Business & Financial News

The first tripartite round table on the future of the plant PSA Aulnay-sous-Bois has resulted in no concrete progress on Friday and the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis set the next appointment in late June, after the presidential election.

The interview between the State, represented by the prefect, the direction of the automaker and the unions and local politicians, claimed for nine months by them, was stormy said Jean-Pierre Mercier, representative of the CGT, and five trade unions on these seven left the room before the end.

"The unions have called for PSA agrees in writing (…) To maintain all jobs at least until the end of 2016, officially ended production of the C3, and assign a new vehicle to replace the C3. But management does not want to commit to anything, "he said

." The next date falls after the presidential and the law, it is exactly the speech Peugeot: do not use that either in the middle of election campaigns, "he said

… In an attempt to …… get rid of this calendar, the CGT called for a rally next Thursday before the campaign headquarters of Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris

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The Department of Industry, has said his side "fully alert and mobilized to the site's future automotive Aulnay-sous-Bois" and stressed in a statement, the group confirmed that it "does not consider the proposed closure of site in France." 

But at the roundtable, PSA Peugeot Citroëna again refused to discuss the C3 after repeating, as it has for several months, will still produce cars qu'Aulnay until 2014, unspecified beyond.

The builder also mentioned, the statement of the Ministry, the arrival on the surfaces of Aulnay-sous-Bois unused today, "new economic activities complementary ments ".

PSA declined to comment on the roundtable, but a spokesman said that about 40,000 square meters on the site now unused, 23,000 were de ja and 17,000 rental available for rental for industrial and real estate. 

The factory in Aulnay-sous-Bois, which produces the small Citroen sedan, employs 3,500 people and seems the most threatened European sites of PSA while the group was given two years to re ; Gler the issue of persistent overcapacity in Europe.

The fate of the Madrid plant also raises questions as no model has been announced to take forward over the last Peugeot 207 assembled therein.

Wall Street opened sharply lower Wednesday, still within the scope of the minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the U.S. Federal Reserve seems to suggest that that new measures to support the economy are no longer topical.

In early trade, the Dow Jones yielded 0.91% (or 120.49 points) to 13,079.06 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, lost 0.86% (12.10 points) to 1,401.28 points while the Nasdaq composite fell back to 0.89% (27.82 points) to 3085, 75.

This decline, following a decrease of about 0.5% yesterday, comes despite better than expected figures for employment in the private sector. According to ADP monthly survey, the private sector has indeed created 209,000 jobs in March, against 200,000 expected.

But what continues to attract the attention of investors is that only two members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed felt that other measures could be necessary if the Economic activity weakened or if inflation remained at a low level for an extended period.

Support measures implemented by the U.S. central bank was the main catalyst for a jump of 30% recorded by the S & P 500 since October, although improving conditions in the United States, as reflected by the indicators, also played. 

"The minutes of the Fed questioned the certainties of those who thought they could relax without end," said Sal Arnuk, co-head of investments at Themis Trading.

For its part, the European Central Bank has unsurprisingly left rates unchanged at a record low, Mario Draghi, chairman of the ECB, saying it was pre premature to start talking about the withdrawal of the measures to end the crisis.

The title General Electric, Heavyweight Dow Jones down 1.3% to 19.70 dollars after Moody's downgraded the industrial conglomerate from Aa2 to Aa3. 

The action Sandisk falling more than 9% after the specialist NAND chips has reduced its forecast for sales in the first quarter, citing lower demand than expected and conditions unfavorable pricing.

European shares move in a disorganized mid-session after opening up while Wall Street is expected to have eased slightly.

In Paris the CAC 40 was down 0.15% (-4.99 points) to 3,418.82 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX rose 0.29% and London, the FTSE is virtually unchanged. The pan-European index Stoxx 50 was down 0.40%.

The index futures point to a New York opening spreads from Wall Street while the purchasing managers' index for manufacturing (ISM) will be published at 1400 GMT.

In Paris, Total continues to rebound and earn 1.27% after the announcement that British authorities will receive Monday representatives of the company to consider a proposal to send a team of experts on its platform of Elgin in the North Sea which had to be evacuated due to gas leak. The revelation of the leak on March 26 led to a drop of nearly 7% of Total's share price, the last week, despite a rebound of a , 06% Friday after the announcement of the termination of a flare which casts a risk of explosion of the installation.

