World and National News

In the wake of Wall Street and especially the severe downturn in Asian indices this morning, the Paris Bourse is scheduled to begin the session in negative territory, a significant decline of 1.64% by the indices "future" of 8:15. Yesterday, Wall Street indexes ended the session closest to their equilibrium level, the wait was put before the publication of the ISM index, the employment figures and results for the second quarter. Volumes were particularly weak as well.

In Asia, markets are more active, but the trend is downward path including a decline of nearly 1.5% for the Nikkei, shortly before the closing. Nippon index is penalized by a round of disappointing indicators released in Japan early this morning. The strong yen also affects Asian indices.

Moreover, the euro fell back this morning against the dollar and 1.2258 dollar deals to 8:00.In terms of indicators, the INSEE published this morning at 8:45, the survey of consumer confidence survey for the month of June And in the euro zone economic confidence in the month of June will be unveiled at 11:00. On the other side of the Atlantic, housing prices will be released 15 hours, Paris time and consumer confidence in 14 hours.

EDF and Total in Christian Estrosi

As for companies, investors will pay close attention this morning to headlines EDF and Total. Indeed, leaders of the two heavyweights of the Paris stock exchange will be received this morning by the Industry Minister Christian Estrosi to discuss the future site of Dunkirk No faxing payday loans.

Still in the CAC 40, the general meeting of the Accor group's disintegration should also be well attended.

The eyes will also towards the group's title parapetrolic Technip. The latter will pay 338 million dollars (275 million euros) to settle a dispute with U.S. authorities on suspicion of having bribed Nigerian officials to win contracts in Nigeria, said Monday the Justice Department.

Moreover, as Saint-Gobain might react after the announcement of the sale of his division advanced to the American Ceramics CoorsTek for 245 million dollars (199 million euros).

In addition, Suez Environment has launched a bid on Aigües of Sabadell, a Catalan company of water treatment.

Finally, Etam, a specialist in ready-to-be bought a little over one quarter of its capital amounting to 99.2 million euros. The operation follows a major shift in strategy and a plan of reorganization."It's time to provide liquidity to our shareholders who do not want us in this strategy," says management. This title will buy "no significant impact on the control of the company," says Etam.

The words of François Fillon is rare. Very calculated. No frills. A fortiori, when the prime minister decides to hold a press conference at Matignon. The first three years. This means if the head of government who just beat the longevity record of Jean-Pierre Raffarin chose solemnize a media intervention to seventy minutes.

Following the success of union mobilization against the proposed pension reform, Francois Fillon has stepped into the breach. Only behind his desk, the man of the previous pension reform in 2003, has no trouble capturing the subject. For ten minutes he hammered a message: the government will not budge on key pension reform. Especially not the raising to 62 the legal age of retirement."There can be no question of going back to what is the foundation of reform," he warned while leaving open the possibility of adjustments in other components of the project. "With the President of the Republic, we do our duty," he said, denouncing the balance of Martine Aubry, who has never "nothing" done to reform pensions. The number two PS Harlem Désir immediately blasted an "end of inadmissibility to the French" and a "strategy of contempt.

Closes on pensions, Francois Fillon has become frankly martial when he addressed the issue of recovery of public accounts. In the absence of Nicolas Sarkozy went to Toronto for the G20 summit and before the announcement next week of budgetary decisions, the Prime Minister gave the tempo.If the word is always strictly taboo in his mouth, he has taken a further notch by preparing the French to "extra efforts".

From the beginning of the week the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde and Secretary General of the Elysee, Claude Gueant, have succeeded in the media to prepare minds for a new round of screws. Donning the costume of Raymond Barre Matignon in 1976 presenting his first austerity plan, Francois Fillon hammered. Drawing on the same register as his distant predecessor, it took time, "Do not expect me to be a weakness guilty.It is time to break the spiral of debt. "

Challenging the word rigor, Fillon has warned that there would be bad news: "If growth were to be slightly less buoyant than expected, we should not shrink from the need for additional efforts." For the first Minister (as Christine Lagarde) appears to be no illusions about the growth forecasts. Proof? He has already planned, "according to the situation," amplify the movement of the plane on the tax loopholes 5-8500000000 to offset the shortfall.

Christian Blanc must repay

This will be blood and tears. Francois Fillon, who was signed in 2006 a book entitled France can bear the truth, was not afraid to break the taboo Friday Sarkozyist of higher taxes: "We intend to eliminate or reduce many tax loopholes and social.So these are tax increases. "This time, it said.

