My Business News

The new French government has a very limited room for maneuver in fiscal policy due to "insecurity" of the economy and finance of the country, said ; Tuesday near the German Chancellor.

Peter Altmaier, charged with enforcing voting discipline within the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) Angela Merkel, said he was disappointed with the victory of socialist Francois Hollande to the presidential election in France but confident in the fact that the EU should continue to make debt reduction a priority.

"The economy of France and the country's finances remain in a precarious state," said Peter Altmaier to the press. 

"Any country that tries to pursue a policy of increasing its supply deficits would quickly back to the markets and interest rates would increase," he added ;. "There is no flexibility."

François Hollande promised during his campaign including increasing the minimum wage, create jobs in the field of education and return to the rising age of retirement.

Many analysts expect him to return part or all of these promises after conducting an audit of the finances of France, to be completed ; next month.

Peter Altmaier said he was confident that once the French parliamentary elections over, it would be possible for Berlin to reach a compromise with Paris to reaffirm "once and for all "that the reduction of budget deficits is the only way forward for Europe.

While patronnat is concerned about a downturn, unions undertake a standoff and claim 6.5% increase in wages, after fifteen years of freezing. The BMW company was hit by labor movements in Germany

Wage disputes are concentrated in Germany, where employees want to finally enjoy the fruits of 15 years of austerity facing employers who are concerned about a slowdown in the economy. In a ritual of the social agenda German IG Metall, which appears as the first union in the world, showed its muscle this week, organizing walkouts across the country who have gathered more than 160,000 employees. These demonstrations of workers wearing red hats or caps, hit the icons of the German model, such as Bosch, Siemens or BMW.  

Moreover the union negotiates for more than 3.5 million employees of metallurgy, machine tools, automotive or semiconductor, its counterpart in the Verdi services organized strikes involving 15,000 employees, Deutsche Telekom and do the same account in the bank (220,000 employees in question). "The pressure is the barometer of wage negotiations", welcomed the leader of IG Metall in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the industrial Ruhr Valley, Oliver Burkhard. "This clearly means that employers must move".

Of excessive wage increases "would weaken the companies, which some can not afford," said his side the boss of bosses of metallurgy, Martin Kannegiesser, while the latest indicators point to a clear slowdown in the industry. IG Metall demanded 6.5% increase in wages, but the final round of negotiations failed, the employers are not willing to grant that 3%. Company officials estimate that the German economy ate his white bread in 2010/2011 and will now suffer from the crisis in its European neighbors. "The industry has had very good results last year (and) the employees want their fair share," however, "the success of the German economy appears to be blunted," Analysis Hilmar Schneider, of the Research Institute on the Future of Work (Bonn).

Germany, with unemployment of only 7%, beginning to feel the effects of the crisis affecting its neighbors, although it continues to fare better. This year, the level of "claims is unusual, edged with a long period of 15 years of payroll deduction," said Eckart Tuchtfeld, labor market specialist at Commerzbank. Whatever the outcome of the standoff, "the agreements will be higher" than in previous years, he predicted, partly because of the 6.3% increase over two years obtained by two million employees of Public in April. "We feel that (the movement) is not just this year but there is a real turning to broader increases of 3% per year as against 1-2% before," said Mr. Tuchtfeld. He said the talks marked a turnaround for the unions who walked hand in hand with management, making concessions on wages to promote the competitiveness of companies in the name of the job.

Overall, "the power of employees is growing" skilled in many areas, where lack of manpower will increase due to the accelerated aging of the German population, abundant Warsewa Gunter, director of the Institute for work (Bremen University). However, "the German system of social negotiations can still get a result smart," he said. "The unions will not jeopardize the growth and productivity," he adds.

BNP Paribas, which posted first quarter net profit boosted by a gain on the sale of a block of Klépierre, said Friday be able to complete its plan to reduce the size of its balance sheet this summer.

The French bank said it had to end in March made 80% of its plan, launched at the beginning of last fall at the higher of the debt crisis in the euro area, after be reduced by 63 billion euros of its risk-weighted risk, including 16 billion over the first three months of the year.

"We can lock him in the summer," said Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, the CEO of BNP Paribas, in an interview with Reuters. 

