News – Business & Economi

The Scientific Council of indices for the Paris Stock Exchange has decided to withdraw Dexia and Lagardère CAC 40, which will be replaced by Natixis and Publicis, NYSE Euronext said Friday.

Dexia and Lagardere will be included in the index Next20, ante ACC with Edenred and Rhodia, while Atos Origin and Land Regions are withdrawn over Natixis and Publicis.

These decisions will take effect from the trading session of September 20, 2010, said Euronext, which manages the Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon, and the New York Stock Exchange now payday loans.

The Scientific Council of indices for the Paris Bourse meets four times a year.It decides the composition of indices taking into account market capitalization, volume and weight of the share float of securities.

Five values also incorporate the SBF 120 – Bull, Faiveley Transport, Medica, Ruby and Sequana, while six are removed – Beneteau, Bonduelle, French Cement, Euler Hermes, Sperian Protection and Vilmorin.

Camaieu reported Monday a net profit increase of 4.8% in the first half of 2010 to 379,000,000 euros, through improving its margins helped offset sales penalized by a late start balances summer.

The French distributor of ready-to-wear said it had an operating profit up 12.4% over the first six months of the year, to 54.3 million euros.

Its sales have in turn increased 9% to 379.2 million euros.

In its statement, however, stressed that Camaïeu same perimeter and exchange rates, turnover fell 3.9%.

"Business was badly affected by the summer sales period was extended by one week in July rather than June, but was offset by improved margins on sales," said Camaieu .

The group also said to have opened 39 stores since the beginning of the year, bringing its fleet to 894 stores including 342 abroad.

At the Paris Bourse, the action Camaïeu closed Monday at 158.48 euros, up 5.65%.

The Nikkei closed up 0.95% Friday, pending action by the Japanese authorities to stem the rising yen.

The Nikkei index closed at 8991.06 points and the broader TOPIX, took 0.96% to 819.62 points.

At midday, the Nikkei had yet descended to a lower conference room of 16 months.

According to Kyodo News, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was to hold a press conference Friday to outline the measures taken by the government to control the sudden appreciation of the yen.

The exporters, who are particularly affected by the rising yen, have therefore taken the colors, Honda Motor TDK and Advantest winner respectively 1.63%, 2.79% and 1.72% at closing.

The U.S. markets have opened higher on Thursday, reacting positively to an unexpected improvement in the labor market in the United States.

A few minutes after the start of trading, the Dow Jones gained 0.28% to 10,087.98 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 index 0.38% to 1159.29 points and the Nasdaq Composite 2148.66 0.33% points.

The markets were reassured by a larger decline than expected enrollment in weekly unemployment in the United States during the week to August 21, at 473 000 504 000 cons last week.

As for values, Dell noted Thursday his company bid on the data storage 3PAR to 24.30 dollars per share, a superior proposal to that presented by Hewlett-Packard.The IT group has indicated that the Board of Directors 3PAR has accepted his offer.

Titles took Dell and HP respectively 0.8% and 0.75% at the opening, while the title 3PAR lost 1.9%.

Hewlett-Packard on Monday launched an offer of 1.6 billion dollars (1.2 billion euros) to acquire the data storage company 3PAR, competing with the offer of its rival Dell issued last week and potentially opening the way for other candidates for redemption.

HP offers a 24 dollars per share, an amount 33% higher than that proposed by Dell at $ 18 per share in cash, or $ 1.15 billion in total.

The proposed transaction represented by Dell when it announces a 87% premium over the closing price of 3PAR.

HP recently rocked by the resignation of its CEO Mark Hurd in early August, said that the board had approved the transaction.The closure of the transaction is expected before the end of the year, the company said.

STRATEGIC ACQUISITION

This acquisition would allow the IT group to extend its range of storage products for the 'cloud' (computer via the Internet) and support its service activities, like other industry heavyweights like IBM, they which tend to generate higher gross margins than sales of computers.

"3PAR enables us to expand our business in the storage and diversify our products," said Dave Donatelli, head of the business networks, servers and storage group, during a conference call.

Around 16:30 GMT, 3PAR jumped from 42.68% while the share of HP yielded 1.93%.

The boards of Dell and 3PAR had approved the terms of the agreement.

"We have proposed a superior offer, we are confident in our case and our proposal."

Due to the premium offered by Dell, industry analysts were surprised by the offer of HP, even if they had raised the possibility of a competing offer.

Shannon Cross, analyst at Cross Research, an additional supply could still be issued, which could start the beginning of a strong competition for this acquisition is rare in the technology sector.

"I do not think they (HP) undertake an acquisition only to weaken Dell is a strategic asset," she says.

3PAR and Dell were not immediately available for comment on the announcement of HP.

