The Agency for State Holdings is undergoing a revolution. The scheduled departure in September of its CEO, Bruno Bezard, economic mission to Beijing, is an opportunity for the state to reassert its role as shareholder. The government Tuesday appointed by the Council of Ministers Jean-Dominique Comolli, former boss of Seita, Commissioner of State Holdings. He will then head the Agency state ownership.
A new title tailored, while the state wants to take over the industrial policy of the companies in which it holds shares now on, the boss of the EPA no longer depend on the Treasury, but will report directly to the Minister of Economy. "We consider that the state must play a role that heritage," says one in the entourage of Christine Lagarde.By appointing one person with a strong political status – the commissioner – "there is also a desire to reorganize things, establish a system that discourages employers from rushing to the Elysee to discuss their small business," says near the record.
The appointment of Jean-Dominique Comolli also fits into "a major change in the role" of state ownership and the EPA, said the report of the Council of Ministers.
As the President announced when the States-General of Industry in March, this development will lead the state "to be at the forefront of driving the vision of its shareholdings and so assert, for undertakings concerned, a strategy of industrial development and economic clear long term. "
Air France, EDF, France Telecom and other Safran now know they only have to behave! Already, Nicolas Sarkozy announced that a director would be appointed representing the state "consistently" next to the Director for the Department of Economics, but now for each company in which the State is a shareholder, a formal meeting between the relevant ministers and leaders will be held each semester – in addition to those that take place informally – "to make a strategic point. More question of discovering projects at the last minute.We remember last January, the invitation to the Elysee the boss of Renault, Carlos Ghosn, who had just unveiled its intention to produce some of the Clio in Turkey IV.
Set to music complicated
The state will also require "regular reviews" on the policy of personnel management, employment, subcontracting, procurement, investment, etc..
Jean-Dominique Comolli will have to partition complex music: establishing a more readable management companies, but does not give the impression of greater interference.The EPA had she not been established in 2004 to remove the political power of corporate management, after a report by Rene Barbier de la Serre, a former banker and is the financial center, had pointed to "the presence Excessive state in the daily management of the company?
Jean-Dominique Comolli "has the perfect profile, make sure there in the ranks of government. The future commissioner, 62, near the famous head of state despite a long career in the offices of the left, knows both the workings of government and enterprise. ENA civil administrator in the Directorate of Budget from 1977 to 1981, he became after election of François Mitterrand to the presidency of the Republic adviser to Laurent Fabius.
In 1986 he was appointed Deputy Director in the Budget, before becoming in 1988 Chief of Staff Michel Charasse Budget.In September 1989 he was appointed head of Customs, before becoming president of Seita, while public group in 1993. He co-chair Altadis after its merger with Tabacalera.
Since 2005, he chaired the Board of Directors of Altadis, since bought by Britain's Imperial Tobacco – which he became vice-chairman of the board of directors in 2008. He held up his new duties on September 15.
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The CAC 40, which surpassed Monday night at the close of 3750 the bar points (3%), takes a breath of fresh air on Tuesday. At the opening, the index coward timidly 0.08% 3744.52 points. In London, the Footsie yields 0.47% to 5371.92 points.
Yesterday, the Paris Bourse has been drawn up by the bank after the better than expected quarterly BNP Paribas. The Paris market should not stop there, according to technical analysis, which brings the index to the assault of 3770 points.
The Paris Bourse is expected to remain broadly in an uptrend on the sessions to come, even if the index corrects a bit on Tuesday.
The program of the Tuesday meeting, noted that prices for industrial production for June in the eurozone will be published at 11:00.American side, the expected numbers today should facilitate the session, including spending at 14.30 and household income, and 16 hours, industrial orders in July and promises of housing sales in June
Meanwhile, the euro remains at its highest in three months against the dollar.The euro rose as optimism in Europe and at the same time, the dollar is falling while stock markets also rose overseas and the appetite for risk grows.
The eyes of Sanofi-Aventis Genzyme
Sanofi-Aventis (-0.56% to 45.15 euros) sent a letter referring to Genzyme's interest in the company, a source close to the deal, adding that the two companies were discussing the offer.
