While businesses around the world have reduced their budgets for research and development (R & D) since the crisis began, China has invested heavily in innovation and has filed more patents and trademarks, announced Wednesday a body of United Nations.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said that the number of patents in the United States to protect their new inventions remained unchanged in 2008 and 2009.
The patents, which allow inventors to profit from their innovations for a limited period, fell by 7.9% in Europe and 10.8% in Japan last year.
In contrast, in China, these deposits increased by 18.2% in 2008 and 8.5% in 2009.Deposits of Chinese brand names have also jumped from 20.8% last year while those of the United States, Germany and Japan have respectively dropped by 11.7%, 7.7% and 7 2%.
"The landscape of innovation in the aftermath of the crisis will continue to look different than it did ten years ago," said Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, as an introduction to the report.
"China is changing the value chain and is rapidly increasing exports based on its own innovations, there is inevitably a growing number of patents," he said at a news conference.
Carsten Fink, chief economist of the organization, said that large reserves of cash from China had allowed him to continue to fund innovation during a period marked by a tightening of bank credit and a scarcity of venture capital.
"A HUGE TANK"
"There (in China) huge reserves to finance domestic investment in R & D and industrial projects," he added quick cash.
Francis Gurry suggests that the changes observed during the recession will become a fundamental trend in favor of emerging markets.
"While the strength of the recovery remains uncertain, the changing geography of innovation should continue to be directed at new players, particularly in Asia," he said.
Other emerging countries have also sought to protect their innovations before the end of the crisis, including growth rates in double digits in 2008 for patent filings made in Belize, Peru, Romania and Turkey.
The crisis, however, reduced the cash flow of large international groups and increased uncertainty, which weighed on R & D companies.
General Motors has reduced its R & D budget by 24.5% from its fiscal years 2008 and 2009, while Toyota and Honda respectively, cut their spending in this area by 19.8% and 17.7%, according to the report of WIPO, which is based on company annual reports and data from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the authority of U.S. financial markets.
Similarly, Hewlett-Packard has reduced its R & D by 20.4% Motorola 22.5% 17.8% Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble and Unilever by 7.6% to 3.9%.
All groups did not follow the same trend. ZTE, the second largest Chinese telecom equipment, and Huawei Technologies have respectively increased their R & D budget by 44.8% and 27.4%, while Apple and Microsoft have increased their spending by 20.2% and 10.4% between 2008 and 2009.
According to WIPO, improving access to finance since the end of last year should help to gently rising investments in innovation and patenting, but a full rebound will take time.
U.S. stocks opened lower Tuesday despite the announcement of a further rise in retail sales in August, investors preferring to take profits after several sessions of gains.
In early trade, the Dow Jones fell by 0.1% or 14.57 points to 10,529.90 points while the Standard & Poor's 500 yielded 0.18% or 2.04 points at 1119.86 points.
The Nasdaq Composite gave up 0.2% or 3.8 points to 2280 points.
On the values front, Best Buy jumped 7.8% to 37.34 dollars. The distributor has raised its annual profit forecast after quarterly earnings rose more than expected.
Down, THQ dropped by 3.5% to $ 3.60.The video game publisher on Monday lowered its earnings forecast for its fiscal year, after announcing the postponement of the launch of its title "Red Faction: Armageddon" in May 2011.
Retail sales rose more than expected in August in the U.S., 0.4%. This is their biggest gain in five months.
Munich Re did not need additional capital for organic growth and opportunity to consider any merger or acquisition if it occurs, said Sunday Torsten Jeworrek, a member of its Executive Board.
"If you look at our capital surplus, there is no urgency to deploy in organic growth, when comparing market opportunities with the capital base we have in place," he told a press conference at the annual meeting of reinsurance in Monte Carlo.
"If there are opportunities for mergers or acquisitions, we'll see but for now I can not say anything," he added.
Investors continue to demand the handover to reinsurers a portion of the mass of accumulated liquidity after the crisis, in order to raise valuations that are around 85% of book value.
The first global reinsurer intends to purchase for approximately one billion euros of its own shares under a program that must be completed in April 2011.In the view of analysts, Munich Re should have three to four billion surplus capital available.
Torsten Jeworrek stressed however, that capital constraints are more stringent than German accounting according to international standards IFRS.
Munich Re said in the past that he would likely be acquired rather than in insurance and reinsurance group seeks German growth regions such as emerging markets and eastern Asia.
Munich Re further provides stable rates for its product portfolio when new contracts come into force on 1 January 2011. Brokers and rating agencies expect the contrary, a decrease in premiums during the discussions on the renewal of such contracts to be held in the coming months.
German publisher Axel Springer announced late Thursday its intention to launch a takeover bid on the SeLoger.com group which would value the French group of small ads to 566 million euros.
Springer has 34 euros per share, a premium of 13.3% over the share price of the French group, which closed at 30 euros in Paris on Thursday night.
The German company, which publishes Bild, the top-selling newspaper in Europe, said it has already reached an agreement to purchase 12.4% stake in SeLoger.com for 34 euros per share, 70,000,000 euros.
Created in 1992, SeLoger presents itself as a leading real estate on the Internet in France and claims about 3 million unique visitors per month.
