The insurance group Axa announced Friday a stable revenue for the first quarter of 2012 and said he hoped to have decided the fate of its private equity subsidiary, Axa Private Equity, of By the end of the year.
Axa has confirmed the end of September to have committed "a strategic review" for the national champion of private equity but talks with potential buyers seem to have since stalled. (And see)
"A priori the outcome and the results of this strategic review, it is hoped that this will be completed before the end of the year," said Chief Financial Officer Gerald Harlin at a conference call to discuss the indicators of activity of the group for the first three months of the year.
The fate of this subsidiary represents some economic issue for France, say some observers.
Axa Private Equity is indeed a major investor in the territory and its French base becomes even more desirable for new financial rules could scarce investment capital in companies.
The essential part of its business, the French insurance giant announced a turnover up 0.8% to 28.056 billion euros for the first quarter.
The growth in business damage (3.3% to 9.973 billion euros) offset the virtual stagnation of the life segment and Savings (-0.2% to 15.956 billion of euros) and a lower turnover in the management of assets (-9.6% to 827 million euros).
Gérald Harlin said these results were in line with the strategic plan for 2015 presented by Axa last year.
This plan would redeploy some capital to the group of high-growth markets and, more generally, to focus on margins and volumes.
The CFO also said that the situation in Greece and the euro area was creating a climate of "volatility" in financial markets but in Axa took full account.
"It positions itself especially on segments that are least sensitive (…). This is why we are fast growing activity on the protection, welfare," at he said.
He nevertheless admitted that the life insurance segment continued to suffer from macroeconomic conditions in Europe.
"We're in a world of low interest rates and are done with," he concluded.
A decree published in the Official Gazette requires EDG and GDF to repay the overpayment charged to customers within 15 days of issuance of the annual bill or the subscriber's request. This obligation will come into force in 2013.
EDF and GDF will, from next year, reimburse their customers within 15 days of issuance of the annual bill or the subscriber's request, in case of overpayment exceeding 25 euros, according to a decree of April 18 published in the Official Journal (OJ). "During the contract, when the invoice based on energy consumption reveals an overpayment by the contractor less than 25 euros, the excess is carried forward to the next invoice, unless the consumer requests a refund" states that Order, which comes into force on 1 January 2013. "From this amount, the overpayment is refunded by the supplier," the statement said, adding that "the refund is made within fifteen days from the issuance of the invoice or the customer's request ".
Billing of the two suppliers is based on an estimate of consumption for customers who choose the monthly payment, with an annual bill of regularization based on actual consumption. "It has taken up several times to the plate and the publication of an official report to achieve this decree," said Bruno Lechevin, managing director of energy ombudsman, the daily Le Parisien on Friday which states that during the first quarter, 3.2% of complaints received by the Ombudsman were related to reimbursement of overpayments. "In 2011, EDF had made and pin: the utility reimbursement to amounts of less than 15 euros if the customers were demanding," said the newspaper. EDF now states on its website monthly installments if the client has paid a sum greater than its invoice regularization, the credit balance is refunded "by bank transfer within 15 days."
In May 2011, the supplier had agreed to reimburse "now" and automatically overpayments of all invoices to its customers after termination of their contract (move). The group previously had a policy not to refund overpayments of less than € 15.24 if customers were not doing the requests. Parliament passed a provision in the Law on Organization of the New Electricity Markets (Nome) of 7 December 2010 so that energy suppliers are now required to systematically repay overpayments to consumers.
The action is Danone rebound Monday, with investors relieved after the announcement of the takeover by Nestle's division of child nutrition Pfizer, a redemption of $ 11.85 billion which the French group was also in the running.
At 2:50 p.m., the title Danone raises of 1.83% to 53.39 euros in a market down sharply (-2.15%).
"The rise in the stock is clearly related to the fact that it's not Nestle and Danone buys Pfizer infant nutrition. The price is very high and the market would like Danone uses his money for something else, "said one operator
. L action Danone had lost 3.55% Friday following a tip that he was outbid and proposed $ 11 billion to buy up Pfizer Nutrition
…. Analysts say ….. Danone had not the means to finance a transaction of this magnitude, even if it reduced its debt by nearly half since the acquisition of Numico in 2007 to 12.3 billion euros
. Danone's net debt was $ 6.6 billion end of 2011 euros, against 12 billion after the acquisition of Numico.
