Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1215405
27.02.2020 7 NEWS PREMIER Capital plc, the Mal- tese-owned developmental licencee for McDonald's in six European markets, will grow its international network by 12 restaurants this year and modernise more existing restaurants in a €28 mil- lion investment drive. ese restaurant openings maintain the group's expansion ambitions to open at least a dozen new restaurants around its footprint every year for the next three years. With this momentum, Premier Capital is on course to operate a total of 190 McDonald's restaurants by the end of 2022. roughout 2019, 12 additional res- taurants opened in Greece, the Baltic states, and Romania following an in- vestment of over €23 million, bringing the total McDonald's restaurants cur- rently operated by the group to 156. More than 780 jobs were created over 12 months so that Premier Capital's staff complement now exceeds 8,800 people. Together with its growing McDrive and McCafe operations, the group con- tinued to deploy McDelivery to addi- tional restaurants. Customers are now able to be served to locations of their choice from 87 restaurants in the Baltics, Greece and Romania. With the McDonald's mobile application successfully introduced in Malta last year, the group is now able to build on digital opportunities to in- creasingly engage customers in all its markets. Across its footprint, Premier Capital remains committed to investing heav- ily in restaurant and supply chain in- frastructure, training and incentives, and in bringing increased innovation to customer touchpoints. e programme to upgrade all restaurants in Greece and Malta will be completed by the end of this year. All of Romania's existing res- taurants will be upgraded by the end of 2021. "Premier Capital is on an exciting growth trajectory and we are deter- mined to continue to grow this business sustainably to benefit our shareholders, our people and our customers," Premier Capital Managing Director Victor Te- desco said. "e dedication of our team leaders in our six markets, coupled with the pas- sion our restaurant teams display for the brand and its customers, means we are well positioned to reach our objec- tives and even exceed them," he said. "We have successfully fostered a knowledge-sharing culture within the group that allows us to optimise our business planning and to develop lead- ers with a strong entrepreneurial spirit for today and tomorrow. We are a truly international family dedicated to ful- filling McDonald's promise to making delicious feel good moments easy for everyone," Tedesco added. McDonald's licencee Premier Capital to open 12 restaurants in 2020 MAPFRE'S net earnings in 2019 came in a €609 million, 15.2 percent bet- ter than the previous year, while the Group's revenues rose by 7.1 percent to €28.47 billion. Premiums were up by 2.2 percent to €23.04 billion thanks to, among other things, the solid per- formance of business in Spain, in the LATAM North regional area and in the Reinsurance business. It is important to note that the cost of damages caused by the Faxai and Hagibis typhoons in Japan (€107 mil- lion), riots in Chile (€24 million) and heavy rain and storms in Spain (€17 million), among other events, had a heavy impact on the results for 2019. Nevertheless, thanks to the measures taken within the profitable growth framework, MAPFRE Group's com- bined ratio was marked at 97.6 percent and their attributable equity stood at €8.85 billion (a 10.8 percent increase) at the end of the fiscal year. Furthermore, MAPFRE Group's total assets grew by 7.8 percent, reaching a total of €72.51 billion. Group investments increased by 8.6 percent in the last year to €53.52 billion, with 56.2 percent of these in- vestments in sovereign debt and 17.5 percent in corporate fixed income, while 5.2 percent are equity invest- ments and 4.7 percent are cash. At the close of September 2019, the Solvency II ratio stood at 195 percent, compared to 198 percent in June. However, thanks to a high level of diversification and a stringent investment and management policy, MAPFRE Group's solvency ratio continues to remain robust and stable. Insurance Unit premiums totaled €19.29 billion in 2019, indicating a rise of 3 percent from the previous year, and attributable earnings were up by 17.7 percent amounting to €806 million. Notwithstanding this, MAPFRE Spain continues to be a market leader for ten quarters, while earnings in Brazil and LATAM North grew by 79 percent and 44.6 percent respectively. Peru contin- ues to be a driving force for the LATAM Southern region, strongly contributing to a premium volume of €1.6 billion, while US earnings increased sevenfold to €57 million. On the other hand, the EURASIA Regional Area recorded a premium volume of €1.7 billion, boast- ing a 21 percent increase in earnings to €15 million. Despite the aforementioned in- crease in disasters, the Reinsurance Unit achieved earnings of €77 million in 2019. Reinsurance Unit premiums stood at €4.52 billion, which was 19.4 percent higher than in the previous year, while MAPFRE GLOBAL RISKS premium volume stood at €1.06 billion. e latter figure was a 9.7 percent de- crease from the previous year due to several large claims made in 2019, with a net cost of €27 million. Regarding social dividends, the main indicators of the Group's social com- mitment included: • Tax contribution amounting to €325 million equivalent to an ef- fective rate of 25 percent; • Scoring high in their environmen- tal, social and governance (ESG) commitment; • Commitment to employment, with 97 percent of MAPFRE's 34,000 employees worldwide hav- ing a permanent contract; com- mitment to diversity, having 48.3 percent of vacancies and positions of high responsibility filled by women and people with disabili- ties representing at nearly 3 per- cent of the workforce; • Commitment to society, with 125,000 people having benefitted from the work of over 10,000 em- ployees and their families through the MAPFRE's Corporate Volun- teering Program; • Environmental commitment by reducing its carbon footprint with the prospect of achieving neutral- ity in global emissions by 2030, with the most immediate objec- tive being the achievement of zero emissions in Spain and Portugal by the end of 2021. MAPFRE generates €609 million in 2019, a 15.2% increase Premier Capital will grow its network and modernise more existing outlets in a €28 million investment drive throughout 2020