Tu Reforma in 2019.

This coming August 12th there will be a total solar eclipse that can be seen very close to us. It will be visible along a wide transversal strip that will cross the peninsula from Galicia to the Balearic Islands, including an important territory of Lleida and Terres de l’Ebre. Sold-out locations and astronomical prices in hotels. Maria Àngels Gil, from Còsmik, the shop on Viladomat street specializing in astronomy, explains it to us. They have been selling protective glasses for months and the closer the day gets, the more certain it is that sales will not decrease. It is a happy coincidence, that of the eclipse. And next year and the year after there will also be solar eclipses visible to us. Lucky! Exclaims Maria Àngels, who together with her husband, Xavier Górriz, have already spent many years immersed in a business that seems extremely specialized, but which is aimed at a wider range of the public than one might imagine. Is astronomy popular? Of course it is!

Sometimes, throwing a letter into a mailbox can be like throwing it into a black hole. A few days ago, Jason Bevan, an eighty-year-old pensioner living in the small town of Lidney, almost 200 kilometers west of London, lamented in the letters to the editor section of the Daily Telegraph about the unreliability of Royal Mail, the iconic British postal service. His wife, to whom he had been married for fifty-eight years, died in January and the man explained: "I received many condolence cards and was expecting more after an announcement in the local press. However, I didn't receive any mail all week."

It appears in superhero movies like X-Men or Batman begins, in musicals like Hairspray and in iconic films like The Godfather, Pulp Fiction or Apocalypse Now. Even, if you look closely, it can be seen in the animated film WALL·E. In more than 2,000 productions, there is someone who takes it out of their pocket, opens it and releases the flame. It's a Zippo, the reusable and wind-resistant metal lighter that over the years has become one of the most recognizable icons of North American pop culture. But it's also a big business: headquartered in Pennsylvania, it has nearly a thousand employees, produces about 14 million lighters each year, and has annual revenues of nearly 400 million dollars.The company was born in 1932 and, since then, has already sold more than 650 million lighters. But how did such a small object become a true American symbol? How did it make a place for itself in Hollywood and in pockets around the world? The first spark

The story of all this begins in Bradford, a small town in Pennsylvania, in the early thirties. The businessman George G. Blaisdell lived there. One day he came across a scene that changed his life: a friend of his was struggling with a bulky, uncomfortable, and impractical lighter. The device had an obvious virtue: thanks to its protective chimney, the flame resisted the wind well. But it also had flaws: it had to be opened with two hands, it broke easily, and it had a rather rudimentary appearance.Blaisdell immediately saw that there was a business idea there. At the end of 1932, he redesigned that lighter and transformed it into a more elegant, robust, and easy-to-use object. He added a rectangular casing, a hinged lid, and a mechanism that allowed it to be opened with one hand, but he kept the system that protected the flame from the wind. The first Zippo was born. The new lighter began to be sold in 1933 for $1.95, accompanied by a promise that made it famous: the brand assured the customer that, if it didn't work, they would repair it for free. The impetus of the war

The definitive boost, however, did not reach the shop windows, but the front line. With the entry of the United States into World War II, in 1941, Zippo stopped manufacturing lighters for the civilian market and dedicated all production to the North American army. In those years, the company replaced brass with steel and began manufacturing the black-finished models that are collector's items today.The war did the rest. Millions of American soldiers took the Zippo to the battlefield and turned it, almost unintentionally, into an emblem of the United States. The lighter was small, robust, worked in adverse conditions, and moreover, had a recognizable appearance. For many soldiers, it was not just a useful object, but also a personal, almost intimate, item that accompanied them in the midst of chaos.When the war ended, in 1945, Zippo returned to the civilian market, but it was no longer just any brand. It had ceased to be a simple lighter to become an object loaded with narrative. From then on, the company knew how to exploit this aura with intelligence: it kept the original mechanism almost intact, reinforced the idea of durability with the forever guarantee, and began to invest in advertising and in getting it featured in movies.From Bradford to Hollywood

After the post-war period, Zippo turned the prestige gained on the front into a big business. During the fifties and sixties, the lighter became popular as an advertising medium, the company refined some details without touching its essence, and the brand began to make a place for itself in popular culture, from concerts to cinema and television. Meanwhile, the company remained in family hands even after the founder, George G. Blaisdell, died in 1978, and it continued to expand the business: in the nineties, it bought W.R. Case & Sons and inaugurated its own museum in Bradford. In the 21st century, it legally protected the shape of its lighter, diversified products, and in 2010 acquired Ronson, a historic competitor.

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On Sunday, May 21, 1922, Catalan motorsport enthusiasts had an unmissable date on their calendar because on that day the second edition of the Armangué Trophy for cars was held. The competition was named in honor of Josep Maria Armangué Feliu, a pioneer of speed who died prematurely in a plane crash (we dedicated a profile of this series to him on September 25, 2022) and served to bring together both local and foreign drivers. The main attraction of the race were the promising Austro-Daimlers, especially the one driven by Alfred Neubauer, who had played a very dignified role in the Targa Florio held a few weeks earlier. At the end of the first lap of the Tarragona circuit, when Neubauer had set the best time, a tragic accident with several fatalities forced the race to be stopped and the Czech was left without a victory. He would never be a great star on the track, but he was a fundamental race director for Daimler for many years. The person who had given him the opportunity to enter the world of speed and who financed the Austro-Daimler racing team was Camillo Castiglioni, a banker considered the richest man in Central Europe at the time of World War I.

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When the conflict with Iran began, I warned that the impact on the markets would probably be a matter of days. And, with the information we had then, it was a reasonable assessment: both investors and analysts (like me) expected a short conflict. The reality, however, is quite different.

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Busy week in the offices of large Catalan and Spanish companies. While last week the Catalan perfume company Puig restructured its leadership, this week it was Endesa's turn, which will have a new CEO from April, and Criteria, which has restructured its board. The IEF will also have a new president, this time Catalan, for a period of two years. And the Catalan telecom company Parlem regains Pérez-Mas as CEO amidst disputes with Avatel. These are the most notable hires of the week.

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It all began with the solidarity and involvement of some young people during the covid-19 pandemic, in 2020. They asked people to donate tablets to recondition them so that the elderly people in hospitals or residences could communicate with their families, who could not visit them due to mobility restrictions. In fact, more than one person was able to say goodbye to their family thanks to these devices.

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