Business & Financial News

The billionaire is the target of a tax adjustment record says Tuesday Médiapart site. The IRS would make him pay including the concealment of twelve bank accounts abroad and the acquisition of the island secret watering. Liliane Bettencourt at the fashion week in Paris, January 26, 2011.

Nearly 78 million euros. This is the tidy sum claimed by the IRS to Liliane Bettencourt said Tuesday the site Médiapart, who had access to the report of the National Directorate of tax audits (DNVSF). "These are the amounts charged (including penalties and fines) under the wealth tax for the years 2004 to 2010 and, under the income tax for the years 2006 to 2009. The Negotiations are underway on this issue, counsel for the heir seeking a reduction in the total amount of this addition, "the site.

EDF shares fell more than 5% Friday afternoon in Paris Stock Exchange, market participants have cited an article in Le Monde that the Socialist Party and environmentalists are about to sign an agreement providing for election closures nuclear power plants.

Interviewed by Reuters, the two sides, however, said no such thing had been decided yet and that negotiations for the presidential and legislative elections of 2012 in France continued.

The electrician public asked the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to investigate the collapse of the course.

"Discussions are at this stage, more general," he told Reuters Michel Sapin, former economy minister, Francois Hollande close and involved in these negotiations.

As for Yannick Jadot, spokesman Eva Joly, candidate of Europe Ecologie-Greens, he felt that the article in Le Monde shows a vision "a little fictionalized" reality.

"Should there be an agreement between the two, Fessenheim shut fairly quickly.(…) We are still at an output of nuclear power including actual closing fast enough for the older plants, "he said.

He hoped that negotiations with the Socialist Party end up in the next 15 days.

François Hollande, Socialist candidate for president, wants a drop from 75% to 50% of the share of nuclear in electricity generation.

The central Fessenheim is the oldest in France and has two reactors of 900 megawatts each.

Last summer, the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) found that the No. 1 reactor of the plant was capable of being operated ten years older.

The Irish budget deficit has reduced by 4 percentage points of GDP since 2009. Corporate profitability recovered sharply. But deleveraging too fast may influence the activity against becoming productive. Pedestrians in Dublin

If Ireland is still part of PIGS, it can not be in the same category as Greece or Portugal, as progress in a few months by former Tiger European are important. The Irish budget deficit – excluding bank recapitalization needs – fell by 4 percentage points of GDP since 2009. The current account deficit turned into a small surplus. Finally, corporate profitability recovered sharply.

The experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Commission, who have just completed their assessment mission in Ireland, are seduced. "The ongoing adjustment is solid.The 2011 budget targets will be achieved and the ongoing structural reforms will also contribute to sanitation, "they note in their report.

However, Ireland is now entering a delicate phase. Or the risk of too rapid deleveraging weigh on activity, against becoming productive. The experts of the IMF, the ECB and the Commission to admit the hint. "Ireland will have to find a balance between the imperatives of debt reduction and limitation of the barriers to growth and job creation," they point out in their report. This sentence harmless and a bit blurry could announce a change in strategy for Ireland. The country needs it, says a recent report by Goodbody Broker.

Make concessions

Indeed, in Ireland, over-indebtedness affects both the public sector, private sector and banks.Simultaneously reducing the three is clearly a bad idea, says the report. If Ireland is determined to meet all objectives at the same time, the evolving recovery will be quickly suppressed. A risk highlighted recently by the Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Especially since the motor only turns in exports. The domestic market remains depressed by lower prices (unit labor costs fell by 15% and commercial property prices have been divided by two).

We must therefore make concessions to one side. But which one? As for households, the government can not do much. The debt reached 220% of disposable income, nearly twice the international average. And fall of financial markets could reduce household net wealth of 250 billion euros. The Irish are going to have to tighten their belts for several years.Make concessions on the public debt is also not in a financial crisis. Ireland recorded a primary deficit of 6% of GDP in 2011. This is the worst result of the euro area.

Remaining banks. They must bring their ratios to 122% loan to deposit by 2013. The challenge today is to allow banks to achieve that clean without excessively penalizing the credit. This will doubtless involve additional time but also further aid from the ECB, economists now believe. Lengthy discussion in perspective.

The stock markets in the euro area settle in the green Thursday at midday, driven by financial stocks boosted by a voting majority in the margin of the German Parliament the reform of financial stability in Europe.

However, progress is limited. If the ratification of strengthening the powers of EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund) is acquired in Germany, this vote does not dispel the differences that oppose European leaders on how to deal effectively with the debt crisis in the euro area, report professionals.

Around 12:20, the CAC 40 index, which made the yo-yo in early trading, rises above 3000 points.The index gained 0.84% ​​to 3020.70 points and 3033.38 and 2974.98 changes between.

The euro also benefits the vote in the Bundestag and is trading around 1.3642 dollars against 1.3536 late Wednesday.