The trade deficit of France fell to 3.796 billion euros from 5.179 billion in June (revised) the previous month, thanks to increased exports find their level two years ago, according to data CVS / OCJ posted Friday by Customs.

Throughout the first half, the deficit increased to 24.544 billion against 22.928 billion during the first six months of 2009, a decline due mainly to the increase in energy costs.

The deficit for June was better than expected – economists polled by Reuters expecting an average of 4.5 billion, the lowest estimate is 4.0 billion – and is explained by an increase of 10% exports.

The balance of May has additionally been revised downwards to 5.179 billion 5.500 billion instead of an initial estimate announced a month ago, but nonetheless the highest since October 2008.

Exports FOB data CVS / CJO jumped 10.2% to 33.016 billion euros in June against 29.948 billion in May, reaching their highest level since August and September 2008.

Imports were up to their side of 36.812 billion euros against 35.127 billion the previous month.

In the second quarter alone, exports rose 2.6%, after rising 5.1% the first three months of the year, while imports rose 7.4% after +2.1% within the scope of energy purchases.

SALES OF AIRBUS straighten

Improved trade balance in June was primarily due to exports of transport equipment. France has sold on July 26 Airbus which it earned 1.719 million euros against 19 aircraft to 1,050 million euros in May, combined to deliver a packet.

"The sales of transportation equipment, which fell 1.4 billion euros in May, are better than recover.Outside major contracts, industrial exports are also dynamic, "according to Customs in their commentary.

"Throughout the first half, the resumption of trade undertaken in late 2009 has intensified, not found for all the pre-crisis levels," added the administration.

Of these six months, exports rose 5.9% to 187.0 billion euros, compared with an increase of 3.9% in the second half of 2009.

After two semesters of decline, aerospace sales have rebounded by 10.4%, France has supplied over the period 141 Airbus worth 9.4 billion euros.

Automotive exports have, however, increased only 4.3% after rising by 19.5% in the previous semester when they had received "car scrapping" in most European countries.

The mechanical and electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals, intermediate goods (chemicals, metals), agricultural products and energy products have also been well directed, according to Customs figures.

REBOUND AMPLIFIED

Imports have increased their share from 7.4% in the first half, after +2.1% in the previous six months, mainly due to the depreciation of the euro has made it more expensive energy purchases paid in dollars.

The energy bill was so weighty $ 23.2 billion against 20.1 billion in the second half of 2009.

Excluding energy, the increase in imports is only 5.6%, after +2.2% in the second half of 2009, note Customs.

If it has increased the energy bill, the weaker euro has instead favored exports that show a 10% increase compared to the first six months of 2009.

"In the first half of 2010, the French foreign trade has amplified the rebound started in late 2009 by taking advantage of the upturn in world trade and strong demand from emerging countries," said Anne-Marie Idrac, Secretary of State Foreign Trade, in a statement.

"Exports rose to virtually all trading partners, with particular vigor to China or Brazil," she adds.

Towards Germany, the largest trading partner of France, exports grew by 8.5% in the first half.Those to Spain, however, fell 1.4%, reflecting the difficulties of this country is, after Germany and Italy, the third biggest market for French exports.

The press kit released by Bercy reported encouraging outlook for the rest of the year.

"France will continue to benefit, assuming a stabilization of the exchange rate of the euro, an enhanced price competitiveness, the effects on sales will be realized fully in the second half of 2010 and 2011, especially to large emerging markets, "it reads.

Axa announced Wednesday better than expected financial results for the first half performance in line with its objective to give priority to the recovery in margins rather than the development of its turnover.

Net income for the second European group of insurance by market capitalization stood at 944 million euros, a figure well above the 623 million approached by the consensus of analysts conducted by the editor of Reuters.

"In the first half of 2010, we focused on optimizing our margins on all our business lines," said a statement from the Group CEO Henri De Castries.

If the result is displayed down 28% over the same period last year, this drop is due to the supply of 1.478 billion euros spent by the group following the sale of some of its assets in the United Kingdom.

Without this extraordinary loss, net income would increase by 81%.

The decline in operating income of 3% to 2.082 billion euros, a performance superior to 1.884 billion as planned by Reuters, while turnover has increased it from 1% to 49.925 billion euros.

The band's performance "We will strengthen our ability to rebound when the economy will become clearer," said Henri de Castries.

Axa has not commented on the offer of 11.5 billion dollars from the National Australia Bank on its subsidiary AXA Asia Pacific.

The subsidiary has announced a profit of 219.2 million Australian dollars for the first six months of the year, a figure in line with market expectations.

The offer, which clashed with the Australian authorities to the competition runs until August 31.

The title Axa lost 10.9% since the beginning of the year, while the European index DJStoxx insurance is up 3.16%.

