Posts Tagged ‘fiscal’

November 28, 2011 - 11:15 am Comments Off

Groupama will raise 1.8 billion euros through asset sales, including a 44% stake in the group of real estate Silic and Eurocourtage GAN insurance broker, said on Monday in a source familiar with the matter.

The French mutual insurer wants to raise 800 million euros by the end of the year by selling its share in silica, which is now the subject of preliminary discussions with several companies of real estate and insurance, said the source.

Groupama is also looking to sell its subsidiary GAN Eurocourtage, which he expects at least one billion euros, she said.

November 5, 2011 - 10:55 am Comments Off

The U.S. economy has created a little less than expected jobs in October, but the unemployment rate returned to 9.0%, its lowest level in six months, and the upward revision of new posts of August and September suggests that the labor market found some strength.

The number of jobs created was 80,000 last month, showed the statistics released Friday by the Labor Department, while economists predicted 95,000.But the months of September and August, that number was revised up and give 102,000 more jobs than previously announced.

The unemployment rate also fell to 9.0% against 9.1% in September, even though entered the labor market became more numerous.

"This is a step in the right direction," said John Canally, an economist at LPL Financial.

France and Belgium flew to the rescue of Dexia

October 5, 2011 - 5:25 pm Comments Off

France and Belgium flew Tuesday to rescue Dexia, while the scenario of a dismantling of the Franco-Belgian bank, weakened by the financial crisis and in particular its exposure to Greece, is gaining credibility.

Placement, the day before, on negative watch Dexia's debt by Moody's, due to concerns of rating agency on the group's liquidity and access to bank refinancing, has accelerated the process.

Dexia shares had lost up to 38% in Tuesday morning, reaching its lowest historical levels, then some limit its losses in the afternoon.

The stock closed lower by 22.46% to 1.01 euros while the index of European banks, although hit by new fears over Greek sovereign debt, has limited its losses to 4.02%.The stock has lost nearly 60% since the beginning of the year, bringing its market capitalization to less than two billion euros.

Emergency meeting, the board of directors of the bank commissioned the night of Monday to Tuesday the CEO, Pierre Mariani, so that it addresses the structural problems of the group, three years after a first plan Rescue audience of over six billion euros, which enabled Dexia to avoid bankruptcy.

The National Federation of Belgian union employees (CNE) said Tuesday it had learned of a decommissioning project at Dexia in several separate entities, which would threaten 150 jobs within the bank holding company.

Several French and Belgian politicians spoke publicly on Tuesday proposed creation of a "bad bank", a separate defeasance structure where the bond portfolio would be stationed at risk for the bank, amounting to some 100 billion euros .

"We need to look at how to change this group.We must remove all the dangerous parts of the bank, this is where the state guarantees come into play – that's what we call a 'bad bank' – then we can give guarantees to customers that if they are depositors or solicitors credit, "said Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders in an interview with television channel RTL.

SUPPORT OF CENTRAL BANKS

In a joint statement, Didier Reynders and his French counterpart Francois Baroin committed and that the two states make "their guarantee to funds raised by Dexia."Central banks in both countries have also made their support for Dexia and stressed that the bank's customers had no reason to withdraw their money at the box office.

The creation of a new French bank – which would lean part of the portfolio of loans to local Dexia to those of the Deposit and the Post Bank – is also under consideration.

This funding could be organized in partnership between the Deposit and the Postal Bank."This may in particular through the resumption of activities of Dexia in this area," he told Reuters a source close to the CDC.

A meeting of the Investment Committee of the Supervisory Board of CDC to be held Wednesday, but there is no evidence that the project is complete enough to be formally introduced.

According to the rapporteur general of the UMP Senate Finance Committee, Philippe Mariani, confirming that such a project is under consideration for funding local government does not inject money directly in the operation .

However, the hypothesis of a sale to another Dexia European banking group, on the model of Fortis sold to BNP Paribas, has not favored by analysts, investors, stressing that Dexia is not salable in the state.

The Dexia Group is mainly composed of a retail bank in Belgium, a private bank in Luxembourg, the pole of financing local authorities in France and banking Denizbank in Turkey.Maintaining this "nugget" of Turkey within the scope of the bank as well as the division's management, may seem equally uncertain.

THE FATE OF MINORITY

The question of a recapitalization by the States, would constitute a de facto quasi-nationalization has not been formally excluded.

"Everything will depend on the scheme presented by the management of Dexia," said the Belgian Minister of Finance.

Barely mentioned, the new rescue plan for Dexia, which would be the first bank in Europe victim of the crisis of sovereign debt, has prompted reactions from representatives of minority shareholders of Dexia.

The consulting firm shareholders Deminor has insisted in an open letter to shareholders to be consulted before any decision..