In Paris, BNP Paribas (6.27%), Societe Generale (4.67%) and Credit Agricole (3.75%) are leading the CAC 40 increases as the Stoxx Banks (+ 1.92%) is the leading sector gains in Europe.

L'Oreal (-1.48%) shows the largest drop in the Paris index, weighed down by the statements of Reuters Clarins boss who said he is worried about the economy in Europe this year and next year .

"These comments (Clarins) are negative for L'Oreal, which makes 40% of its sales in Europe," said one trader.

Exchanges of Frankfurt and Milan won respectively 0.57% and 1.28%.EuroStoxx 50 index of the core values ​​of the euro area is 0.96%. Outside the eurozone, London yields 0.31%

"We continue to believe that the news of recent days are not particularly encouraging. We are seeing some convergence between the political leaders of the EMU (Economic and Monetary Union)," say the strategists rate of Societe Generale in their daily note .

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) is relaxed to 10 years by 1.0 basis points to 1.97%.

While European politicians opposing the idea of ​​issuing Eurobonds to respond to the crisis of sovereign debt, China could affect their development.

Europe is the first export market of China, which has clearly said he was in his interest to avoid a financial collapse that could cause a global recession.

China also wants to diversify its foreign reserves to reduce the share of U.S. government bonds, and did not wait for the deterioration in the sovereign rating of the United States last month to start doing.

"European countries are facing problems of sovereign debt.We have said countless times that China wants to give a hand and we will continue to invest (in Europe), "said Premier Wen Jiabao during the 'Summer Davos Forum' week last in the Chinese city of Dalian.

But he also said that the major developed economies were healthier fiscal position and urged Europe to make a reciprocal gesture by granting China the status of market economy.

Europeans have so far been reluctant to make this concession, given the exchange rate regime of the yuan, state control of Chinese industry and commercial litigation, intellectual property, for example.

Upon entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China agreed to a covenant which provided that she would not have the status of market economy in the world before 2016.Beijing has long called for this status to be granted in advance, as that would provide better protection against anti-dumping duties including the EU.

"A crisis is an opportunity"

"Europeans have not been sufficiently sensitive to the needs of China," said Etienne Reuter, a consultant who was representing the EU in Hong Kong and Japan.

China also wants the EU to lift an arms embargo imposed in 1989 after the crushing of the "Beijing Spring".

Privately, EU officials who manage the debt crisis remember that China is one of the few large foreign investors continue to buy bonds of countries in the euro area in the secondary market.

China thinks it also has also taken a large share of bonds rated triple-A issued by the European Financial Stability (EFSF) to support Greece, Ireland and Portugal as part of programs helps set up by the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

For Beijing, the problem is rather that there is not enough paper issues rated triple A European response to the request.Yields on German government bonds and UK safe haven to which have turned many investors are thus fell below the rate of inflation.

"It is in the interest of China that the euro area is stable with the creation of Euro-bonds, but China may have an impact on the decision of the European countries I doubt," said however Xu Bei, a Chinese economist who works in Paris for the French bank Natixis investment.

"In the Chinese mentality, a crisis is always an opportunity.The Chinese word for crisis has two characters: one meaning danger, the other opportunity, "says she.

In the short term, she says, it would make sense for China to buy the Italian Treasury bonds, which are active in Europe among the more volume and more liquid while providing an attractive return "if Excluding a scenario of extreme crisis. "

SECURE INVESTMENT

There is clearly a debate within the Chinese leadership on the pros and cons of going to the assistance of Europe.

Forum in Dalian last week, an adviser to the Chinese central bank, Daokui Li said that China should refrain from buying large volumes of European bonds.

In its edition for abroad, the People's Daily, for its part says that China should not act alone but work with other creditors, including the IMF, and ask that the euro area investment guarantees.

"Faced with latent systemic risk for European debt, China should both take the role of responsible great power but must also make security a prerequisite for an investment," said an editorial in Xiangyang Li, researcher international relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Etienne Reuter, Wen Jiabao wants to open China further and support the conservative voice of Europe, but among the other leaders argue that Beijing must be careful not to get too involved in other countries.

Chinese public opinion, at least as reflected by the blogs on the internet, look for caution on the issue of investment in Europe is for its part Bei Xu.

As for David Bowers, the financial advisory firm Absolute Strategy Research, the Committee is unlikely that China will take strategic initiatives to scale before the change of the management team in 2012, which should be reflected in particular by replacing Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

"The people that the Chinese are dealing, it is the Germans.Triple A is a nation like China, mercantile like China, and the Chinese could help them avoid making the taxpayers bear the German "a heavy burden, he said.

China is becoming the next two years the largest trading partner of Germany instead of France, noted David Bowers.

"They (the Chinese) will have to wait until Germany is clearer about what she wants in Europe," he said.

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.

Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has started negotiations for a merger, it was learned Thursday from three sources familiar with the discussions.

