International Headlines and Stories

The wrong number of French industrial production in April cache of surprises. Certainly, the activity of the entire industry fell 0.3% over this period, while forecasters had expected a rise of 0.4% and economists agree to observe a slowdown of the dynamics the first quarter. But the details of the figures in April can put this performance-cons.

Besides the automotive industry continues to suffer with the end of the scrapping (-2.2% on the month), the energy seems to be the main cause of industrial slowdown in April. Electricity production (-5.6%) was significantly affected by unseasonable temperatures, households cut heating, explain heart economists at BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.Same explanation for the drop of 7.5% of the refining, weighed by lower consumption of heating oil.

The average temperature in April has exceeded its normal seasonal 1.7 degrees, placing the period from seven months to April the warmest since 1950. Beware, however: "The figures are very volatile energy from one month to another and this subset weighs relatively little in the overall index of industrial production," Camille Williencourt shade, Natixis.

Other areas seem to have benefited from a recovery in investment. Equipment and electrical machinery and electronics rose 1.3% in just one month, offsetting a fall in March. Transport equipment, non-automotive jumped 2.5%."These figures are in line with the recent study by INSEE on the investment outlook, anticipating a strong rebound in business spending on equipment", says Michael Martinez, of Société Générale CIB.

Still, he recalls Camille Williencourt that "the French industrial activity is expected to slow significantly in 2011 after rising 5.1% in 2010." It is difficult to predict how the magnitude of the slowdown, according to the economist, with one side a weakened consumer spending in France, but on the other, very dynamic export to Germany.

It's a heavyweight who joined the circuit on Tuesday from the Banque Populaire Group in sailing. Loick Peyron (5 league titles on the circuit Orma, winner of the 2nd edition of the Barcelona World Race with Jean-Pierre Dyck, twice winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre) became the new skipper Maxi Banque Populaire V. In Focus a single objective: toppling the Jules Verne Trophy record held since March 2010 by Franck Cammas on Groupama (48 days 7 hours and 344 minutes). A world tour tried – and failed – by the Banque Populaire Group in early 2011, with its iconic skipper Pascal Bidégorry.

"Loïck Peyron is someone who has an aura in sport," said Olivier Klein, CEO of commercial banking and insurance BPCE. The arrival condition of the sailor of 52 years are clear."He joins us for the period 2011-2012 in particular for the record attempt the Jules Verne Trophy," he says. Our goal was to find someone whose legitimacy was denied on the circuit and whose track record enabled him to succeed this season. We have an appetite for victories and high standards, "he adds. The Jules Verne Trophy is also a family affair for the Peyron. Bruno Peyron in a three-time holder with two ships, Commodore Explorer, and especially Orange 2.

Tight schedule

The timing of Loïck Peyron and his crew are more than busy, with a break-in period that may be very minimal entry into the heart of the matter will soon June 17, SNSM with the trophy (won by Loïck Peyron in 2008), followed by 13 to 15 August it will be time for the Fastnet, before positioning itself for a new record attempt the Jules Verne Trophy this winter.

Present in sailing for 22 years, Banque Populaire bet on the "giants of the seas." The group was one of the pillars of the circuit Orma, and has developed no less than 5 multihull ocean. In 2006, the bank of the sail is the choice of major records. "We found an alternative to these big races, but with the demise of this circuit, we had to get into the big record," says Chantal Petrachi, communications director of Banque Populaire. That's when we started the construction of the maxi-trimaran 40 meters. Cost of operation: 11 million euros.

With the arrival of Loïck Peyron, the Banque Populaire loop device sail for its 2012 edition, year of the next Vendée Globe. The Team has established race team, led by Ronan Lucas and no fewer than three major projects.Besides the Jules Verne Trophy, the bank is engaged in the Imoca circuit. In April, former skipper of Brit'Air, Armel Le Cléac'h, joined the team to retrieve the bar of the old monohull Foncia, bought late 2010 and refurbished by the bank in anticipation of the next Jacques Vabre and the Vendée Globe. Jeanne Gregory, the group is also engaged in the Figaro circuit.