A speech relayed by the chairman of the Finance Committee of the French National Assembly, the Socialist Jerome Cahuzac, who also considered that the shareholders of the Franco-Belgian bank should be involved in resolving this crisis.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has announced that it would discuss at its meeting Wednesday of the situation of Dexia and, more generally, problems of financing in the euro area.

Lufthansa ordered 12 new aircraft will

September 29, 2011 - 1:55 pm Comments Off

The airline Lufthansa has announced it will order 12 new aircraft, two Airbus A380s and one Airbus A330-300 for about $ 1 billion at list prices.

Lufthansa, which has already ordered 15 A380 a unit list price of € 275 million, is the most important Airbus customer for this type of very large aircraft.

The command of the German company also includes four Airbus A320 and five Embraer 195.

The Lufthansa share closed up 2.54% to 10.11 euros.

5500 Community sealed by toxic loans

September 21, 2011 - 7:55 am Comments Off

Dexia Bank has distributed to 25 billion euros of toxic loans to municipalities, departments, regions or hospitals according to a confidential listing revealed by Liberation. The additional cost for local governments amount to 3.9 billion.

1500 Five local authorities and public institutions have signed French toxic loans, according to a confidential document which the bank Dexia reported Wednesday Liberation.

The newspaper has obtained "a confidential file of the bank Dexia Credit Local (DCL) which lists 5,500 local governments and public institutions that have subscribed the famous toxic + loan + between 1995 and 2009." "This listing …certify that at the height of the bubble, DCL had distributed 25 billion euros for its customers, "said Liberation, which states that" as estimated by the bank, the additional cost of these loans was estimated at 3.9 billion at the end of 2009 "." This means that communities should pay a penalty of this order, "he says.

Dexia document "shows that everyone is involved: communities of both right and left large urban communities such as towns," said he. The newspaper cites the example of Antibes ", which had borrowed 60 million would pay 21 million in addition to that amount." "The department of the Loire regulations, provide a slate of 22 million in excess of 96 million of loans and toxic Dijon hospital should pay 31 million of interest on a loan of 111 million toxic," writes release. The site of everyday has posted the map of France of Commons infected.

The mechanisms of these toxic loans, the newspaper quoted the party loans to fixed rate and part variable rate "that is, for example indexed to the euro-Swiss franc." "When parity goes below a certain threshold, the rate increased in proportion," says Liberation. "With the crisis of the summer … because of the rise of the Swiss franc, many municipalities have seen their rates rise to 10 or 15%," he writes.

"The addition could still climb with loans running until 2025 or 2030," said Libe which concludes that "these toxic loans have not finished rotting community life. And the taxpayers, who bears a double threat: the increase of local taxes and a deficit of public services ".

Wall Street ends down sharply, worried about the economy

August 2, 2011 - 7:25 pm Comments Off

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday as investors questioned the economic growth in the United States and fearing to see the country lose its triple A rating in spite of the vote in Congress compromise on raising the debt ceiling.

The Dow Jones has given 2.19% or 265.87 points at 11,866.62 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 largest, lost 2.56% or 32.89 points to 1254.05 points and the Nasdaq Composite 2.75% or 75.37 points to 2669.24 points.

The S & P, the reference fund managers, has accused its seventh session straight decline, falling under the moving average 200 days, a bad omen for the markets.This is the longest drop in the S & P since October 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.

Investors wonder whether the compromise budget passed by Congress adequately reduced the deficit and are worried about the latest economic indicators.

Barack Obama signed the text on Tuesday raising the ceiling of the debt of the United States, adopted shortly before the Senate, which prevents the country to end up in default.The president added, however, that other measures would be needed to revive the U.S. economy.

Shortly after the vote, Fitch Ratings, however, said the agreement to raise the debt capacity of the United States involved a risk of default "extremely low" and was consistent with a three-note "A", the best possible.

"I would have expected a rebound in stock relief shortly after the passage in the Senate. This does not happen," said Fred Dickson, market specialist at Davidson. "Investors went from Washington to what I call economic realities."

The Commerce Department on Tuesday released a new statistic that could support the hypothesis of a slowdown in U.S. growth.Consumer spending of U.S. households fell against all odds by 0.2% in June, posting their first decline since September 2009.

This bad news follows an unexpected slowdown in U.S. manufacturing activity, which according to the ISM index on Monday reached in July the lowest pace in two years.

Hyatt Hotels has lost nearly 6% to 36.44 dollars. The hotel group has reported a profit for the second quarter better than expected, but data on the decline in consumer spending have weighed on the title.

As for values, Pfizer has lost 4.6% to 18.14 dollars.The world of pharmacy has reported a decline in sales of prescription drugs.

Trade volumes were fed: 9.5 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE, the Amex and Nasdaq, while the average for this year is 7.5 billion shares.

Fnac unveiled a strategic plan to boost sales

July 19, 2011 - 3:55 pm Comments Off

Fnac has unveiled Tuesday a five-year strategic plan, dubbed "Fnac 2015", which should enable it to boost sales after a disappointing performance.