Incidentally, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to prepare his ministers to painful measures. Severus, he recognized the "shortcomings and failures" without mentioning explicitly the cases involving members of his government (Christian Estrosi, Alain Joyandet, Rama Yade, Fadela Amara and especially Christian White). He admitted that there was "still room for improvement" to the ministers to show "exemplary".Francois Fillon, who has asked his Secretary of State Christian Blanc to repay their bill of 12,000 euros cigars, will announce "in the coming days," a "hardening" of the rules relating to accommodation, travel and lifestyle of Ministers.

Anyone who continues to dream of the "perfect lens" of a government limited to fifteen ministers expected already to be ruthless about limiting the number of ministerial advisors. A good way to rhyme "exemplary" and reducing government spending.

ALSO READ:

"Pensions: the Government will not retreat

"The Elysee will impose a dose of austerity departments

At almost exactly the meeting between Eric Woerth and civil service unions on Friday morning, turned to dialogue as Marchais Duhamel: "Maybe it was not your question, my answer is yes, but …" The Representatives of the eight federations have asked the public to appropriate Minister if the increase of 0.5% of the index, promised two years ago by the same Eric Woerth, would take place on 1 July. It has not responded, sticking to the planned agenda – a review of the changing purchasing power of workers over the past year.Unions have all left the meeting, half an hour after its opening.

The Minister of Labour and Public Service has, in fact, provided that the arbitration were not made, ironically on the fact that it seemed "much more difficult to reach agreement between the government trade unions" … He returned the answer to your next appointment, which could take place Tuesday morning.

A lesser evil

A few minutes later, however, at Matignon, the prime minister seemed to reassure staff: "This commitment is not undermined," said Francois Fillon.A way of saying that a freeze point clue is the lesser evil … Then the purchasing power of civil servants grew by 3.6% the previous year, taking into account the effects of seniority , promotions or revaluations granted to certain categories of staff. An old debate: the unions, they do take into account that the index points in their calculations, because it benefits all agents.

These unions – united for the first time in years – in any case have expressed their displeasure at the end of the meeting Friday. "The minister has stirred every red rag" has annoyed Elizabeth David (UNSA).

Despite his attempt to play the holdouts last-minute income Multimedia Group (MRG) was not accepted Monday by the band The World as a candidate for his recovery. In a statement released Monday, The World soberly describes the proposed "new expression of interest" without being recognized among the bids recovery group. "The world has so far received two offers from investors. This group BY SFA (holding the Nouvel Observateur) Claude Perdriel ally groups Prisa and Orange, and the consortium formed by MM. Bergé, Niel and Pigasse, "he says. Now, the two trios competing trying to convince companies and individuals. Hearings began Monday afternoon and will continue today.The company personnel, who have somehow a veto on the appointment of their successor, will express their preference in a general meeting on 24 and 25 June

Reportedly, the two bids, some thirty pages each, are accurate. The trio SFA-Prisa-France Telecom plans to inject 100 million euros (10 million from a bank loan) in the group for 67% of the capital. Perdriel propose to hold 45% of the capital, against 35% and 20% for Prisa for France Telecom. Stephane Richard's group plans to inject about 40 million euro offer for the shares of Lagardere, whose 7 million for the participation of 17.27% in Le Monde and 33 million for the 34% interest in the Interactive World .This values the total equity of the group (after debt) to around 40 million euros …

Create a foundation

For its part, the trio offers Pigasse-Niel-Bergé would book the group's employees a surprise. In addition to 110 million euros available for 65% of the capital, the trio was ready to fund "the possibility of personal companies of the group to return to their blocking minority," a reliable source. Thus, Pierre Bergé undertake, if its bid is successful, to create a foundation in which he would pay ten million for the company personnel can see their share increase by 20% (at the end of recapitalization) to 33%, the blocking minority."The relevance of this investment lies in the fact that it would pay the passage of the tickets out of shareholders Lagardère and Prisa diluted by the recapitalization," says one.

ALSO READ:

"Key Week for the recapitalization of the World

"Perdriel enrolled in its bid for Orange World

"The printing of the World in search of modernization

A conciliator bedside World

The world leader in chemistry, German BASF, is expected to sign Tuesday the acquisition of fellow Cognis according to the Financial Times Deutschland. Owned by Permira and Goldman Sachs, Cognis manufactures additives for cosmetics and detergents.