PSA Peugeot Citroen fell by 3.77% after announcing a fall of 33.2% over twelve months of its new car registrations in France in March, while Renault sells 1 76% after a decline of 29.8% over the same period against -23.5% for the whole French market.

Cimpor jumped nearly 9% in mid-session after the announcement Friday by the second group of Brazilian Camargo Correa construction of its intention to launch a bid for 68.1% capital of the Portuguese cement that does not already own. 

Originally worn by an official index of purchasing managers in China better than expected and reassuring thought on the growth of the first Asian economy, some European equity markets are ironed in led by the red squares of the peripheral countries of the south.

Information from press reports that the Bundesbank planned to take over the paper in several countries, including Portugal, have weighed heavily on the places of southern Europe, before being denied by the Institute of German issue.

The acceleration of the contraction of manufacturing in the euro area in March, reinforcing fears of a recession within the bloc while the slowdown has spread to Germany and France, has also affected the trend.

The gas leak on a Total deposits in the North Sea will be expensive to French oil group, but the situation seems out of proportion to the oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico after the explosion of a BP platform.

Analysts polled by Reuters, the cost for Total could be limited to $ 150 million (113 million) if the leak was quickly clogged, or otherwise be at least $ 10 billion if the platform of the Elgin-Franklin field eventually explode.

Total has not ruled on Tuesday that the repair takes several weeks or up to six months, and keen Wednesday the exact cause of the leak. 

The prospect of a distant deadline for resolving the industrial crisis, the worst that Total has seen since the sinking of the Erika in 1999 and the explosion at the AZF factory in 2001, brutally brought down the stock market as Tuesday. The stock has lost 5.96%, leading to the Group's market capitalization plunge of about six billion euros.

Total lost the title still nearly 1% to 38.23 euros on Wednesday afternoon.

"Although it is far too early to make a reliable assessment of the impact of the leak (…) for Total, one can estimate a minimum cost of 150 to 200 million dollars in the best case (limited to two weeks off) or even more if the current situation was to last several months, "CM-CIC Securities.

While the field of Elgin-Franklin alone accounted for 2.5% of total production in 2011, the intermediary also assesses the shortfall for the group between 3 , 6 and 5 million per day shutdown of operations. 

LESS STRICT LAWS IN THE UK

Drilling a relief well could cost him only $ 44 million, assesses his side Exane BNP Paribas.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, if an explosion had finally held, "the impact could reach $ 10 billion" for Total.

This amount includes the loss of deposits and the platform and nearly deus billion to clean up environmental damage, but excludes any fines.

Most observers point out however that the situation on the Elgin-Franklin field is not nearly as critical as that of the Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico, including the explosion and sinking had made eleven dead in April 2010 and resulted in a serious oil spill. 

In total, the British BP has had to make provision for $ 37.2 billion deal with the consequences of this accident.

While nine million barrels of crude oil escaped from the Macondo well drilled on behalf of BP after the accident, analysts point out that only gas and products "light" is e ; chappent the Elgin wells, which should significantly reduce pollution.

Some further notes that the economic activity of the British coast is less important than the U.S. states bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the United Kingdom has not yet introduced legislation involving sanctions as severe as those imposed by the United States in case of water pollution.

"We do not expect major Total incur fines or provisions that must pass (…) As important as those of BP in the case of Macondo, "estimated the Exane BNP Paribas analysts

." This kind of accident is often unpredictable and difficult to resolve. Nevertheless, we think the probability is low to see the leak reach crisis proportions comparable to Deepwater Horizon, "he wrote on his side Fitch ……. According

.. rating agency, Total should maintain its AA credit rating even in the event of complete closure of the deposit of Elgin.

Countries in the euro area officially approved on Wednesday a second aid plan, 130 billion euros, which will allow Greece to finance until 2014, said pre , chairman of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement.

"The Member States of the euro area today formally approved the second adjustment program for Greece. All required procedures and national parliamentarians were conducted, "he said

. The countries of the euro area also authorized the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) to conduct an initial payment of € 39.4 billion following this plan, which will be spread in several tranches, he said

. The official conclusion of the procedure follows the political agreement reached by the Eurogroup (Minister Finance of the euro zone) Monday to pay more money to Greece

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Airbus officials, airlines and engine manufacturers in Europe have written to the Old Continent's political leaders urging them to resolve the dispute caused by the introduction into the European Union a tax on carbon emissions.