At the Paris Stock Exchange, BNP Paribas, which had opened lower, was up slightly from 0.43% to 29.22 euros at 9:29, outperforming the bank Europé in (0.29%).

Some managers pointed out that despite good results on bills in the first quarter, the French banking stocks suffering from uncertainty about the macroeconomic environment and concerns over the euro area . In France, banks are also under threat of a major reform of the sector if the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande wins the presidential election Sunday.

"I found good results, in almost all divisions. Solvency is still a very important point," said Yohan Salleron, manager at Mandarine Gestion. "Nevertheless, we see some negative reaction, linked to the problem of the banking room, especially on the French market where investors expect a little clarification side of politics. "

NO NEW DISCONTINUED POSTS

Are feared while new waves of industrial restructuring after the presidential election, particularly in the banking sector, BNP Paribas ensures not to provide new measures of job cuts after presidential election.

Nearly 1,400 positions are already about to be deleted in the banking and investment banking. The voluntary separation plan should be completed by end June

In the first quarter, net earnings from BNP Paribas was up by nearly 10%, to 2.86 billion euros, after integrating in its accounts a gain 1.8 billion on the sale of an interest in the property group Klépierre.

The French bank said that excluding special items, net income for the period spring down 22% to two billion euros.

According to the Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S, analysts on average expected a net profit of 2.344 million euros. 

For comparison, Societe Generale reported Thursday a net profit of 732 million euros for the first three months of the year, down 20%, supported by the results of its operations on interest rates, currencies and commodities.

"TOO SOON" FOR A TARGET ROE

Hired as many European banks in a program to reduce the size of its balance sheet and strengthen its financial strength, BNP Paribas is to end on March 1 capital ratio 'hard' to 10.4%.

The bank said the coup had "substantially" exceeded the goal of equity of 9% required by the EBA to late June. 

Due to lack of visibility on the new regulatory environment, it refuses to give a target return on equity (ROE) for the future. This amounts to 11.5% at end March.

"It is too early to give this kind of goal," said Jean-Laurent Bonnafé. "We still need clarification on the new regulation on liquidity ratios on capital requirements."

If he refused to make any comment on the election issue for banks, the CEO of BNP Paribas notes, however, that Francois Hollande and the president-candidate Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to fight the deficit and to support growth.

Of macroeconomic indicators below expectations in the euro area and the U.S. pushed the stock markets and the euro Wednesday, while bonds were quite popular . The close of stock markets in Europe, however, has carried on diverging paths.

In Paris the CAC 40 closed up 0.42% or 13.53 points to 3226.33 points. In Frankfurt, however, the DAX fell 0.75%. In London, the FTSE has lost 0.93%.

Values, UBS ended up 3.7%. The Swiss bank has published a quarterly net income reduced by more than half by an exceptional charge but strong results from its flagship private banking seem likely to strengthen its strategic ; gy refocusing.

BSkyB gained 1.5%. The first UK pay-TV on Wednesday released a record operating profit in the first nine months of its fiscal year, a growing number of customers who subscribe to its services telephony and broadband networks.

Side indicators, industrial activity in the euro area contracted again in April while the slowdown in the periphery appears to be spreading to France and Germany , according to final data from Markit survey of purchasing managers.

The unemployment rate in the euro zone was 10.9% in March, its highest level in 15 years, mainly because of increases in Italy and Spain. 

Moreover, job creation in the private sector last month in the U.S. proved well below expectations, according to the results of the monthly survey ADP. It was created 119,000 jobs in April, while the market expected 177,000 additional jobs.

The ADP survey is considered a leading indicator of monthly statistics on employment figures which are expected Friday. Economists polled by Reuters expect 170,000 jobs created in the private and the public but non-agricultural sector in April after 120,000 net new jobs announced in March.

In addition, industrial orders recorded in March in the U.S. their largest decline in three years mainly because of a decline in demand for equipment in the transport sector.

The euro fell for the third consecutive session against the dollar. It was a moment touched 1.3121 dollars, its lowest in more than a week.

Traders await a possible signal that the ECB must make its decision Thursday monetary policy. Political uncertainties related to the elections in France and Greece could bring the European currency below the $ 1.30.

