Business & Financial News

An alliance between General Motors and PSA, again become the world's number one automotive manufacturer would give the French a boost out of Europe and could be the beginning of a solution to the crisis that the two groups across the Old Continent.

Whatever the form, such a comparison would allow PSA, the first French manufacturer and the second European to catch up in Latin America and India, where his difficulties financially res of 2011 forced him to postpone investments and where GM is well established, and would open the doors to a full recovery in the U.S. market.

It would also allow synergies and economies of scale in development and procurement of components. 

"GM would offer in addition to PSA an interesting position in Asia, where it remains the market leader and of course the United States. PSA would give him back his competence on small gasoline engines and on frame (small cars), "summarizes CMC-CIC Securities in a note.

"But there are still several uncertainties (…) This alliance, if it occurs, must proceed rapidly to large reductions in overcapacity in Europe," added the intermediary.

A reconciliation between the two manufacturers, more competitive than complementary in Europe, would in effect add to the 12 assembly plants that PSA currently has on the continent to the eight that account Opel, unless opportunities rationalization arise.

Overcapacity in the European market is estimated around 20%. Applying this arithmetic to 20 plants of PSA and Opel, should close four sites.

FEARS ON THE USE OF LUTON IN MADRID

PSA has been facing for the summer to a fall in sales in Europe, including the city car segment, where the price war is raging. This has led its automotive division into the red last year, the difficulties that echo those of Opel, the European brand of General Motors.

"Opel and PSA are both in trouble because they have excess capacity in small cars in Europe, it is unlikely to us that a reconciliation helps to reduce these pressures, "said Kristina Church, auto analyst at Barclays Capital.

On the sidelines of the launch of production of the new Peugeot 208, Opel Corsa's rival, Philippe Varin, chief executive of SAP, announced in late January it was seeking a partner in commercial vehicles to replace Fiat has not renewed his association with the plant Sevelnord. 

Opel would be an ideal candidate, especially since he will find himself very lonely after the transfer, by his current partner Renault, the production of future truck traffic of their joint plant to that of British Sandouville.

PSA and Opel could also pool their platforms very small city, where the battle on costs is the hardest. Opel Agila produced in Hungary, and PSA Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 in a Czech factory whose production will be reduced by 18% from May due to degradation of the application.

On the other segments, whose production is more established in France and Germany for PSA for Opel, the subject will be more delicate. Side of the French manufacturer, sites whose future seems most uncertain are those of Aulnay-sous-Bois, which produces C3, and Madrid (C3 and 207).

Opel has meanwhile already closed its plant in Antwerp (Belgium), one of only three car plants that have disappeared or will disappear since the 2008 crisis, with the Sicilian site of Fiat and Mitsubishi plant in the Netherlands.

"Europe remains the key, and any form of alliance with GM, Opel also has its own capacity problems in Europe), PSA will not help," said Kristina Church. "PSA should focus on its own problems in this area (…) even if it probably will not be easy in an election year in France."

The government has already warned that it would be vigilant about the benefits of an alliance in employment, ten days after the controversy surrounding the inauguration a new Renault plant in Morocco.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche made Wednesday his confidence for the current fiscal year while announcing a 2011 annual result in line with expectations despite significant currency effects. Roche also pointed out that the year 2012 was marked by the takeover bid that leads on American society Illumina Genome Sequence . Revenues fell 10% to 42.53 billion Swiss francs (35.29 billion euros), while analysts had expected 42.37 billion. At constant exchange rates (CER), it appears, however, an increase of 1%. The Pharmaceuticals Division has contributed nearly $ 32.79 billion, down 12% year on year. Sales and the Diagnostics Division for their part, declined 7% to 9.74 billion but increased by 6% TCC. Markets expected 32.69 billion for the Pharmaceuticals Division and 9.73 billion for the Diagnostics Division. The net profit was up 7% in France and 26% TCC to 9.54 billion francs, while the market had forecast 9.49 billion. The Board of Directors propose a dividend of 6.80 francs per share and enjoy good (titles stripped of voting rights) for the past year against previous 6.60 francs ; ously. "As for 2012, we expect sales growth of the group in the lower part of the medium single-digit range and have set our target for growth in earnings per Share core activities in the upper part, "said CEO Severin Schwan said in a statement. Roche also aims for its Diagnostics division higher growth than the market and is committed to pursue its attractive dividend policy. The Director General also reiterated that all the hopes placed in Illumina Roche, the U.S. company for which his group has launched a tender offer unsolicited e at a cost of $ 5.7 billion. "The planned acquisition of Illumina will strengthen our presence in the fast growing market of DNA sequencing and enable the discovery of biomarkers for complex research and to clinical purposes, "he said.

UniCredit announced Monday a capital increase of EUR 7.5 billion, having unveiled a heavy loss in the third quarter.

Italy's largest bank reported a net loss of 10.641 billion euros, depreciation included in the third quarter.

Its impairment of goodwill stand at 9.6 billion.

