International Headlines and Stories

The company stationery Sequana released on Wednesday its 2009 results. Its sales are down 17.43% to 4.088 billion euros, "in a particular market deteriorated in 2009," the statement said. Despite this significant decline in activity, the group managed to improve its performance and profitability. Its operating income was up slightly to 137 million euros, which represents a rate of operating margin of 3.4% thanks to lower raw material costs.

The group returned to profit, which reached 20 million euros against a loss in 2008 of 428 million cash advance to savings account .The Board of Directors of Sequana propose to the AGM on May 19 to pay a dividend of 0.35 euro per share.

Outlook 2010

This year, Sequana plans to reduce costs and achieve superior operational performance to that of 2009. Also one of his goals is it to pursue its debt reduction that has already fallen in 2009 to 140 million euros to 651 million.

• Arkema back in the green and beats consensus
• Veolia tumbles 19% on the Stock Exchange after posting its results
• Suez Environnement exceeds expectations
• The advantage of EDF sealed by provisions
• The increase in oil prices pulls results from Total