The meeting should not lead to dramatic decisions because interest rates of the ECB are already at historic lows and many officials in Germany and elsewhere in the euro area, believe that we now expect that the massive injections of liquidity in recent months take effect.

Executive Director of the IMF is confident that the fund benefit from a strong increase in resources will devote to help countries protect themselves or to die make the debt crisis of the euro area, now that Europe has taken its own measures.

Believing that "the euro area is the epicenter of the potential risk" to a global economic recovery "timid and fragile," Christine Lagarde also urged European authorities to directly inject some funds from international aid troubled banks.

"We believe our firepower will increase substantially as a result of this meeting," she said at a news conference at the start of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. 

The IMF wants to recover at least $ 400 billion of new money, which would double its resources to address the crisis in the euro area and its aftermath.

He has collected so far $ 320 billion, from the Europeans and Japanese. He wants to see the major emerging economic powers make their contribution, which are reluctant as they have no assurance they will have greater control over the management of the Fund.

Greece, Portugal and Ireland have already received a combined support of the European Union and the IMF and the markets fear that as it may The same shortly for other countries in the eurozone such as Spain and Italy.

The finance ministers of the BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa – were to meet Thursday in Washington and the question of IMF financing will certainly be addressed. 

This increase in IMF resources should also be discussed by the Group of Seven (G7) at an informal meeting Thursday, mandated by the Group of Twenty (G20) on the occasion of a dinner ; dinner and meeting again Friday.

"Ensuring that the Fund has sufficient resources to handle crises and promote global economic stability is in the interest of all Member States," said Christine Lagarde Wednesday.

The spring meetings will conclude on Saturday by a steering committee meeting of the IMF Development Committee and joint IMF / World Bank.

Christine Lagarde praised European initiatives but also felt that the bailout mechanisms could be used to directly inject capital into banks. 

"The European Stability Mechanism (MES) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) may actually participate with respect to recapitalize, anywhere in the euro area", has she said.

European shares ended higher after a session sawtooth, like the other days of the week, markets have not yet exhausted potential correction, say some observers.

In Paris the CAC 40 index closed up 0.99% at 3269.79 points, is back above its 200 days moving average.

Among the major European markets, London and Frankfurt gained 1.34% 1.03% but Madrid, affected by concerns over its sovereign debt, lost 0.75%. Of the European indices, the Euro Stoxx 50 has been 0.46% and 1.01% Eurofirst 300. Cyclical stocks led the way increases, including commodity index which took 3.03%.

Values, STMicrolectronics ended up 4%, while Schneider Electric gained 3.9%. A reversal of the trend, Vivendi ended down 1.76%, the worst performance on the CAC 40.

"There is a rumor circulating on the Chinese GDP tomorrow (Friday) … rumor of 9% instead of 8.40% expected," said one trader. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the announcement of a GDP growth of 8.3% in China in the first quarter versus the same period last year.

Investment funds have expressed their interest brands to buy AIM, the company specializes in equipment for the home, told Reuters sources in the environment capital investment.

AIM was acquired in 2008 by a consortium of three private equity fund, Colony Capital, Goldman Sachs and OpCapita.

The cycle of the investment matures and these funds are now ready to consider offers of redemption after such changed direction and set up an operational turnaround, explained the sources.

"There is no formal mandate given to the sale of AIM but it's an asset on which there are signs of interest that are being studied by the shareholders," said , a source told Reuters. 

None of the owners contacted by Reuters has declined to comment.

For the head of AIM, it is natural that funds begin to approach the shareholders of the sign, but said not to be aware of a specific offer.

"We are in a period when the fund begins to ask for his release after four years of investment. On the other side there are a lot of money available, so the files look the funds, "said CEO Regis Schultz

……. .. For him, the operational performance of BUT could encourage investment funds to look at the file

. "We have growth in average 7% annually over the past three years and we are almost 1.2 billion euros in sales for AIM SA and 1.8 billion total for the brand ", has He detailed

. "Ebitda (gross operating surplus) is just over 80 million euros. "GOAL

announced in early March have reached a market share of 10.3% in 2011 against 9.2% in 2008. The brand also announced last year have transferred the walls 25 of its stores in France for 200 million euros.

GOAL has also indicated that it would open in early March this year for the first time a store in Paris, avenue de Wagram, near the Place de l'Etoile.