The chemicals group Arkema (4.77% to 36.65 euros, the biggest increase in score) on Tuesday said quarterly earnings improved sharply, saying it made "its best historical performance" since its IPO in 2006 . Quarterly profit was 119 million euros, against a loss of 114 million euros in the second quarter of 2009.Revenues soared 38% to 1.6 billion euros and gross operating profit (EBITDA) reached 241 million, against only 70 million a year earlier.
CNP Assurances (-1.3% to 15.9 euros) announced Monday that it bought back 65% stake in MFPPrévoyance, a subsidiary of MFP Services, a group of specialized mutual insurance officials. This stake will cost 86.5 million euros to the French insurer.
Vallourec (-1.84% to 75.78 euros, the largest decline CAC 40). Credit Suisse cut its rating to "neutral" to "underperform."
Arcelor Mittal has launched $ 2.5 billion of debt in three parts, according to IFR, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
Yellow Pages (-1.4% to 8.48 euros). HSBC cut its rating to "overweight" to "neutral."
General Health (1.18% to 11.62 euros).The former manager of French private clinics and hospitals on Monday published a half-year revenue declined 4.7% to 1 billion euros, which also reported an increase of 8.8% in profit operating income, to 80.4 million.
In an interview with Le Figaro, Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide (-0.51% to 88.87 euros), says that the big industries have restructured and fully benefit from the recovery.
Confident for banks, Christine Lagarde prepares for the fall an action plan for large exporters French.
LE FIGARO. – You now receive your German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, the Council of Ministers, while you were in March, criticized the German economic model …
Christine Lagarde. – First, the participation of Wolfgang Schäuble, the Council of Ministers is the first by a German minister. But what a powerful symbol of closeness is in fact very natural when you know that contacts are actually daily between France and Germany. It happens every week, I spoke at least twice to Wolfgang Schäuble to harmonize our positions. And the director of the French Treasury is in daily contact with his counterpart. I have not criticized the German model.I said: "From the perspective of European stability, we must all make efforts, setting the course as a priority of deficit reduction."
Germany is today a leading exporter. Should we be inspired?
The competitiveness of Germany is higher than ours, but France has real expertise in major infrastructure projects in energy, transport, water, meeting the needs of large emerging countries. We need better value.
How?
We were gone in 15 years more than 100,000 companies exporting to 90,000 just, and we regularly lose market share. It was therefore necessary to react.We did this by structural measures for firms, such as reform of the tax credit, research or business tax, and we also created in 2008, a specialized agency – Ubifrance – to support SMEs exports in 44 countries. The experiment was successful: between 2008 and 2010, activity doubled. So I decided, with Anne-Marie Idrac, increase next year's budget speech, more than 20%. It is a considerable effort since the same time, the budget for my department will decrease.
And the big contracts?
In this area, the recovery is taking shape but with a "kick 7.2 billion euros in the fourth quarter 2009 and 3.3 billion in the first quarter 2010 and 6.5 billion in the second quarter. Our goal is to make every effort to seize the opportunities offered by the booming market of large emerging countries.For this, we initiated a strategic dialogue in the spring with thirty large exporters, who were asked to reflect on what needs to be improved no faxing cash advance. We meet them again in the fall at Bercy to develop a plan of action.
Some tracks stand out there already?
Yes. It will inevitably revise our system of financing, taking greater account of the interests of strategic partnerships between French and foreign companies, and also establish more reciprocal anti-corruption standards, environmental, social … The last point could be the agenda of the G20 Finance.
To avoid that France republishes failure of Abu Dhabi on nuclear power, should we not also a better coordination of actors?
The loss of the contract for the plant is actually part of the warning signals. There is no compromise on quality and security, especially nuclear, but we must take greater account of customer needs, for example by developing medium-size reactors, such as TDD, from the cooperation with Areva and Mitsubishi. And also, probably, in increasing the business to co-ordinating bodies such as the Inter-Departmental Support International Contracts (CIAC).
On Friday, the European Central Bank will publish the results of stress tests of 91 European banks. What do you expect?
I am following as milk on the fire.But I am totally confident about the outcome of the French banks after the stress tests.
The taboo of the word "rigor" is definitely broken?