Natixis, the analyst Pierre Tegner observes that "the strategic importance of the lost battle (against Nestle) depend on the group's ability to recover some assets, either in Asia Southeast Asia (Philippines, etc..) and / or Latin America. "
According to Kyodo, Danone could increase its stake in Yakult Honsha to 28% against 20% today, and asked the group of Japanese drinks to name one of its managers to an executive position.
The Group of Twenty (G20) pledged Friday to give the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over $ 430 billion of additional resources to identify the debt crisis of the euro area.
The agreement doubles the capacity of the IMF loan, which was the goal set by its Executive Director Christine Lagarde at the opening meetings of the IMF and World Bank this weekend.
"There are firm commitments to increase resources available to the IMF more than $ 430 billion, in addition to the planned quota increase under the reform of 2010" , declared in a statement the finance ministers and central bankers from the G20, referring to the project to give emerging countries a say in the larger fund.
Francois Hollande wants to suspend the enforcement Nome establishing the conditions for resale by EDF of part of its electricity to its competitors, because it increases speculation in the market for electricity, announced Thursday for Energy with the Socialist candidate for president.
Francois Brottes believes that the Competition Authority "issued an indictment against the policy of opening the French electricity market" in favor of the review of a decree implementing this law.
The system "will strengthen the speculative nature of the electricity market in France and will further increase prices, since it will impact the electric bill of consumers to the tune of '200 to 500 million Euros per year, according to the Authority, "he says in a statement.
"A few days before an election critical to the future of France, it is urgent to suspend enforcement of the law Nome. Let the French can choose between two conceptions of e Energy: speculative, or public good, "he adds.
New organization of the French electricity market (Nome) allows alternative suppliers to buy electricity from EDF Nuclear, within an overall limit of 25% of the production capacity. Since 1 January, the resale price is set at 42 euros a megawatt hour.
If he departed from Areva, it's because she was unable to work with EDF, said President candidate. It also ensures that the government never considered selling a nuclear power plant in Gaddafi's Libya. Lauvergeon and Nicolas Sarkozy in New Delhi, December 6, 2010.
New episode of the clash between remote Nicolas Sarkozy and Anne Lauvergeon. Incumbent President said Tuesday that it had terminated the functions of Anne Lauvergeon at the head of Areva because she was "unable to work in harmony with EDF". "Ms. Lauvergeon, we asked him to leave his post for some reason is very simple, was that she was unable to work in harmony with EDF, "he said on France Inter.
Asked about its incompatibility with the current CEO of EDF Proglio, considered close to Nicolas Sarkozy, the head of state assured that "with the previous (Gadonneix, ed), it was exactly the same thing ". Ms. Lauvergeon "did everything to remain as head of Areva," she "came to me countless times," he insisted, "if it had been in disagreement with the policy as I was driving to the nuclear, one wonders why she wanted to stay. "
"This is someone I respect, I kept at the head of Areva that I had even known (…) we can not say that he mistreated her," continued the President UMP candidate and confirming that he was offered a post in his government. "See Ms. Lauvergeon now explain how she suffered with me, when she was a president of Areva who wanted to stay, who wished by all means remain president of Areva, all these people who, once that they left their posts, say 'my God as we suffered when + they wanted to stay, it's pretty outrageous, "he – he concluded.
In an interview last week in the weekly L'Express and a book, Ms. Lauvergeon, old Sherpa of François Mitterrand, ousted in 2011 by the Government of the head of champion French nuclear company, denounced the methods of the CEO of EDF Proglio, reveals some of his conversations with Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing the government for consideration until 2010 to sell a nuclear reactor to Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. Again, Nicolas Sarkozy denies.