The negotiations, which have not been officially confirmed despite press leaks, cover a reconciliation of the two industrial activities in the field of energy generation and development of power systems "intelligent" ("smart grids") , the sources said.

Mergers are often seen in Japan as a last resort for firms in difficulty, but analysts point out that a strategic combination would enable Hitachi and Mitsubishi to achieve economies of scale to overcome the strong yen and win competitiveness.

"If the merger is confirmed, it would be very positive news for the Japanese industry, because companies would not get competition in the conquest of foreign capital projects, which would increase their chances while supporting the economy countries, "said Kiyoshi Noda, a fund manager at MU Investments.

Hitachi, the leading Japanese electronics industry but also a player in nuclear energy, posted its first net profit in five years on the year ended in March, after losing about $ 14.3 billion (9 , 99 billion euros) over the past ten years.

For its part, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a supplier of power plants and aerospace equipment from Boeing including Areva and continues to incur losses on its shipbuilding activities and aviation.

A merger of two industrial conglomerates would create the second largest player in the heavy equipment behind General Electric, with a turnover of about $ 150 billion.

Thursday at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Hitachi ended up 1.73%, while Mitsubishi Heavy jumped 3.44%.

TF1 reported Tuesday a sharp improvement in profitability in the first half thanks to cost savings and a return to growth in advertising revenue for its flagship channel in the second quarter, which boosted the price of its action.

In a statement released Tuesday, the television group maintains its forecast, however, considered conservative by analysts, stability of its consolidated sales throughout 2011, suggesting a continued lack of visibility on the evolution of conditions.

In early trading, the action blazes 4.9% to 13.35 euros while the index of pan-European media yields 0.4% at the same time.Since the beginning of the year, the title grew by 3.2% while its main rival M6, which will publish its half-year after the close of trading, 12.6% abandoned.

"The second quarter results were better than expected thanks to higher performance expectations of the TF1 channel," said one market participant, citing in particular the surprise increase in advertising revenue in the first string after a bumpy start to the year.

The advertising revenue of the chain's flagship group has returned to growth in the second quarter with sales up 0.7% after declining 2.6% in the first three months of the year sealed by poor hearing.

The market, which questioned the ability of TF1 to rise the prices of its advertising space in the second quarter in the absence of significant remontrée hearings, expected a decline of about 1%.

Of all the first six months of the year, advertising revenue declined, however, emerged from 0.9% to 764.6 million euros.

OPERATING INCOME surged 79%

The 43%-owned subsidiary of Bouygues also shows a jump of nearly 79% of its operating profit in the first half to 186.5 million euros against 136.5 million on average, expected by the market.

This sharp increase is due to new significant savings on the cost of grid TF1 which stood at 423.6 million, against 482.6 million during the same period last year.

The difference is mainly due to favorable basis of comparison, the channel that broadcast in June 2010 World Cup soccer.The net savings in terms of broadcasting rights, amounts to 49.3 million euros, TF1 said in a statement.

In contrast, sales of other activities of the group remained stable, rising advertising revenues and TMC NT1, the DTT channels redeemed last year was offset by the absence of income related to resale of sports rights.

Overall, the consolidated turnover of the group amounted to 1.3 billion euros, down 0.5% from the first half of 2010.

Net income Group share for its 118.6 million euros in the first half, against 74.2

A conference call for analysts is scheduled for 9:30.Group CEO, Nonce Paolini, could announce on this occasion it will request the free passage of its continuous news channel LCI.

The Dow Jones, owned by News Corp., announced Friday the resignation of its CEO, mixed with the wiretapping scandal that hits the media empire of Rupert Murdoch.

The Hinton was responsible for overseeing the British newspapers owned by News Corp. at the time of the alleged crime.

New Corp is particularly owner Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. The entire group is shaken from the revelation of multiple telephone answering machines hacks led by the tabloid News of the World, which has since been closed.

The group Total SA said Tuesday opt-out of the Consolidated Global Profit (BMC), which does not provide any tax benefit.

Only a few French multinationals are using this system, which integrates in taxable income results in France (and therefore the potential deficit) of foreign subsidiaries under their control. This "niche" tax is regularly called into question because it would allow them to pay less tax.

In an interview published on the site of Les Echos, the financial director of the oil company argued that this system has no benefit for the group since its only loss-making French operations are today.

"The BMC can be charged in France for losses incurred abroad.But insofar as we record losses in France, we do not pay corporate taxes in France, "observes Patrick of Chevardière.

"The refining business has been in deficit since 2008, amounting to almost 600 million euros last year.The last time the regime of worldwide profits had a positive impact on our taxes, it was in 2001, "he says.

The ability to waive this system had already been mentioned the last weekend by the CEO of Total, Christophe de Margerie.

The group has repeatedly reminded, however, he brought some 800 million euros in tax revenues to France, notably through the withholding tax on dividends, business tax, property taxes.