The distributor of cultural products and consumer electronics including set on increasing its store network and enrichment of its offer to address the erosion of its markets and to competition from internet.

"(…) Fnac 2015 is a plan of conquest and expansion, as new customer requirements, technological change and new patterns of consumption, "said in a statement Alexandre Bompard, the new CEO of the distributor .

The amount of planned investment was not disclosed.The group also refused to provide any numerical target for the approach of the publication of interim results of the PPR Group, July 29, said a spokesman.

The retailer plans to expand its network primarily in France, where he directed 65% of its turnover, with the opening of 30 new stores primarily targeting the outskirts of large cities.

Fnac also wishes to develop a new network of fifty stores, the smaller size (300 square meters), called later to be managed franchise.

Openings are also provided for international but they have not been quantified at this stage, said the spokesman for the distributor.Fnac now has 152 stores, including 82 in France and 72 abroad, mainly in Europe.

FIND THE PATH TO GROWTH

To help guide its customers in its stores, Fnac also plans to review the organization of its rays, now centered around the products to redirect the consumer uses.

The music department will offer soon and CDs, music DVDs as well as MP3 players or tickets to concerts.

In the area of ​​mobile telephony, the retailer announced last month a partnership with the operator SFR to whom he will assign all of its rays.

Fnac also aims to expand its services and products including the opening "Kids Universe" in each of its stores that will target smaller.

With this plan whose implementation is spread over five years, the company that promised to the sale by PPR in connection with its focus on luxury goods and "lifestyle", hopes to find the growth path.

In the first quarter of 2011, sales were down 3.2% on a comparable basis. In 2010, they had gleaned 1.3% to 4.5 billion euros, an operating margin stable at 4.2%.

The distributor of cultural products is suffering from sluggish consumption in France and the decline of its major markets: technical products (hi-fi, video, television), music (CDs) and movies (DVD).

In the book, the group, which remains the largest bookstore in France, has suffered from competition from e-commerce, especially the giant Amazon.

Van Rompuy speaks of strong European commitment to stability

July 12, 2011 - 1:55 pm Comments Off

The European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Tuesday that there was a very strong commitment in Europe to protect the stability of the euro area.

"Let us be very clear, there is the highest commitment to the highest level to do whatever is necessary to safeguard financial stability," said Herman Van Rompuy to the press during a visit to Lisbon after s be met with Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.

Portugal, with Greece and Ireland, is among the countries of the euro zone for which the European Union and the International Monetary Fund organized a bailout.

Viviane Reding wants to dismantle the rating agencies

July 11, 2011 - 3:05 am Comments Off

European Commissioner for Justice attacked the monopoly of Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch, and proposes to create competitors in Europe and Asia. European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding, demand the dismantling of three major agencies.

European Commissioner Viviane Reding of Justice threatened the three largest credit rating agencies to dismantle the world, according to comments reported Monday by the newspaper Die Welt. "I see two possibilities: either the states of the G20 decided to dismantle the three agencies. The U.S. would then have to turn the three agencies in six companies. Or European and Asian competitors are created," said Viviane Reding.

The Americans Moody's and Standard and Poor's and Fitch Anglo-American dominated the market in the rating of the creditworthiness of companies and states.The recent decision by Moody's to degrade sharply and strongly note of Portugal, however, engaged in a program of economic reforms, caused a heated debate in Europe about the power of these agencies, accused of aggravating the crisis of debt in zone euro. "It is not possible that a cartel of three U.S. companies decide the fate of entire states and their citizens," he said Viviane Reding.

Anne Lauvergeon criticizes the inconsistency of the State

July 7, 2011 - 5:55 am Comments Off

Anne Lauvergeon, a former leader of Areva replaced by Luke Oursel late June at the head of the nuclear specialist public, criticized in an interview to Le Monde the inconsistency of the state shareholder.

While the state denied him a third term as president and CEO of Areva, Anne Lauvergeon also emphasizes that its tense relations with the boss of EDF, Henri Proglio, in part cost him his job.

"We could have asked for a more consistent state! In a public company, the shareholder must be a great strategist," said Anne Lauvergeon in an interview published in Le Monde on Friday.

While the state owns nearly 87% stake in Areva, the former president of the group stresses that governments have in turn wanted to marry Alstom, promised an opening of its capital before abandoning, considered dismantling and hindered its development in wind energy.

"In this context, we can only blame me for wanting to keep a single line and constant maintenance of the integrated model, development of CO2-free energy and capital increase, finally obtained in 2010 … Seven years after the first request !, "said Anne Lauvergeon, which also mentions the" fluctuating policy of the state ".

"I was told that the same rule applied to the president and the president of Areva: two terms only.The other reason that you gave me about my relationship with Henri Proglio. "