"I have not consorted with Gaddafi"
"There was never a central issue to sell to Mr. Gaddafi and let me tell you that if there is a head of state who in the world, has not paved with Gaddafi and is responsible for his departure and what happened to him, I think maybe it's me, "Sarkozy said in response to a question from a listener on France Inter. When visiting the controversial Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Paris in December 2007, the Head of State announced to reporters, after an initial interview with the Libyan leader that France had signed the signature of "tens of billions" of euros of contracts with Libya …… These agreements
…, he cited "collaboration contracts for desalination of seawater with a nuclear reactor for armaments cooperation, different economic contracts ". Lauvergeon accused the government of having planned until 2010 to sell the nuclear reactor. "This is a blatant lie (…) it has never been involved," insisted Tuesday Nicolas Sarkozy, "I remind you that if Benghazi was saved and if Gaddafi is gone, it is because that France intervened. " "There is still a logic. We can obviously angry with me for a whole bunch of things but we can not blame me for the inconsistency. In Libya it is France that led the operation, it is France with the UK, "he said.
"So, between those who say that Gaddafi paid my campaign, the other we wanted to offer a nuclear power plant, do you really think I would have done this if it was all true?" concluded the incumbent president and candidate of the UMP. The information website Mediapart published in March a note suggesting that the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has funded a 50 million euros the 2007 campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. The President had called the accusations "ridiculous".
When moving to Tripoli in July 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy, France and Libya signed a memorandum of agreement on civil nuclear aim of which was, according to the secretary general of the Elysee Claude Gueant of the time, "to provide to Libya a nuclear reactor that allows the provision of drinking water "in seawater déssalinisant This agreement was widely criticized, especially from France's partners such as Germany, and left in environmentalists who saw a proliferation risk. Some had even suspected this Agreement to be consideration for the release of Bulgarian nurses held in Libya, which the Elysée has always denied.
The CAC 40 closed sharply lower, 2.47%, amid concerns about the situation in Spain and Italy, while the slowdown in Chinese growth is stronger than expected. Traders at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The Paris Stock Exchange closed sharply lower Friday amid concerns persist about the situation in Spain and Italy, and while the slowdown in Chinese growth is stronger than expected. The CAC 40 gave 2.47%, passing under the 3200 points to 3189.09 points, in a trade volume of 3.697 billion euros.
On other European markets, Frankfurt fell 2.36% and 1.03% of London. The Eurostoxx 50 index lost 2.58% on its side. "We broke a very important technical level, that of 3200 points, this does not bode well. We will start next week in very bad disposition, "warned Frederic Rozier, manager of equities at Messchaert Private Banking Growth Slows
.
The Chinese trend has been sealed, early interactions, confirmed by the slowing of Chinese growth, which reached its lowest level in almost three years (+8.1% yoy in the first quarter). "Investors not expect a downturn as fast. It should be remembered that any slowdown in China has a strong impact on the global economy, "said Mr. Rozier. However, for Renaud Murail at Barclays Bourse," it is almost certain that stakeholders would not reacted so negatively to this statistic a few weeks ago. Currently, less bad news is amplified. "
The climate has been sealed by the blood of net borrowing rate of Italy and Spain in the bond market, yields on 10 year Spanish flirting again with 6%. Rome suffered a further decline in industrial production in February, while economists were betting on a rise, while the debt of Spanish banks to the ECB in March smashed the record already history for the previous month. "This suggests two disturbing elements: access not only of the Spanish market remains difficult, but they still have a strong need for short-term liquidity," said Alexandre Baradez at Saxo Bank.
The bank attacked very
The banking sector in the fourth largest economy in the euro area of particular concern for investors because it is very exposed to the real estate market in the doldrums in the country. In this context, anxiety, low morale of U.S. households has compounded the disappointment of stakeholders.
As for values, the banking sector has been particularly attacked, Societe Generale yielding 5.79% to 17.80 euros, BNP Paribas 5.22% to 30.40 euros and Credit Agricole 5.08% to 3.91 euros. More cyclical stocks have suffered heavily from the slowdown in China, the image of Peugeot (-5.15% to 9.84 euros), Lafarge (-4.94% to 30.88 euros) or Vinci (-4 , 21% to 34.83 euros). L'Oreal was the only value of the CAC 40 close to achieving in the green (1.15% to 92.14 euros) after the beginning of 2012 found "promising" with sales up sharply in the first quarter.