"Three in four French people know Banque Populaire bank as sailing. We therefore had to have a comprehensive approach on the sector, for example, from clubs and sailing schools. The veil is a very high surface exposure for a brand because we give our name to a boat or a team, "says Olivier Klein.The Banque Populaire Group is also a partner of the French Sailing Federation for 11 years, it maintains the history of the Pen Duick alongside Eric Tabarly association and supports teams of France's Olympic sailing next pure OJ London.

The health alert was launched Thursday by the European authorities. Three cucumbers from Spain, and perhaps also from the Netherlands, are the cause of the contamination of 276 persons to the enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) in Germany. Two have died after contracting hemolytic uremic syndrome, which manifests itself especially by bloody diarrhea.

Across Europe, national health authorities are looking into whether contaminated cucumbers are on their soil. Result of this tracking, Friday morning, Denmark indicated that the lots were problematic in two wholesalers. These have been withdrawn from sale. The Danish health agency recommended that consumers not eat raw cucumbers from Spain or tomatoes and salad from northern Germany.

"In the midst of proceedings"

In France, the hunt is underway."To our knowledge, there is no contaminated lots in France," said a spokesman Interfel, the professional association for fruit and vegetables. Thanks to the labeling requirement, it is possible to reconstruct the path of the affected vegetables from producer to distributor, even when a lot was broken by a wholesaler. "We are proceeding rapidly," nuance does one side of the DGCCRF (Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control).

The tracing stops when the product was sold, investigators can not trace back to the consumer's fridge. Germany is a major consumer of cucurbits in Spain. She is also the first client, with 80,569 tonnes imported in the first three months of the year, according to figures from the inter Spanish fruit and vegetables.France has for its part consumed 13,294 tons of cucumbers in Spain over the same period.

Health authorities are uploaded to the producers of cucumbers, organic gardening regions of Almeria and Malaga. Investigations have been launched in Germany to determine if other cucurbits infected come from other regions. In Spain, "the Andalusian authorities are currently investigating to find out where the contamination and when it occurred," said a spokesman for the Spanish Food Safety Agency (EASA).

"We do not know where is the contamination occurred and the European Commission highlighted the fact that it occurred outside the country of origin" of cucumbers, said Friday the Spanish Minister of Agriculture Rosa Aguilar.So far there is no evidence and there is no evidence that this could happen in the country of origin. "

Washing vegetables

The Spaniards are wondering, according to a European source, if the cucumbers were not contaminated by falling on the ground at Hamburg. "Usually, vegetables are not high-risk products, but may be soiled or in contact with the ground during transport," says one to the DGCCRF. Wash and peel vegetables would reduce by almost 90% less chance of contamination.

Over the years, the credit card has become the preferred means of payment by the French, far ahead of the check. Very practical, its use costs, however, rather expensive, according to a study of the UFC-Que Choisir on Tuesday. This points to the "opacity of costs" charged by banks. Beginning with the annual fee, which averages to 47.80 euros. The most common international standard card with immediate debit (72.3% of users), is itself, charged EUR 36.30 per year on average. "Now, 15.30 euro had" no economic justification Identified, "says UFC-Que Choisir.

Adjust their shopping with a credit card can also be very expensive, if payment incident.Especially since, in most cases (64% of purchases), the payment terminal of the merchant does not verify the consumer's account is sufficiently powered.

Result, the consumer too much cricket will be charged fees, commissions called for intervention (8.50 euros on average per transaction). Customers without overdraft (23% in 2010 according to the documentary credit) would pay annually 2.7 billion euros in fresh incidents due to their credit card, including 1.8 billion euros for the only commissions intervention whereas the processing cost of these operations is evaluated by the CFU to 172 million. "This represents 83% margins for banks," Alain Bazot advance, the president of the Association, which campaigns for the abolition of these commissions.It will soon present to the Ministry of Economy of proposals to achieve a "credit card responsibly."