The signatories believe that retaliation from China and other countries opposed to the European level of taxation of carbon emissions (ETS) have serious consequences for the sector, of bitter ; s a statement released Monday by Airbus, a subsidiary of aerospace consortium EADS.

The aircraft manufacturer, China has already suspended $ 12 billion (9.14 billion) of orders, which could lead, according to him, the destruction of over 1,000 jobs in-house and at least 1,000 in additional subcontractors. 

The nine general managers signed the letter addressed to Prime Ministers English, French, Spanish and German Chancellor expect that the list of cancellations of orders continues to s' thicken.

They ask the urgent opening of negotiations at the European Council and with third states opposed the carbon tax, while the situation becomes, they say, "intolerable for the sector of the Aviation ".

"The aim must be to find a compromise solution and to stop these punitive measures before it is too late," say company executives quoted in the press release.

"We always thought that only a global solution would be adequate to solve the problem of aviation emissions."

The tax on carbon emissions is an added cost of about two euros per passenger for a path between the Europe and China

. Airbus addition, the letter is signed by the heads of British Airways and Iberia, the two components of International Airlines Group, Air Berlin, Air France, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Safran and MTU Aero

. pre Entrepreneurs ; advocates of the opening of negotiations with the states concerned in the Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN entity

… A GLOBAL SOLUTION …… STILL EXPECTED

In a separate letter sent to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, Airbus CEO Tom Enders deplored the "serious situation" caused by the threat of retaliation from China and other states. 

"It seems that these threats are now becoming very real and translate into concrete actions, which begins to have serious consequences on the European sector of the aviation, "he says in this letter, which Reuters had access.

Friday, the Environment Ministers of 27 EU countries have reaffirmed their support for the carbon tax.

The European Commission has called for its forced to act unilaterally, unless a viable proposal and applicable globally from ICAO.

"Nobody would be happier than the European Union" if ICAO could provide a solution that is at least as good as that of the EU assured Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Action climate. 

"We are fighting for this since 1997," she told Reuters last week. "We work very hard internally with ICAO."

China, where the aviation market is experiencing its strongest growth, is a major customer of Airbus and Boeing.

Beijing seeks to control aircraft in large quantities, through a central purchasing, before allocating the units to different airlines. Its final green light is necessary for the delivery of the aircraft.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, overview of the remaining inequalities in employment, wages, retirement and everyday life. Of employees in an office in Caracas Noticias24.com website.

March 8 is International Day of Women. On this occasion, INSEE publishes a study entitled "Women and Men-Glance Parity". The text leading real progress for twenty years, but disparities remain. The proof of ten digits.

4:01: This is the time spent by women in domestic work (household shopping, child care, gardening etc). It is twice more than men who do not spend as 2:13. Moreover, women do most of their children. They spend an hour, against just under half an hour for men.

4:45: This is the free time available to women. It's half an hour less than men. And the difference is striking in games and Internet (16 minutes for men), television (13 minutes) and sports (8 minutes). However, women spend more time with their family and friends (7 minutes).

39%: Women managers more now. They were 30% there twenty years. Side of the gap in labor force participation between men and women, it is reduced from 66% for women (59% in 1990), against 75% for men. Concerned, the most frequent interruption of their careers to care for their children. In 2010, 18% of women aged 30 to 35 were inactive against 4% of men.

31% of employed women work part-time, against 7% of their male colleagues. This proportion has increased in recent years since it was 24% in 1990. The use of part-time is common in low-skilled occupations in the tertiary, exercised mostly by women. he is busy 62% of women today, against 56% in 1990.

25%: Women still earn less than men. But the gap has slightly reduced from 29% in 1991 to 25% in 2009. Involved, hourly wages, which are lower for women. In private, the income gap is 20% and 15% in the public. Involved: the number of days worked less over the year, and part-time.

833 euros is the average amount of pension for women. This is twice less than men that affect Euro 1743. This reflects the differences in position on the labor market. Women retire later on average than men (61.8 years for women, against 61.4 years for men in 2009 in the general plan).

20.8%: This is the percentage of women present in the boards of the CAC 40 (15.3% in 2010 and 10.5% in 2009) and 2% of female CEOs. In the State civil service, women constitute 51.7% of the total and only 20.3% of managerial positions.

22%: This is the proportion of women elected to the Senate. It increased in the last ten years from 11% in 2001 to 22% in 2011. But they remain a minority. Same to the Assembly nationale.Un just under 14% are mayors.