The word "rilance" I started, has been much ink. It does not reflect a wealth of government but the need, on one hand, to apply the principle of budgetary discipline in the process of spending and the other to continue to support the value creation and employment , which is needed in France, targeting innovation and investment.
You are reluctant to abolish eight declared the twenty-eight positions in your firm. Will you do?
First, there is no panic on board as some say. Departures are planned, because after three years of study can be exhausted or aspire to other horizons.I will follow instructions, as I always did it with a cabinet composed only of formal collaborators and I want to honor them, they are not unworthy. We will achieve our objectives in a timely manner.
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Negotiations between the Ministry of Defence and Thales and Safran industry saw the standoff, reports the Tribune published on Friday. The discussions were intended to streamline the activities of inertial navigation and optronics the two groups failed last May, to the chagrin of Hervé Morin. The time for talking would be gone for the minister, who is now past actions by deciding to freeze the state contracts with two companies.
All contracts would therefore be blocked, except for rush orders, notably for French soldiers engaged in overseas operations. The amount of contracts outstanding for the year 2010 amounts to 300 million euros, according to a source close to the case examined by the Tribune.
Concern Thales
Thales is undoubtedly the most affected by the punishment of the Department.In addition, the group currently has to face the distrust of rating agencies dissatisfied savings plan of 1.3 billion euros that the industry announced last December, Moody's downgraded, earlier this week, the debt rating of the group's long term by one notch to A2.
The anxiety is palpable within the group: "We are heading for disaster," confides a source in The Tribune. The business daily estimated 135 contracts between the ministry and Thales could be frozen.
Safran, less dependent on state orders, is more serene. Its leader has displayed his optimism for the year 2010-2011, and reiterated his desire to remain independent, denying recent rumors of a merger with Zodiac.
"It was a very important interview. Nicolas Sarkozy to thank you for coming. On Monday in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to put an end to persistent rumors of discord between France and Germany in the fight against financial crisis in Europe. During his joint press conference with French President in Berlin, Merkel stressed the need for both countries to give "impetus" to the European Union to "act operationally" and "the consequences of the crisis financial recovery '.
Determined to "speak with one voice", the two Heads of States announced it would set at G20 Toronto, the idea of a tax on financial transactions and a tax credit, " to be applied in the same way in France and Germany, "said Nicolas Sarkozy.
With Angela Mergel, the French president reiterated the need to strengthen the Pact of Stability and Growth. For the countries most lax sovereign debt, the two countries propose a penalty which would result in the suspension of their voting rights at the European Council. This proposal, which will be submitted to the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, could lead to changes in the treaty which will be "in the near future," according to Angela Merkel.
A European economic government
Finally, Germany and France have discussed their desire to establish "an economic government of the 27" which would meet soon "on an operational and pragmatic." The two heads of states also want power, "in case of necessity, meet only the heads of only 16 states in the euro area. "There will be no country of first and second class.The idea is just to work quickly to problems concerning the euro area, "Angela Merkel stressed.
"Europe is not the most dynamic continent in contrast to the ambitions of the Lisbon Treaty. Do not create new institutions but to be more operational, has welcomed the Chancellor. Nicolas Sarkozy has reiterated his desire to "get out of ideological debates to make things happen quickly."
When asked about their respective visions rigors announced plans in both countries, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have remained elusive. The German Chancellor said that "Germany had done the right thing and not that France too." For its part, the French president spoke of "a matter of shared responsibility, trust and proximity.
Before the G20, Germany and France will defend their joint initiatives at the European Council meeting on Thursday.
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For the first time, the United States, Americans will have a smart card (smart card to the French) and "accepted in the world. It Gemalto.
A contract which seems small in relation to the size of the division payment at Gemalto.But "this announcement is very important symbolically," noted analysts at Natixis, surprised that the stock price does not react.
For the group at 1.65 billion euros in turnover in 2009 made his first steps on American soil that could well decide to finally initiate the transition from magnetic stripe cards – which are the subject of a high fraud rates – to adopt smart cards EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) to pay around the world and secure quick payday loan.
For the strategists of Natixis, the bank card market with a microprocessor in the United States has "a potential 1.5 billion cards.