Strong reaction from banks

Just like what happens to our neighbors, she also advocates changing to a system that would systematically check whether the client can pay his purchase. It also proposes to set up a "modular card," because "banks are distributing cards are oversized in relation to the real needs of customers."

Banks have reacted strongly Tuesday. French Banking Federation (FBF) has reiterated that the "system of bank cards offer a service from a very high quality appreciated by customers."In addition, "certain proposals of the UFC-Que Choisir go against the freedom of customer choice and lead to an overall decline in the level of service, as the desire to impose a system to permit systematic" concludes the FBF.

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This had not happened for a month. The Cac 40 closed on Monday below 4000 points, among others penalized by bank stocks. Investors worried about a new crisis on the debt of the euro area after the arrest of the International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Leaded by the poor performance of banking stocks all morning, stock index is now up in the green, thanks to the rebound … banks.The Cac 40 rose 0.21% to 3998.06 points, flirting with 4000 points.

At the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 fell by 0.33% to 5,904.27 points and Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the DAX 30 lost 0.55% to 7346.81 points.

Monday night, Wall Street has ended the session down in response to the publication of indicators revealing the fragility of U.S. recovery.

The Euro continues Tuesday

In the absence of corporate results announcements, the index will evolve with ads that will be made following the meeting of EU finance ministers to discuss particular mechanisms of financial aid in the euro area. On the issue of Greece's debt, the Europeans are divided.

After starting the session again difficult, banking stocks will resume in late morning.BNP Paribas climbed from 1.32% to 53.78 euros, gaining 0.55% Natixis to 3.82 euros, Societe Generale rising from 1.23% to 42.44 euros and Credit Agricole takes 0.18% to 10 95 euros.

EU: lower sales of new cars

On the macroeconomic front, the new car registrations in the European Union fell 2.7% annual rate over the months from January to April, according to figures released Tuesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea). On April alone, new registrations 1089.118 were recorded, representing a decline of 4.1% over one year.

Peugeot was down 1.07% to 30.136 euros and Renault lost 0.66% to 39.79 euros.

United States, are scheduled starts of dwellings in April (14.30) and industrial production in April (15.15).

On the currency markets, the euro rose slightly against the dollar, from 0.16% to 1.4183 dollar.

Energy stocks retreat

On the corporate side, the energy values ​​suffer from the decline in commodity prices. Total coward 0.88% to 40.20 euros and Vallourec dropped 1.04% to 87.69 euros.EDF lost 0.71% to 28.67 euros and GDF Suez sold 0.83% to 25.66 euros.

Bouygues: -3.90% to 32.64 euros (largest decrease in the Cac 40)

Bouygues raised slightly on Monday its goal of annual sales after a first quarter marked by a rebound in activity but penalized at the net contribution by Alstom.

Vivendi: +0.36% at 19.30 euros

Vivendi announced Monday it had obtained signed with a syndicate of 17 banks a new line of credit totaling € 5 billion that will allow it to optimize the management of its bank debt at the time of the acquisition of the 44 % of SFR held by Vodafone.

Publicis: 0.29% to 38.58 euros

Publicis buys U.S. digital marketing agency Rosetta for at least $ 575 million – the agreement provides that an additional payment may be made in 2014 to Rosetta in the case of good performance over the period 2011-2013.

Carrefour wants IPO for its real estate assets

Carrefour: 2.26% to 30.95 euros (largest increase Cac 40)

During its Investor Day being held in Paris from 9:15 Carrefour confirmed its intention to IPO for its real estate assets, Carrefour Property.

The group also said that the demerger of its business Dia hard discount will be in the form of the distribution of a dividend. Carrefour expects the IPO of Dia in Madrid on July 5 is valued at about four billion euros.

The restructuring announced by giant ThyssenKrupp has obviously taken over the political authorities in Germany. Christian Wulff, German Federal President, showed his annoyance by canceling his visit was to perform Sunday at the site of the new steel giant group in Brazil.

This production unit, located next to Rio de Janeiro is very important for ThyssenKrupp. It cost more than EUR 5 billion, making it the largest investment in its history. In addition, the visit must be conducted by Heinrich Hiesinger, the chairman of ThyssenKrupp. The refusal of Christian Wulff is a setback for the German group.