A possible sale of BUT would intervene when the market of private equity and mergers and acquisitions has stalled, a victim of the cumulative effects of the credit crunch and economic slump.

If investment bankers cite numerous potential issues as the Alain Afflelou or Redcats division of PPR, few transactions have reached the stage of a firm offer. 

The M & A transactions involving at least one French company totaled January-March $ 14.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data released on March 23, ….. …

almost three times less than the same period last year.

Turkey has maintained a growth rate near the Chinese last year. The crisis in the eurozone is expected to slow to just 4% in 2012 before an expected rebound next year.

A little slack in the fourth quarter prevented the Turkish economy as well as to China in 2011. It has not been less vigorous growth of 8.5% over the last year, announced Monday the statistical institute, TUIK, against 9.2% for the Middle Kingdom. The government expected a growth of about 8.0% in 2011. In the first three quarters, it was 9.6%. But slowed to 5.2% in the fourth.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita reached 10,444 dollars (780 euros) or $ 365 more than in 2010, according to the TUIK. "The growth rate is probably the second highest in the world, after China", welcomed the Minister for Science, Industry and Technology Nihat Ergun, was quoted by the Anatolia news agency.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek for his part stressed that the rate was in line with government expectations, which in a challenging global economy is trying to organize a "soft landing" of its economy. "The figures in the last quarter show that the soft landing process continues at a steady pace, in line with government objectives," said Mr. Simsek to Anatolia.

The government forecasts growth of 4% in 2012 in the wake of the crisis in the eurozone but believes that this slowdown will be short lived. In 2013 and 2014, Ankara expects a 5% rate. "With the good growth performance and discipline policies implemented in the process of improving indices of the Turkish public debt continues," said Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan was quoted as saying.

"While concerns grow about public finance from developed countries, the improvement in Turkey's public deficit and debt burden will be important to maintain confidence and sustainable growth based on private sector demand "added Babacan. Turkey, a country of about 73 million people, political power and regional 17th world economy had grown by 8.9% in 2010.

The U.S. consumer sentiment rebounded in March to its highest level for over a year, the optimism generated by the development of employment and income offsetting the impact of rising Pump prices show Friday the final results of the monthly Thomson Reuters-University of Michigan.

The confidence index rose to 76.2, its highest since February 2011, against 75.3 in February.

A first estimate had given it to 74.3 two weeks ago and economists polled by Reuters on average expected a figure of 74.7.

"Consumer confidence has picked up, the more favorable trends in income and employment offsetting higher fuel prices," said Richard Curtin, head of the investigation in a statement. 

The consumer component of the judgment on the current economic situation rose three points to 86.0 in March, again its highest level since February 2011.

Expectations that spring to 69.8 according to final results, against 68.0 in the first estimate but down from February (70.3). Economists expect the same.

A consortium of Areva, GDF Suez and Vinci on Monday unveiled plans to build three large offshore wind farms in Normandy with an investment of 2.5 to 3 billion euros per site.

Each of the three sites – at Dieppe and Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) and Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados) – should consist of a fleet of approximately 125 wind turbines supplying any 600-700 MGW or almost the equivalent of a nuclear reactor.

Le Havre will be the hub of the project, with two factories, one for the manufacture of wind turbine blades, one for the assembly of nacelles. 

The presidents of the three companies unveiled before their elected officials project that is supported by the Deposit and Consignment Office (CDC) and for which the choice of participants should be known before the presidential election.

If the government retains the proposals of the consortium, the CEO of Vinci, Xavier Huillard, estimated the necessary investments to about 2.5 to 3 billion per site.

Mestrallet, CEO of GDF Suez own view was that 6,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created.

The CEO of CDC Infrastructure, Jean Bensaid, provides that these plants deployed in 50.000 m2 will help "create a chain of offshore wind power in our country" to export, especially to the United Kingdom, which announced a major plan in this field.

The success of these ambitions is to award to the consortium of two or three sites of Normandy, according to Mestrallet.

Luke Oursel, CEO of Areva, is optimistic, given the weight and experience of the three groups involved.

"Today we have 120 wind turbines on order, a proven product in a hostile environment", the North Sea, he said. These wind turbines are manufactured by the French group at its factory in Bremerhaven, Germany.