If the deal goes to the end, this is the second major acquisition by Springer on the French market for websites, where the German group is now three years ago the majority shareholder auFeminin.com women's site for over 280 million Euro.
PSA Peugeot Citroen has proposed to the unions to increase the flexibility of working in French factories of the group, which should enable it to hire 900 additional staff in France in the second half.
The first French car maker, which launched last fall providing a performance plan including improvements in productivity, wants to introduce night shifts for vacations of any length and whose time may be reduced by orders, as is done on its Spanish site of Vigo.
"The text stresses the need to continue improving the competitiveness of industrial bases in France (which) requires (…) Ability to respond without delay to large variations in demand, "said PSA in a statement.
It also proposes to increase the opportunities for temporary rotation within teams to fit in spurts of activity.
The signing of the agreement, which indicates that PSA has already received a favorable opinion of four unions – CFE / CGC, CFTC, FOR and GSEA – and a favorable comment from the CFDT, lead the group to hire 900 people, mainly on sites of Sochaux, Poissy, Mulhouse and Vesoul.These appointments add to the 1100 already announced in June
The unions will announce their final position in the coming days, "says PSA in the statement.
The size of the automobile industry group in France was over 80,000 people in late 2009. In production, Vigo is the first site of PSA, to Mulhouse.
Japan's Suzuki Motor will build a fourth car plant in India to increase its annual production to 1.5 million vehicles in a market the fastest growing sector.
Suzuki, which controls about half the Indian car market through its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India, has announced that the new plant would start its operation in 2013 with an annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles.
The Japanese group is now completing construction of its third plant in India, which will allow him to post an annual production in the country of 1.25 million vehicles in 2012.
When the fourth plant of Suzuki's work fully, the manufacturer Nippon carry 1.5 million vehicles in India, while this year expects to produce 2.68 million cars worldwide.
Suzuki closed up 1.54% to 1,779 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while the Nikkei ended the session on a gain of 2.05%.
BP said Friday that the cost of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reached eight billion dollars and he would need another two weeks to completely seal the well to the source of this pollution.
BP also reported that there had been no major upward revision in the amount of compensation paid to victims of the spill.
The compensation fund for victims of 20 billion dollars, called Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) and active since August 23, pays about 3.5 million per day.This figure is broadly in line with what BP paid himself before the fund takes over.
Under pressure from the White House, the British oil giant pledged in June to fund an escrow account of $ 20 billion over four years.
The values to follow on Wednesday at the Paris Bourse, where the CAC 40 has risen sharply and takes 1.75% to 3,551.87 points at 12:42, after the recent half-yearly publication of the index generally encouraging.
* VIVENDI signs the largest increase in ACC and climbed 4.56% after announcing an anticipated increase in its annual results for 2010 and maintaining its dividend at least 1.40 euro until 2012, after a first half marked by higher performance expectations, including SFR.
Lafarge wins * 4.41%. CA Cheuvreux has raised its rating to outperform against under-performance for valuation issues.In addition, Moody's confirmed Tuesday evening Baa3 debt rating of the group he had placed under review in early August for a possible lowering.
* Also in Construction, VINCI was up 2.89% after confirming its forecast for an improvement in its net profit this year and said he had good visibility for 2011 and beyond given the backlog. SAINT-GOBAIN earns 2.65%.
* In contrast, Bouygues is the only value of ACC in the red, losing 0.67%.The group has slightly raised its sales target for 2010 but has expressed an intensification of the relief of its subsidiary Colas (-4.75%), including the weakness in the first half was partially offset by Bouygues Telecom and TF1 ( 1.2%).
* CARREFOUR advance 2.9% to 36.87 euros after the publication of his semi. Deutsche Bank raised its target price of 36-41 euros and reiterated its advice to buy the title.
Moreover, the Japanese distribution Aeon will bid on the assets of French in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, it was learned from sources close to the matter.
* ARCELORMITTAL garnered 2.08% with its sector in Europe (+1.6%), driven by a slight rebound in manufacturing activity in China.
* Sanofi-Aventis jumped 2.23%.In an interview with Reuters, CEO of Genzyme considers the probability of finding an agreement on an offer from Sanofi on American group, however, reiterating that no question of accepting the proposed price of $ 69 per share
* Out ACC, CAM, highest increase of the SBF 120, jumped 5.1%. The group has returned to growth in the second quarter after four consecutive quarters of decline and forecast a continued recovery in its automotive business.
6.63% * Havas abandoned after publishing an organic growth in the first half making him "the last of the class" in its sector, in the words of its chairman and largest shareholder, Vincent Bolloré.
* BOURBON loose 3.5%.Specialist Marine Services has published the results down in the first half because of the growth of its operating costs, but the group says still confident in its ability to achieve the objectives of its plan 2011-2015.
* Wendel advance of 3.89%. The investment company has seen its half year results increase sharply thanks to a rebound in performance of its investments as listed and unlisted said there was "no urgency" to make asset sales.
* Transgene is 5.05% after a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency for the final phase of clinical trials of its treatment of a form of cancer, TG4010.The biotechnology company publishes its interim results this evening after the market closes.
* April Group climbed 4.21% after first half results found encouraging. CM-CIC and Socgen went to purchase the title.
