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Osamu Masuko and Philippe Varin has been clear at the motor show in Geneva: the respective presidents of Mitsubishi Motors and Peugeot have refused any alliance capital, which they deemed "inappropriate."

The outcome was expected, since some sources close to the matter had acknowledged that the proposed strategic merger was stalled. The French manufacturer had to be majority stake in its Japanese counterpart.

But the results from Mitsubishi – the Japanese carmaker reported Wednesday a net loss of 25.7 billion yen (195 million euros) over the first nine months of fiscal year 2009-2010 decreased by 29 3% – and the level of recovery action deemed "overvalued" by PSA eventually convince a capital alliance would not be appropriate.Philippe Varin, outside the motor show, said he wanted to maintain "financial strength" of the group.

PSA was confirmed in December of discussions for a "strategic partnership", according to information from the Japanese press that the French group was preparing to buy 30 to 50% stake in Mitsubishi Motors.

Both manufacturers have nevertheless confirmed that they will continue their industrial cooperation, particularly in "the environment and products," said the president of Mitsubishi. In an interview with Echos on Wednesday, the president of PSA has raised the possibility of building with the Japanese automaker a "small car, which is sold under our three brands, like the 4×4 today.

The French automaker announced last February 10 a net loss of 1.161 billion euros in fiscal 2009, more than three times more than the 363 million euro loss a year ago. The turnover amounted to decline from 10.9% to 48.417 billion euros.

Mitusbishi Motors closed up 0.76% at the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 0.31% to 10,253 points.

The year 2010 will she, socially, as difficult as the year 2009? After the leaders of the metallurgical Swedish Akers, it was the turn of those of Pier Import of being selected by employees angry. They are fifty, working in 25 stores pending closure, to have forced two of their leaders, the CEO Sonia Ben Behe and CEO Gerard Démaret to spend the night Monday in their office.

The group's employees placed in bankruptcy protection since September, and reiterated recently by the group atmospheres, hope to obtain supra-legal benefits greater than those granted after the works council on Monday.For while 20 stores were saved by the recovery, the closure of 25 other lead 140 redundancies.

A strain devoid of aggression "

"The night [passed to company headquarters in Villepinte] went very well. They are still retains, in a friendly atmosphere, "said Fabrice Ménard, union CGT (majority) pay day loans . In turn, the CEO said last night that the constraint exercised by the employees was "devoid of aggression," and that the situation was "not annoying".

Employees require a half months of salary per year of seniority. Management, however, limits his proposal to a month for five years seniority."The supra-legal claims are being negotiated, nobody will be cheated of his rights, had assured the CEO Monday, pending a meeting Wednesday with Claude Ben Behe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Förfina, principal shareholder of Pier Import. The Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said Tuesday morning on LCI it was the duty of government to "ensure" that a "way forward" is found for each employee, but said he can not be "real negotiations when there is violence."

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In the Benetton family, is the financier. Chairman of Edizione Holding, Gilberto Benetton, 68, was on Wednesday in Paris. He inaugurated at the Carrousel du Louvre, the world's Restaurants. This space managed by the subsidiary Autogrill house a McDonald's already controversial. For Le Figaro, Gilberto Benetton details the strategy of the family in its various activities.

LE FIGARO .- Why invest in the Carrousel du Louvre with an area of restoration of 2 000 m²?

Gilberto BENETTON .- Le Carrousel du Louvre, nine million visitors and two million meals a year. For a group like ours, we felt it important to be there. We present in France since 1994, our largest market outside Italy, with 84 rest stops. Our fleet also teaches in seventeen stations, two major airports and hotels.We work in association with partners like French Brioche Doree and Buffalo Grill, with whom we will open soon a service area on the motorway between Marseille and Nice.

At the Carrousel du Louvre, the opening of a McDonald's restaurant has troubled the French …

We propose a range of cuisines from around the world. Among the brands represented, we can find the Spanish Mira, Meltem the Mediterranean, the Moroccan Salam, the Asian Self, Beaudevin for France and for Segafredo Italian coffee. What makes the success of our formula is to offer a wide range of services with a predominance of local products. This is a great innovation.We are already present in the world in more than fifty museums, archaeological sites and palaces of prestige as Pompeii, Versailles and the Palacio Real in Madrid or the Empire State Building in New York.

What are your development projects?

This is no time to expand in Europe, but the consolidation. That means reducing our costs, cut out the superfluous, lower our prices. In France, we are the second group of restaurants on motorways. New opportunities will arise. We will participate in bids to manage new areas on the motorways and the TGV station.

Your group is already very diverse. What activities will experience the highest growth?

Management infrastructure, be it highways or airports, is the most promising.Edizione, holding family owns 79% of Sintonia, large umbrella company infrastructure. We are ready to get up to 51%, to make way for new shareholders while retaining control. Latin America and Southeast Asia are the growth prospects strongest. Sintonia has one billion euros of liquidity. In Italy, we presented a draft of expansion of Rome airports to increase capacity from 33 to 70 million passengers per year. By the end of 2010, the new Alitalia, since its takeover by Air France-KLM will have its own terminal.

Do you regret certain investments?

Our only mistake was coming in 2001 in Telecom Italia, a 24.5% at worst as wrong when the telecommunications business was at its zenith. We have not managed directly participation.We decided today to leave. In the textile industry (Benetton Group, which owns 67% Edizione), we faced the crisis with equanimity. Turnover declined this year by about 4%, especially in the United States and Eastern Europe. The Western Europe remains substantial. Each one million more passengers is 1 000 jobs.

And Autogrill?

Autogrill will continue its development in France and Germany. In fifteen years it has grown from a turnover of 700 million euros to 5.8 billion business. It is unparalleled in the world. This seems an easy job, but it's far from true. The proof: the competitors are not legion. For ten years we have taken control of the U.S. HMSHost, the Frantour Restoration of specialist duty-free Aldeasa makes us the world leader in the specialty, Alpha Group and WDF.There would be many other channels to acquire, but not yet. We must consolidate and improve the quality of our services. From this perspective, the opening of the Carrousel du Louvre is a test and a step forward.

Nothing very serious, but a real nervousness gripped the market on weekends. French values are clearly divided down for the fourth straight session and Wall Street began a real consolidation.

The publication of poor results by the computer manufacturer Dell, whose profits have halved in a year, has certainly cast a pall. Therefore, the decline was widespread in technology stocks in the whole document: Among the largest declines over the weekend, tech stocks, but also banks, real estate and many cyclical industries.

In fact, beyond these poor results, the market consolidates because investors are worried about the strength of the recovery, the deteriorating public finances and relapse indicators on housing states USA.Therefore, in the absence of fresh news can revive the dynamic market, investors have preferred to take profits. To top it off, President Obama held a relapse of the activity was not excluded if the recovery efforts were abandoned and the Japanese authorities have recognized that the country has fallen into recession, with falling prices for the seventh consecutive month.

After two years of crisis that we have known, investors have seen others, but should not the signs of depression are increasing, with an avalanche of bad economic data and disappointing results.The virtuous circle that has established a stock exchange, with expectations of gradual recovery in activity and improvement in profits needs to be supported, if the correction could increase.

For now, the indexes are still near the highest: more than 10,000 points for the Dow Jones, over 3,700 for the CAC 40. We must beware of making catastrophism, the scenario out of recession is good for equities, the key is to remember that the current consolidation is beneficial because it restores margin for operations to start rising.

While waiting to see clearer, gold opportunity to play its full role investment haven to more than $ 1,100 an ounce in London.

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