According to sources close to the case interviewed by the newspaper, the transaction amounted to 3.2 billion euros. In 2009, sales of Cognis representing 2.6 billion euros and EBITDA was $ 364 million. On its website, the company states employ approximately 5,600 people and be present in thirty countries.

Originally, Cognis was a subsidiary of Henkel, resold in 2004 to 2.5 billion euros. In 2006, the efforts of its new owners to sell it failed. In recent years, the company split from two of its five subsidiaries.BASF has already bought in 2009 the Swiss Ciba for 3.8 billion euros to strengthen in the mill.

No change in the short term. But the door remains ajar for two more months. Nicolas Sarkozy held a meeting this FRIDAY on pension reform in the presence of several ministers: Baroin (Budget), Georges Tron (Public Service) and Eric Woerth (Labour). Following this meeting, the President of the Republic has decided to send as is the bill (see the text in its entirety) to the Councils for review. No editing for now, is therefore proposed for this text which provides a gradual increase in the age of retirement until age 62 in 2018.

However, the executive says ready to developments on three issues dear to the CFDT: the situation of people who started working before age 18, taking into account the hardship and treatment of poly-pensioners (of persons covered by several pension plans) low fee payday advance. The special case of poly-pensioners had hitherto not been mentioned in the text of the reform presented Wednesday.

Nicolas Sarkozy has asked Eric Woerth offer him "at the latest before the start of parliamentary debate in September, possible developments on these topics.

ALSO READ:

"Pensions: unions call for mobilization

"Pensions: a majority of French opposed the reform

"CASE-Retirement: Issues of reform

Rakuten weaves its web internationally. After the acquisition last month of the American Buy.com for $ 250 million and the creation of a joint venture with PT Global Mediacom in Indonesia, the leading Japanese e-commerce has announced Thursday it had acquired all of PriceMinister capital for 200 million euros.

The Japanese offered as a place of choice in a market where e-commerce still has the wind in its sails. Online sales have jumped 30% in France in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period of 2009, according to figures from the Federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad).

"This acquisition is a significant step towards achieving our goal of creating a global platform on which consumers can shop, whatever their country of origin," said the Japanese group said in a statement.

International ambitions

If Rakuten has big, PriceMinister take this announcement to reaffirm its own ambitions. "While PriceMinister happened since March on the top step of the podium in terms of audience e-commerce in France, we sought to further influence our development," explains Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, cofounder and CEO of the group, in a statement released Thursday.

The French site, which boasted 11 million members and an offer of nearly 150 million products in March 2010, specifies that the transaction was carried out by the group's European subsidiary, Rakuten Europe. The founders of PriceMinister (Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, Pierre Krings, Justin Ziegler and Olivier Mathiot) "have a commitment for a minimum of five years to support the development of the brand in France and Europe. A period during which the staff of the group should remain in place.

"Rakuten has experience and expertise unmatched in the field of Internet commerce," says Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet. "By combining our respective strengths, PriceMinister will be able to accelerate its growth in France and Europe." If it is already present in Spain and England, and has successfully diversified its business expanding into areas of real estate , email marketing and online travel, the French group is a featherweight against its Japanese rival.

PriceMinister sold well

Rakuten has nearly 64 million members to date and posted sales worth 3.2 billion dollars (2.5 billion euros) in 2009, the group said. In its statement, the Japanese lifted the veil on the financial results of PriceMinister, a secret that the French site had always managed to keep.

Thus, according to Rakuten, PriceMinister recorded a turnover of 39.9 million euros in 2009 against 38.1 million in 2008 (including sales of the subsidiary car-Mixad 321Auto sold in March 2009). The site has also experienced a slight net loss of 105,000 euros last year. In 2008, this loss had reached 9.4 billion euros. Sold for 200 million euros, five times its revenue, PriceMinister has at least made a good deal.

ALSO READ

"BLOG – The figures PriceMinister finally revealed

The announcement was delayed but brutal. While markets have somewhat relaxed their attention on Greece, the rating agency Moody's downgraded four notches Monday of the note of most indebted country in the euro area, "A3" to "Ba1". After his colleague Standard & Poor's, the second of the three agencies have downgraded the debt of Greek in junk bonds.

The announcement comes as setbacks. "Moody's has not sufficiently changed its ratings on European countries, the sudden it went off the crisis," Norbert J. Gaillard, a consultant to the World Bank and specialized rating agencies. The degradation of the note in Greece four notches therefore reads as an attempt to "catch up past blindness," said the economist.