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 8.74% hard at the end of September.

UniCredit said that after the issuance of securities, expected to close in the first quarter of 2012, core tier 1 ratio will increase to 10.35% according to Basel II banking standards.

Germany said Wednesday it was not necessary to strengthen the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), while the European Commission called last week to the revaluation of all components of EFSF, including its size.

"He (EFSF) is far from exhausted.In saying that, all is said, "said the spokesman of the German government at a press conference.

The current capacity is 440 EFSF billion, increasing to $ 750 billion if we add the contributions of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, participating in bailouts of countries in the euro area.

The emergency EU summit on July 21 has dramatically reformed the EFSF into an embryonic "European Monetary Fund."

But European leaders have not committed one way that investors called for: EFSF give more firepower.

The fund, which borrows on the markets with the guarantee of the member states of the euro zone and then lend to countries in difficulty, has now committed at least 142 billion euros of aid, benefiting Greece, the Ireland and Portugal.This leaves 298 billion to meet future deadlines.

However, economists have calculated that a bailout would cost Spain EUR 290 billion and an emergency program for Italy would represent some 490 billion euros.

The pressure of the German electorate

Last week, the debt crisis in the euro area has experienced a new peak, yields greater than 6% stake in Spanish and Italian sovereign debt raising fears that Rome and Madrid in turn must seek the assistance of EFSF.

It was against this background that Brussels had called a reassessment of all components of the EFSF to convince markets that the euro area could resolve the debt crisis.

Since the beginning of the week, thanks to such repurchase obligations to 10 years in Italy and Spain by the European Central Bank, the financing costs borne by Italy and Spain returned to more affordable levels, around 5%.

The words of the spokesman for the German government illustrate the difficulties faced by Berlin to convince voters of the merits of the government's commitment in resolving the debt crisis in the euro area.

For example, nearly two-thirds of the conservative party of Angela Merkel are dissatisfied with the management of this crisis by the Chancellor, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Sixty-two percent of respondents say they are worried about the image returned by the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and CSU (Christian Social Union), according to the survey of the Forsa institute for Stern magazine.

Approximately 52% of 578 members of both parties questioned in the survey said they opposed the bailout of the partners in Berlin in the euro area and only 42% approve of the plan of aid to Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

The survey was conducted on 4 and 5 August, before the lull caused by the acquisition of Italian and Spanish bonds by the ECB.

Fears that Germany's leading economic power in the euro area also enjoying growth prospects correct and historically low financing costs, pay the bulk of the bill for the debt crisis have resulted in an increase in German five-year CDS, which reached the level of CDS UK.

Antonio Fazio, former governor of the Bank of Italy, was sentenced Saturday to four years in prison for his illegal involvement in a takeover bid for Italian bank Banca Antonveneta in 2005.

Fazio, who led the Bank of Italy from 1993 to 2005, will also pay a fine of 1.5 million euros.

The Milan court ruled he was unlawfully intervened to support the takeover bid led by the Italian bank BPI, now a subsidiary of Banco Popolare on Antonveneta at the expense of a rival offer from Dutch bank ABN AMRO.

He was also charged with having exceeded his powers in a bid launched in 2005 also by Unipol Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL).

The dual banking scandal forced him to resign his governorship of the central bank in December 2005.

"I trust that I have always acted for the good and I am convinced that this sentence should be revised," he responded.

His lawyer, who called the sentence "unjust," said his side he would appeal, reports Italian news agency Ansa.

Gianpiero Fiorani, former CEO of BPI, has been sentenced him to twenty months imprisonment. Giovanni Consorte, former chairman of insurer Unipol, he was sentenced to a term of three years imprisonment and a fine of one million euros.

The public deficit reached 10.5% of GDP in 2010, exceeding the 9.4% previously estimated by the government, according to Eurostat. Greek students fleeing Greece to seek employment abroad

The general government deficit in Greece reached 10.5% of GDP in 2010, exceeding the 9.4% previously estimated by the Greek government said on Tuesday the European statistical institute Eurostat.

The debt in turn is mounted to 142.8% of GDP, against 142.5% previously expected, said Eurostat, which publishes the figures for deficit and debt for 2010 reported by EU states.

Late March, the Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou warned that the government deficit in Greece for 2010 would be "very likely" than the estimated percentage of 9.4% of GDP, selected based on the Finance Bill 2011.

In 2009, the deficit in Greece reached 15.4% of GDP, and debt 127.1%, said Eurostat.

The Greek press had reported in March that an audit conducted by officials of Eurostat in Athens revealed a deficit of 500 million euros in the accounts of public pension funds, instead of a surplus of 900 million euros previously recognized.

The release stated, so that confirmation of these data would increase the deficit in Greece 2010 to more than 10% of GDP.

Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën will be repaid "in the coming days," the entire loan of three billion euros each granted by the state in 2009, Eric Besson said Friday.

"They had already paid two billion each, they will perform in the coming days for another billion in advance of schedule," said Minister of Industry on France Info.

