yourhavingalarf:
trucken:
And several million to buy the land in the first place.Whilst that’s true, I’m confident that Moto didn’t have to go cap in hand to the bank for the money. They’re not a fledging start up company. I wouldn’t be surprised if the initial land purchase was possibly less than their boss gets in share options and salary. This is just an expansion of business for them and involves little to no risk.
You are indeed having a larf. Ken McMeikan’s salary and bonuses are I’m pretty sure under £1 million (he was on a total package of around £660k when he was in charge at Greggs), while the cost of Rugby Services (including the buildings etc, obviously) has been stated to be in excess of £40 million. But that’s irrelevant anyway - However many millions they had to spend to acquire that site could have been earning money for the company elsewhere regardless of whether it was already in their bank or had to be borrowed in the first place.
Your comparison with other countries is largely explained by just how densely this country is populated - England has four times as many people per sq km as France, twice as many as Germany. You can’t fail to notice the moment you drive off the ferry or train that (other than in major cities) there is so much more space - much of it unused. As a result, land values (and so the cost of simply owning a plot of land) are much lower in those places.