Capgemini (-5.12% to 29.92 euros) suffered from lower sales forecasts for 2012-2013 the number two Indian IT Infosys Technologies. Atos took to 2.31% to 44.37 euros, while a note from Morgan Stanley suggests the establishment of "strategic options" for the group if the title is still low. Stallergenes has granted 3.34% to 42.66 euros after confirming its annual growth target following an increase of 7% of its turnover for the first quarter. Finally, Gold by Gold unscrewed from 6.01% to 6.72 euros in its first day of trading on Euronext Paris.
UniCredit has emerged in the last quarter of 2011 a profit of 114 million euros, returning to profitability after intensive cleaning of its balance sheet which resulted in a loss of 10.6 billion euros the previous three months.
Over the whole of 2011, the bank shows a loss of 9.2 billion euros, a result of massive writedowns in the third quarter, primarily goodwill.
Italy's largest bank by assets had already passed the annual dividend.
Earnings in the fourth quarter, beating consensus giving 30 million, compares with a profit of 321 million euros a year earlier.
The ratio of Tier 1 capital was hard to 9.97% on a proforma basis, taking into account a difficult capital increase of EUR 7.5 billion performed in January 2012.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange ended almost unchanged Monday after slight correction suffered last week, investors focusing on actions related to metals and blue chips that have underperformed ; the market lately.
The Nikkei gained 0.07% or 6.77 points, to 10,018.24. In contrast, the Topix broader, yielded 0.71 points (-0.08%) to 851.82.
This evolution of the Nikkei, helped by the decline of the yen against the dollar, was recorded in a few exchanges expanded.
"Even if the Nikkei falls below 10,000 points, Japanese institutional investors are not going to take profits because they have more net sellers in the rally (in recent months)," said Kenichi Hirano , a director at Tachibana Securities.
Technical analysts believe that the decline of last week could lead investors who missed the bull cycle in action since the beginning of the year to enter the market.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 1.1% Friday, accusing its largest percentage decline in two months. But it is still up over 18% since the beginning of the year.
Wall Street has stalled Wednesday, impeded in its progress begun several months ago by declining sectors associated with macroeconomic risks, such as finance and energy.
The Dow Jones Industrial 30 yielded 0.35%, or 45.57 points, to 13,124.62. The S & P-500, wider, lost 2.63 points, or 0.19%, to 1402.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.17, however, points (+0.04%) to 3,075.32.
The S & P 500 benchmark index fund managers, however, retains a gain of approximately 12% since the beginning of the year.
"We reached a plateau, but basically, the deal has not changed (…) There could be a setback but I see the stock market to grow to 1,430 or 1,450 items, "said Joe Benanti, CEO of Rosenblatt Securities, referring to the level of the S & P 500.
The former real estate sales declined in February against all expectations in the U.S. and inventories of unsold homes increased, according to data released Wednesday by the National Federation of Officers Real Estate (NAR).
This statistic interrupts a recent run of good macroeconomic indicators and a reminder that the housing market, considered key to a sustainable recovery in the U.S., is still not completely out of case.
Despite rising oil prices, the S & P energy grouping values fell 1.04%. That financial stocks lost 0.43% after rising on nine of the last 10 sessions.
"Some parts make me say that we are perhaps at the beginning of a correction of up to 4%: the relative poor performance of industrial and energy , the reversal of financial, "said Seth Setrakian, co-leader of the U.S. equities department at First New York Securities.
"Investors are waiting in general the beginning of a new quarter to regain some of their beads. This can happen earlier if everyone expects the same thing. "
In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs said, however, that the prospects for equity market returns, compared to bonds, are the best in a generation
. "Given the current valuations, we think it should say" goodbye for a long time "for obligations and start" buying long "on shares," said the middle .. The title
……. Oracle fell 2.29% to 29.41 dollars after posting its quarterly results yesterday, marked s in a drop in revenue from hardware sales.
The action Hewlett-Packard for its part, yielded 2.17% to 23.46 dollars after the software giant announced the merger of its divisions PCs and printers as part of a major reorganization designed to generate savings and boost growth.
The Nasdaq Composite Index, heavily weighted in technology, however, was brought up by 2.46% to 13.72 of the action after the developer Zynga online game announced ; redeem OMGPOP, the manufacturer of the game popular "Draw Something".