"Both manufacturers Peugeot and Renault will pay the state more quickly than expected all six billion they received two years ago," he was welcomed.

"The money they had borrowed for five years they will be repaid in two years," he added.

President Nicolas Sarkozy had announced in 2009, in the heart of the crisis, an "Auto Pact" totaling 7.8 billion euros in aid to the sector in return for a commitment on employment and the sustainability of sites assembly in France.

Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen had been given each a loan of three billion euros over five years.

Bic said Wednesday to expect this year to a level of operating margin standard lower than that recorded in the first quarter of 2011 when it emerged up 6.1 points to 20.3%.

The specialist pens, lighters and razors in a statement reported a turnover up 8.4% to 409.9 million euros for the first three months of the year, despite a decline 15.5% of the division's sales and promotional advertising products to 58.9 million.

Revenues in the first quarter of BIC are superior to market expectations.

According to the Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S, analysts on average expected a turnover of 394.40 million euros.

"For the full year, the group's performance could be affected by currency fluctuations and rising commodity prices," said Mario Guevara, CEO of Bic.

In terms of activity, the company expects for 2011 a growth of about 5% of sales on a comparable basis of its consumer division, while the activity of BIC (APP products and promotional advertising) should decrease by some 5%.

"The first quarter was difficult for sales of BIC APP but we're starting to see the positive effects of the integration plan and we are confident about a return to sales growth for 2012," said Mario Guevara.

The group's net profit stood at 53.9 million euros, against 35.4 million a year earlier and net income of 46.10 million expected by the market.

An early spring but not necessarily sustainable and could be summed up the new economic forecast by INSEE for France, which offer hope of slowing the momentum of recovery in the second quarter after a start to the year.

In its quarterly economic note, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies now expects 0.6% growth for the first three months of the year, twice more than expected in December, but only 0, 4% for the second quarter.

While the business prospects of French companies in the short term are favorable, as shown by the surveys, which augur well for an acceleration of production and business investment in parallel with the rise in utilization rates building.

But that dynamic recovery is likely over the months of being deprived, at least partially, several supporters present at the beginning of the year, and suffer three "negative shocks" that have global repercussions.

This earthquake and tsunami of 11 March in Japan (which should result in a contraction of Japanese GDP in the first half), the soaring price of oil and food prices and the policies of several Asian countries , led by China, to curb the risk of inflationary overheating.

The rapid rebound in world trade after the slowdown of late 2010 therefore should diminish.As for the French domestic demand, supported earlier this year by the "trailing effect" from the end of the scrapping of cars and a bounce-off of public works, it could falter slightly in the second quarter.

To these factors one must add the impact of rising energy prices and raw materials.

According to calculations by the Institute, the rise in the price of a barrel of Brent (+5 euros in the fourth quarter of 2010, 12 euros for the first three months of this year) should amputate 0.05 point growth rate in January March, then by 0.15 percentage point over April-June.

NO EFFECTS IN SECOND ROUND VIEW

The combination of the surge of inflation and wage moderation, helped by a continuing high unemployment, may limit the increase in purchasing power to 0.1% in the first quarter and 0.3% in the second, thus curbing consumption.

INSEE provides for a gradual impact of soaring commodity prices and oil prices on consumer prices, which would be mid-2011 the core inflation at 1.0% and the price index consumption to 1.9%.

However, it anticipates much of "second-round effects", that is to say, a spread of prices on wages.A phenomenon that has yet justified the rise in interest rates announced Thursday by the European Central Bank.

For improving the labor market should be very gradual, with indeed an increase in job creation in the market sectors (78,000 to 60,000 after the first half of the second half of 2010) but also a decline in employment non- merchant, therefore less support for assisted jobs.

The unemployment rate therefore stagnate in the first quarter to 9.2% in France to fall only a few tenths of a point on April-June, said Insee.

Under these conditions, the growth overhang at the end of the first half would be 1.4%.Reach the figure of 2.0% provided so far by the government for the whole year would therefore require that the French GDP grew by 0.7% in the third and fourth quarter, as calculated by INSEE.

Deceleration promised to France between the first and second quarter is expected to affect most other major advanced economies, but with varying magnitudes. German growth would be 1.0% in January-March and 0.8% in April-June while in the United Kingdom, it would fall from 1.0% to 0.1%.

Airbus announced on Wednesday it had put forward the commissioning of the new version of its Airbus A320 remotorisée, given the success of the device to its customers.

The most fuel-efficient version of the "best seller" of the aircraft manufacturer will be available in October 2015 instead of 2016, Airbus announced Wednesday.

The manufacturer said it had recorded more than 300 commitments total family A320neo.Customers chose PW1100G engine from Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies to start the development of devices.

With its new engines and winglets devices, the display A320neo fuel savings of up to 15%, which represents up to 3,600 tons of CO2 less per year per aircraft.

"The extraordinary demand on the market for appliances (…) A320neo family encouraged us to bring forward the launch of this device to October 2015," Airbus said in a statement.