It is true that the political authorities, which are historically very close to the leaders of the steelmaker, may be concerned by the magnitude of the restructuring announced on Friday morning.ThyssenKrupp will sell or restructure almost a quarter of its turnover, more than 10 billion euros of business. 35,000 jobs are concerned, a little over 177,000 for the whole group.

Diversified industrial group

It's not about job cuts outright, but transfers or outsourcing. Nevertheless, all these activities are not profitable and negative consequences on employment in the future are possible. In addition, ThyssenKrupp executives have said for months that they wanted to improve their credit ratings by agencies. A will rarely compatible with social concerns guaranteed online payday loans.

The announced restructuring will not profoundly change the profile of ThyssenKrupp, which appears more like a diversified industrial group than as a pure steelmaker. In this activity, it occupies today as the twentieth largest in the world.But it is also present in the elevators, with a position of world number three, shipbuilding, automotive and construction of turnkey plants.

The new group's strategy is not to focus solely on the business of steelmaker. The announced measures do in fact only two activities: steel industry and automotive equipment. In this division, three companies, which together 2.2 billion euros in billings, will be transferred while two others, also posting 2.2 billion euros of turnover, will be met, before being eventually sold or find a partner.

The most important movement, however, concerns the branch "stainless steel", that ThyssenKrupp will transform into an independent company. This activity is the leading European, with a turnover of 5.9 billion euros.During the year ended last Sept. 30, it lost 57 million euros. Of the 35,000 people affected by restructuring the steel industry alone employs 11,000 employees. This activity is likely to be observed carefully by German politicians, because the area is known to concentrate in the coming months.

Back to normal view for luxury in Japan after the earthquake of 11 March. This is the forecast that are several French captains of this industry in Japan. While LVMH has announced a decline in sales of 9% in the first quarter, and even 25% on the month of March but the improvement is already noticeable. "Activity in our 58 stores is almost back to normal. Sales to daily are the same or even higher than those recorded last year. We lost the moment the customer of Chinese tourists, but it will come back, "said Yves Carcelle. The CEO of Louis Vuitton came last week to comfort his team from Sendai store, near the epicenter of the quake, which just reopened its doors. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, would go to turn in a few weeks.

Same story with Chanel."I gave my team early in the crisis time to turn around, put their family's safety. Today, they are very dynamic. Sales are surprisingly quite good in perfumes and beauty, excellent in fine jewelry and watches, and gradually resume mode, but it takes a little longer. The best way to respond to the earthquake is to resume activities as normally as possible, what we do, "said Richard Collasse, President of Chanel Japan.

Boom in marriages

They said the stores – whose sales have dropped 15% in March – irritated against the big brands who decided by mutual agreement to close a few days their "corners" at home in the middle of the crisis. Today, the page appears rotated. "Department stores have more need than the other French brands.It is we who generate the traffic, "the representative slides of a mark in the archipelago.

Beyond the earthquake and tsunami, the Japanese market trends toward a settlement will parallel the aging population. A study by Deutsche Bank, the Japanese consume a quarter of global luxury goods market. Japan still remains the largest market for Louis Vuitton (18% of its turnover, according to our sources), while the Chinese are the first customer in the world. "Luxury in Japan has long enjoyed a very favorable position, thanks to the strong yen. Today, the Japanese market is normalizing, affects older people, with sophisticated tastes.Consumers are more individualistic, as shown by the success of our offer personalized, "says Yves Carcelle.

More surprising factor and optimism: the explosion of the market for jewelry related to engagement and marriage for a month in Japan, observed by all brands in the industry. It comes in a parallel boom in marriages. "People want to live," says a French boss of the industry.

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The oil services group announced Thursday morning that net income for the first quarter of 104.3 million euros, up 8.8% over the same period last year. This result comes from a quarterly turnover shows an increase over one year of similar magnitude (+8.9%) to $ 1.4362 billion euros. These quarterly revenue slightly below expectations, but net income, it exceeds the expectations of analysts.