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Registrations of new cars in France have slowed significantly in April, the end result of whiplash print market since late last year by the scrappage
New registrations rose 1.9% in April on a year in France, reaching 190,986 units, said Monday the Committee of French car manufacturers (CCFA). In March, they still leapt 17.9%, still boosted by the registrations of cars ordered in late 2009 to take advantage of the premium to 1,000 euros. This was reduced to 700 euros since 1 January, and will fall to 500 euros in the second half.
"We see here the impact of gradually reducing the premium breaks, there is some decline in the small car category, those who have benefited most from the device, and you know you will go into negative at the end of the year, "said a spokesman for the CCFA.
"Despite this, the ski manufacturers we also show that the level of orders for new models and for mid-size cars are holding up well, meaning that the market continues to resist despite the decline in aid."
Citroen sales down 8.3%
The major manufacturers all expect a decline in European car market this year, the second half of 2010 announcing the end more difficult with a comparison of premiums and increasingly unfavorable relative to the boom in late 2009. Renault has amounted to 10% expected decline while its major competitor PSA Peugeot Citro?n expects down 9% quick payday loan.
Last month had 21 days, provided that April 2009.Of the first four months of 2010, registrations in France reflected an increase of 12.9% to 785,706 units.
Sales of passenger cars Peugeotont group rose 7.3%, but those of the Citro?n stand down 8.6% on month, while Peugeot's registrations increased by 24.2%.
As for the Renault group, registrations were up 17.2% – an increase of 9% for the brand new diamond and jumped over 100% for Dacia (Logan, Sandero and Duster).
Improvements on commercial vehicles
French brands have still got their game well, with an increase of 8% against a decline of 4.9% for foreign brands. Among foreign automakers, Nissan (49.2%), General Motors Europe (+43.5%) and the BMW Group (+24.1%) recorded the most notable increases.The Volkswagen group (-20%), Fiat (-13.3%) and Ford (-12.8%) are in decline.
The improvement in the commercial market, particularly affected by the slowdown in economic exchanges, is also confirmed. The registrations of light commercial vehicles rose 32.2% last month, marking an acceleration from the 16.5% increase observed in March (+11.4% when adjusted for working days). In commercial vehicles over 5.1 tonnes, in turn, is down 9.4%, against 28.4% in March.
The U.S. stock markets have recently experienced six consecutive weeks of gains, taking a breather. The Dow Jones opened down 0.07% and the Nasdaq 100 0.11%.
On Monday, the Dow Jones gleaned 0.08% to increase the threshold highly symbolic 11 000 points for the first time since September 2008.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro continues to strengthen against the dollar, after surging the day before with the announcement of details of the rescue plan for Greece. In early afternoon, the European currency was worth 1.3614 dollars against 1.3585 dollars in morning.
Wave of publications this week
On the macroeconomic front, the U.S. trade deficit widened in February to 39.70 billion dollars.The next week will be marked by several important indicators such as the index of consumer prices, retail sales for the month of March, industrial production, housing starts and the first estimate of the confidence index, Reuters Michigan. The markets will also follow the hearing of Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday and will monitor closely developments in the case of the Greek debt.
The week will also be crucial for the U.S. markets with the opening ball of the quarterly results. As usual, the aluminum giant Alcoa, which gave the start of the season publications, Monday after the market closes. The U.S. producer of aluminum remained in the red in the first quarter, however, divided more than double its loss a year.Alcoa recorded a net loss after minority interests of 201 million over the first three months of the year, against a deficit of $ 497 million a year earlier.
Today, the computer chip manufacturer Intel to follow. The next week will be hosted by quarterly results from Google, General Electric still banks JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Always on the side of values, yesterday, the U.S. oil group ConocoPhillips has announced the sale of its Chinese Sinopec stake in Canadian oil sands project Syncrude for $ 4.65 billion (3.42 billion euros) . This is one of the largest investments ever made by China in North America.
The manufacturer of PDAs and mobile phones Palm, would seek a buyer.Bloomberg said the investment bank Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners were commissioned to find a buyer to the manufacturer of smartphones in serious financial trouble. Action Palm and jumped over 17% Monday to the New York Stock Exchange.