Age 85: this is the life expectancy of a woman, against 78 years for men. They can expect to live a healthy year and 7 months longer than men.

7: On a scale of 1 to 10, men and women have a life satisfaction than 7. On this point, they come together …

MEPs have just voted a bill to ban the diversion of assets in the event of bankruptcy. Hours before his bankruptcy, the French refinery had emptied its accounts. .

The National Assembly passed in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday UMP text to prevent the diversion of assets of a failing company and for Petroplus, with the support of the PS who tried in vain to pass as its own proposals ArcelorMittal targeting. The bill passed almost unanimously (only the communists abstained), and pass Thursday before the Senate, was filed by the UMP deputies of Seine-Maritime, where the Petroplus refinery in Petit Couronne ( 550 employees), in bankruptcy since late January.  

The refinery has "seen its accounts in France emptied of all its cash by the banks of its parent company just hours before the bankruptcy filing," recalled Frances Guégot, lead author of the text. This allows the court to take trade measures (seizure of assets or sale of stocks, for example) of a company, not only at the stage of liquidation as at present, but also upstream, when the power is backup or receivership. Its urgent nomination to the agenda had been an agreement between Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his Socialist predecessor at Matignon, Laurent Fabius, Member of Parliament of Petit Couronne. A fact underlined by the Industry Minister, Eric Besson, who came into the chamber to support the text along with his colleagues Michel Mercier (Justice), Patrick Ollier (Relations with Parliament) and Xavier Bertrand (Labour).

As the minister, Laurent Fabius has paid tribute to the Inter Petroplus, whose representatives attended the debates. But, while approving the bill, he criticized the government for "lack of vigilance" on successive Petroplus, especially during the sale of the refinery in 2008 by Shell. He regretted that Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a "temporary respite" for the refinery during his visit last Friday at Petit Couronne.

Holland rejected the proposal

Left and right agreed on an amendment providing information to staff representatives on the measures. The majority is also committed to respect for social obligations of a bankrupt company, but in terms considered ambiguous by the opposition, particularly the Communist Party, which abstained for that. The Senate, leftist majority should approve the text Thursday.

But this relative consensus has given way to confrontation when the socialists have defended in vain amendments, drawing another bill filed that morning. It was announced Friday by Francois Hollande during his visit to the site of ArcelorMittal Florange (5,000 employees), two blast furnaces are shut down for months. The PS proposed to require a manufacturer withdrawing from a French plant to transfer her to a buyer. "ArcelorMittal has a clear strategy of disengagement from the territory and we must respond," insisted the MP PS Moselle Aurélie Filippetti.

In the wake of Nicolas Sarkozy, who said Monday "does not see the benefit of this proposal" and promised another solution soon, the majority rejected these amendments, the government said, "would undermine the freedom of and undertake to ownership ". The left has once again criticized the head of state to have announced, in February 2008 on the site near Gandhinagar, public investment to maintain the activity, one year before the plant would close anyway.

Universal Music, a subsidiary of Vivendi, has requested a green light from European authorities to buy back the recorded music division of the British label EMI, said Monday the European Commission on its website.

The operation of some € 1.4 billion would allow the first record company to add to its global catalog Coldplay and Katy Perry for example. But it may be a long and careful consideration of the competition authorities.

In November, Universal said hold 26.5% of global recorded music. By merging its operations with those of EMI, the group would control, in some European countries, over 50% of the market.

The European Commission, guardian of competition in the Union, was given until March 23 whether to grant the green light for the operation.

Pernod Ricard noted Thursday its goal of operating income growth for the 2011-2012 fiscal year after the publication of interim results better than expected thanks to its performance in countries é mergents and strategy for its upmarket spirits.

During the six months to end December, the world's second largest wine and spirits behind the British Diageo posted an operating profit (ROC) of 1.379 million euros, up 17% organic growth, above the consensus of 1,326.8 million euros set by the editor of Reuters.

Its net income group share grew by 16% to 843 million, for a turnover of 4.614 million (4,623.7 million forecast by analysts) an increase of 8%. Organic growth was 11% (10.7% expected).

Confidence in the continuation of these trends, the wine and spirits group now expects organic growth in annual operating income of nearly 8%, against 6% so far, and a Net debt / EBITDA close to 3.9 at June 30, 2012, against four previously.

Pernod Ricard shows a net debt / EBITDA of 3.9 to 4.4 against 31 December 2011 to 30 June 2011.