This difference is explained by the better than expected recovery in operating margin of Technip. Reaching 10.1% in the quarter, it is higher by 1.3 points in the consensus of analysts. It is still a little worse than the first quarter of 2010 (-0.3 points).

The Europe-Russia-Central Asia, the largest market Technip

The sales increase was primarily in the Europe-Russia-Central Asia.In this area, sales surged by 49.6% over one year to 398 million euros. The Europe-Russia-Central Asia became the first market Technip, while at the same time last year, it generated less revenue than the African zone (down from 2.7% in the first quarter this year ) and especially, the American zone. Largest market last year, the region saw its American sales by 22.1% melt over one year to 243.6 million euros, becoming the third largest market group.

The group's net cash position remains essentially unchanged at 1.3 billion euros, or 2.4% less than at the end of December.

Technip believes that its results "demonstrate the value of activity based on a diversified backlog."It confirmed its guidance for fiscal 2011 and expects its annual turnover is 6.5 to 6.7 billion euros, with a margin combined operating Subsea between 6% and 6, 5%.

Second consecutive year of decline for the Nintendo group. The Japanese video game specialist has published annual results on Monday in freefall. Its net profit fell 66.1% to 77.6 billion yen (648 million). Its operating profit tumbled 52% to 171.1 billion yen (1.43 billion euros) in respect of the 2010-2011 year ending 31 March. Figures well below market expectations.

These poor results are explained by the slowdown in sales of the Wii home console blockbuster, but aging of Nintendo. The group has sold just over 15 million in 2010-2011, against 20.1 million the previous year. In addition, the launch of the new handheld 3DS relief was too late to be able to save the year of manufacturer.

The console manufacturer table for 2012 on the results up, but below analysts' forecasts.Nintendo says count on an operating profit of 175 billion yen for the year 2011-2012, against a consensus of 215.8 billion yen. "The market reaction should be bad," said Yusuke Tsunoda, a financial analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities, quoted by Bloomberg. "Sales of Wii expected to drop as the group probably provides lower prices on the console."

"New Play"

The Japanese video game giant has tried to reassure. He announced the presentation of the successor to the Wii on June 7 at the electronics show in Los Angeles, E3. The group declined to give details, except that it will offer "a new way of playing at home," said CEO Satoru Iwata.

However, information already leaked to the press.Much more powerful than the Wii, it would be equipped with high definition, like its competitors Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The Japanese group have also developed a new kind of controller, which is akin to a touch pad. One way to compete with smartphones that break into mobile video games. Nintendo's portable console, the DS has seen its sales plummet by 10 million units this year to 17.5 million.

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Pay by phone, we talk about it as a promising technology but the market struggled to take off in France. According to Les Echos published on Thursday, Google has partnered with two leaders in the market of payment terminals, French and U.S. Verizon Ingenico to continue his research on this project.

Still experimental, the NFC for Near Field Communication "helps pay for purchases with a mobile phone equipped with a chip adapted. According to Bloomberg, Google plans to test the next four months, the use of these new payment terminals in shops in New York and San Francisco and then to extend the trial to the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC.

21% Ingenico terminals sold

At Ingenico, NFC weighs more heavily in sales: The manufacturer stated a few days ago that its sales of contactless payment terminals in 2010 accounted for 21% of handsets sold, up 50% one year.

At the Paris Bourse, the French manufacturer's partnership with the giant Google has been welcomed by investors: one hour after the opening, title Ingenico climbs 4 no fax pay day loans.94% to 27.94 euros.

Other groups are organizing to floor on the development of this technology that will better know the buying habits of consumers and offer more targeted ads.Thus, Apple also offers services to transform its Ingenico iPod touch and iPhone into means of payment with a solution called "ISMP".

The latest example, the Franco-Italian STMicroelectronics, a supplier of secure microcontrollers, and smart card manufacturer Gemalto French announced Monday a partnership to jointly develop services based on NFC technology.

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