march-2013

56
theBusiness
Boyd Farrow rounds up the latest news from the business world around the network
A few coins in the fountain
The crucial but expensive protection of Rome’s Trevi
Fountain is looking more assured following a €2.12m
donation by luxury label Fendi to restore the famous water
feature. The company, which was founded in Rome, has
pledged to finance the Trevi’s entire two-year restoration
as well as the renovation of the Four Fountains sculpture
on the nearby Via XX Settembre.
The former is expected to be completed in 2015 while
work on the latter is expected to be put to tender this
March 2013
autumn. “The restoration of the Trevi Fountain shows the
importance of cooperation between public and private
support,” said Mayor Alemanno at a media conference
with Silvia Venturini Fendi and designer Karl Lagerfeld,
the label’s creative director.
Despite concerns about artistic integrity, Italy’s
impoverished cultural authorities are increasingly courting
commercial benefactors. Last year the city of Rome was
forced to carry out emergency work costing €320,000 after
a piece of the fountain fell off, and Alemanno appealed to
companies and individuals to help save the monument.
On your marks
A year after it opened a new store on the Champs-Elysées
in Paris, it appears that Marks & Spencer is also planning to
open an outpost in the heart of Brussels. A report in Belgian
financial daily L’Echo asserts that “the first M&S store of the
new generation” will open its doors in the scrubbed-up Toison
d’Or shopping mall in the Louise district, which has recently
wooed names such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Burberry and
Bose, plus a new Sofitel hotel.
Last November, M&S returned to Belgium, as well as to
Germany and Austria, with localised websites offering 15,000
products, after high demand from the countries’ customers.
L’Echo says that while the Brussels store will sell clothes, home
appliances and food, there wiil be a base in the Koningsstraat,
which will act as a dispatching hub and staff recruitment centre.
Ten years ago, M&S shuttered all 38 West European outlets
to focus on Asia, the Middle East and the emerging East
European market, while shoring up its domestic position.
in
digits
€2bn
The combined
turnover of the
18 clubs that make
up Germany’s
Bundesliga. According
to the German
Football League, 2012
was the fi rst time this
fi gure was reached
in the league’s
50-year history.
10,000
The number of
crowns citizens in the
Czech Republic will
have to pay for a
month’s supply of
marijuana, following
legalisation of use of
the drug for medical
purposes. The average
gross monthly wage
in the country is
26,000 crowns.
€1.3bn
The amount Ford
lost in Europe in
2012 despite
posting decent
fi nancial results
everywhere else.
96.5m
The number of
hectolitres of beer
brewed in Germany
last year, down nearly
2% from 2011 and
the lowest amount
since reunifi cation,
says the Federal
Statistics Offi ce.
GETTY IMAGES