Next Monday, the faithful love of cinema to UGC will learn about PeopleForCinema, the start-up created six months ago by Simon and Serge Hayat Istolainen on MyMajorCompany model, the Internet music label.
The giant cinemas and website, which offers users to leverage the distribution of films before their release, have entered into a partnership that should give new impetus to PeopleForCinema.
From Monday, subscribers to the loyalty program and the 250,000 cardholders unlimited branded UGC will be able to invest in a few films chosen by the exhibitor in the catalog PeopleForCinema. "There are many similarities between us and them, says about his partner Jean-Marie Dura, CEO of UGC in network load.One the other as we seek to support the film and provide access to movies very different. "UGC, which publishes a free magazine distributed in its 371 rooms in France, has more than one million unique visitors month on its website.
Through this agreement, the UGC will provide start-up its roster of clients, and in return will enter the PeopleForCinema network of cinemas in the dance community and participatory payday loan lenders.
"The Whistler" Catalogue
Specifically, users who go from Monday on the website of UGC discover a film catalog PeopleForCinema on which they can invest money. In a few months, when the film will be shown, users who have invested will have their release – pulled in admissions hall – whether the film knows only limited success.However, if it contains a triumph, they will receive a share of profits. UGC, in turn, affect a small share of revenues, calculated by the number of Internet users from its own network. This partnership is timely for the participatory website, which has not yet found its success. The Whistler – first catalog – has recorded only 330 000 entries, 440 000 and Brothers, which does not affect profits. Its founders have now on the next film by Bertrand Blier, The Sound of ice, including Jean Dujardin, Albert Dupontel share the bill.
If confirmed, this would be the heaviest fine ever imposed by the U.S. National Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA) to a manufacturer. This requires the Japanese Toyota fined 16.375 million dollars (12.191 million euros). A record amount justified, she said, by the slow reaction of the manufacturer's faults found and deliberately concealed its vehicles.
The U.S. government accuses him of hiding Toyota for "at least four months' issues of accelerators is jamming in the down position, and this" contempt of risk "led to drivers. According to the Minister of Transport Ray LaHood, the leaders of Toyota "did not take steps to protect millions of drivers and their families."
Toyota has two weeks to pay the fine or contest it.If he refuses to pay and can not agree with NHTSA, the matter will be referred to a court.
Procedural defects
The NHTSA had opened an investigation last February 16 to see if Toyota had been slow to reveal these problems, finds a first time Toyota has not notified within five days after discovery of problems, as the law The imposed.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT), the 70,000 pages of documents presented by Toyota have revealed that the manufacturer "knew his problems pedals are jamming on their own since at least September 29.It was at that date that Toyota "has launched repair procedures with its distributors from 31 European countries and Canada to address issues accelerator stuck, sudden increase and tachometer sudden acceleration of the vehicle, "says the report.
But the documents show that "Toyota knew that consumers in the United States suffered the same problems as those in Europe and Canada.Yet, September 29, the band announced the recall of 3.8 million vehicles in the U.S. claiming only the possibility that the accelerator pedal gets stuck in the floor mat and ignoring the problems of blocking pedals 'themselves in position.
It was not until January 21 that the manufacturer recalls 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S., reported first involuntary acceleration unconnected mats but the pedals are blocking themselves . In the end, Toyota has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S. on 9 million recalled in the world.Either the largest recall ever recorded by an automaker.
Organizational Change
In a statement, Toyota has defended: "We have already taken a significant number of measures to improve our communication with regulators and clients on security issues and strengthened our commitment to quality." This includes "the appointment of a new director of quality in North America and a greater role dedicated to regional leaders in the decision making process related to quality," says the manufacturer.
But the DOT has not said its last word. He announced as still investigating to determine if the manufacturer had "committed other offenses meriting further sanctions."
Reminders continue
Meanwhile, Toyota continues its recall campaign.The Japanese announced Tuesday its intention to recall 12,984 vehicles sold in South Korea because of mats may impede the accelerator pedal.
The three models involved are the Lexus ES350, Camry and Camry Hybrid. Motorists concerned will receive free repairs from April 19.
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