A blindness that also concerns Spain, according to some analysts. And the investors live badly."What is it to follow a triple A rating agency that a country undergoing a difference in rates reflecting the risk very high?" Critic Jean-Francois Robin, strategist at Natixis, referring to Spain . The latter receives the same notes that France and Germany, so it pays interest rates much higher.

Sign of disapproval or casual coincidence? Pierre Cailleteau, the head of the sovereign rating from Moody's, that is to say, fixing States Notes, recently left the company. The agency would not comment on his departure.

Stoicism

Greece, or Spain, are textbook examples and betray policy at Moody's. The agency notes in effect "through the economic cycle", without giving too much importance to the market turmoil. This stoicism was removed Moody's market reality, but had a beneficial effect.The agency has helped calm the markets by keeping his notes. His rivals, degrading the height of the crisis, have instead fueled the panic.

Now, even out of season, the degradation of the note in Greece by Moody's has led to protests. The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Olli Rehn, said that Moody's decision on Greece on Tuesday "comes at a rather surprising and unfortunate, following the agreement on a program of macroeconomic adjustment between Greece, the Commission, the ECB and the IMF. "

Barack Obama called on Congress to pass a fifty billion dollars in new credits. The main objective of this recovery MINIPLAN: avoid elimination by the U.S. states of tens of thousands of civil service jobs. Despite the return of growth since last summer, the financial position of local communities is indeed alarming.

If Washington does not 300,000 as teachers, firefighters and police officers are threatened by new cuts, from California to upstate New York. Some 84,000 civil service jobs have already been eliminated by U.S. states since the beginning of the crisis. "People are suffering. We want the economy continues to grow faster. We want to see an acceleration of job creation, "said David Axelrod, an adviser to Obama.The latter supports the project being developed in the Senate that provides $ 23 billion for the salaries of state officials, in addition to 25 billion dollars to cover the expenses of state health and benefits the poor.

Tax increases and deficit

Other provisions are included in the package the Senate. It is an extension of benefits for long-term unemployed, as well as various tax breaks to municipalities and the research budgets of companies. A portion of these expenses is expected to be financed by tax increases. One concerns some investors in private equity and venture capital funds. But the amount released from the controversial tax planning is estimated at 19 billion dollars cheap pay day loans.The other would affect the oil companies, companies whose popularity is at its lowest because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Each barrel sample of their offshore platforms is awarded a fee of 41 cents against 8 cents so far.

The use of these funds to increase deficit has attracted serious opposition from Republicans and a growing reluctance on the part of Democrats. The latter, in view of the November parliamentary, are sensitive to anger more and more voters to soaring public debt since the accession of Barack Obama in the White House. "We are tired of spending increases" summarizes Steny Hoyer, leader of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.The recent primary elections have shown that conservative fringe of the electorate is mobilized for candidates of a new profile, hostile to public spending.

Republicans, concerned about the danger of massive job losses of teachers and firefighters, insisting that the exceptional aid to states financed by spending cuts in other budget items.

ALSO READ:

"Everywhere in the world, the administration in the diet

"The fight against unemployment is Washington's priority

"The U.S. economy is going in the right direction"

"Towards a decline in military spending in the U.S.

The law finally approved American finance

The 2009 winter was mild for the group Club Mediterranee. During this semester, the first of its 2009-2010 fiscal year, the leisure group has indeed returned to profitability, generating a net profit of 3 million euros. Last year at the same time, he posted a loss of 22 million euros. The group's turnover shrank by 5.5% during the winter of 2010 compared to the same tourist season in 2009. This decline reflects a market "sluggish" and the impact of the ash cloud reached by the volcanic eruption in Iceland, which paralyzed air traffic in April, the company said in a statement released Friday.This damage has impacted the group's net profit amounting to 5.6 million euros, 3.7 million euros on operating income of the business village, which stood at 28 million euros over the six low fee pay day loans.

Club Med said it will accelerate its development in China this year, reaching 30,000 customers in the country and become "the leader are high quality vacation all inclusive. Chinese customers has grown 40% in winter 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.

The Summer is also favorable for the group. Welcomed the results of winter, Henri Giscard d'Estaing, the CEO of Club Mediterranee, underlines that "the level of bookings was already showing the number of customers higher than last summer due to late booking.Bookings have increased 18% and over the past eight weeks. However, they remain "in line" with the level of bookings at the same time last year.