LVMH Tuesday reported a strong rebound in sales and profitability in the first half, driven by the performance of Louis Vuitton and the resumption of activities that had been during the crisis, heavily penalized by destocking.

After Hermes and Burberry, the giant figures confirm global luxury goods sector recovery in the first quarter after suffering in 2009 the largest decline in its history with sales down 8%, according to estimates from Bain & Co.

LVMH saw sales reach 9.09 billion euros, a figure slightly above the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters (8.87 billion euros), growing by 16% as reported.

In comparable data, the dynamics of organic growth was confirmed, the sales growth standing at 14% in the first half, after 13% in the first three months of the year.

Full advantage of the good momentum in sales and cost reduction programs implemented in 2009, during the crisis, current operating income jumped 33% to 1.816 billion euros (1.7 billion Reuters ), advancing 2.5 points the group's operating margin to 19.9% (against 17.5% a year earlier).

Unsurprisingly, these are activities that had suffered most from the crisis and overstocks – namely wines and spirits (Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon or Ruinart) jewelry and watches (Tag Heuer, Zenith, Chaumet and Fred ) – which recorded the highest increases in sales (+18% and +24% respectively on a comparable basis).

In fashion, leather goods, the division's most profitable group with Louis Vuitton, the main profit center of LVMH sales up 14%.

Turnover increased 10% in perfumes and cosmetics (Dior, Givenchy and Guerlain) and 13% in the selective distribution (perfumery chain Sephora, the department store Le Bon Marche, or network based DFS sales in duty by passengers).

The stock closed at 92.26 euros on the Paris Stock Exchange Tuesday, down 2.91% to an increase of 17.7% since the beginning of the year, outperforming the European diversified consumer goods advancing 13.7% over the period.

The value of trades on valuation multiples of about 18 times its estimated profits for 2011, against 16 times the industry average for non-Hermes.

Syngenta has lowered its targets on Thursday and now anticipates a decline in earnings this year due to a late start planting, the result of a severe winter, and the burden of taxation.

Around 8:15 GMT, the action accused the coup losing 5.21% to 229.40 Swiss francs, while the index grouping the European chemical values yielded 0.76%.

The planting season started late in the northern hemisphere, but demand has accelerated in the second quarter, especially in emerging markets, told Reuters CEO Mike Mack.

As a result, the Swiss agribusiness group, world leader in its field, now anticipates a strong second half, with good signs for the upcoming planting season in the Southern Hemisphere he added.

"We anticipate an operating profit of about that of last year but, instead, a decrease in net profit," he said.

A continuing evolution in Latin America and Asia should make it possible to Syngenta, which also produces genetically modified seeds, to offset a 13% drop in operating profit in the first half to finish the year with operating profit unchanged said Mike Mack.

Finance costs and tax rates should weigh heavier on the net profits, also said the CEO.

Net income declined 11% to 1.25 billion dollars in the first half, while the Reuters poll gave it to 1.38 billion.

Revenues increased 1% to 6.74 billion dollars, is there a little higher than the consensus (6.69 billion).

THE EMERGING TO THE DEVELOPED

Emerging markets such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific are increasingly important for the group."That was the year Syngenta could see its sales in emerging markets than those in developed markets," added Mike Mack.

Shares of agribusiness groups have declined this year due to stiff competition from cheaper Asian products and uncertainty about the regulations of GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

The slide has picked up speed after that Monsanto has sharply reduced its full-year in May and reported a 45% drop in quarterly net income in June.

German Bayer, which has a subsidiary agrochemicals, will release its second quarter results on July 28 and his compatriot BASF, also present on this segment, July 29.

The European Commission released this month a proposal under which the Member States of the European Union could soon have the ability to prohibit the cultivation of GM crops on their land without justification.

The action Syngenta trades at a PER 2011 around 12.5, below that of the U.S. Monsanto but over other European companies in the sector.

She lost about a fifth of its value since the peak reached in March this year.

Orpea announced Wednesday an increase of 16.3% of its turnover in the first half and confirmed its full-year 2012.

The manager of nursing homes and clinics completed a first half sales of 470 million euros, representing organic growth of 9.3%.

The group has enjoyed a growth of 17.2% in France, which represents the bulk of its sales.

"Orpea confirms with great serenity, its sales targets for the current year and for 2011 and 2012, respectively 960 million, 1.100 million and 1.225 million euros," says in a statement.

In the second quarter alone, sales rose 16.5%, giving an organic growth of 9.1%.

For the second half, the group, which had in March 28.073 beds, expects the opening of many schools.

The shares closed Tuesday at 31.2150 euros, giving a market capitalization of about $ 1.2 billion.