News – Business & Economi

Philips Electronics said Monday it would cut 4,500 jobs after posting a net profit fall 85% in the third quarter due to higher raw material costs and restructuring charges.

The job cuts form part of a cost reduction of 800 million euros.

The world of lighting has also said it was considering various options for its television subsidiary, adding that negotiations with TVP to cede much of this activity was intense and constructive, but lasted longer than expected.

"In the event that a final agreement is not reached, Philips will consider alternatives," says CEO Frans van Houten said in a statement Monday.

Net income for the third quarter was 76 million euros against 524 million a year earlier. Turnover amounted to 5.394 billion euros against 5.46 billion.

The consensus of analysts polled by Reuters gave a net profit of 53.8 million and a turnover of 5.341 billion.

European shares opened lower Monday after another failure of the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel in local elections, which could add another obstacle on the way, hard-working, a solution to the crisis of sovereign debt euro area.

The inability of Ministers of the euro area to find a solution to the crisis at a meeting in Poland this weekend, hanging over the European currency and has penalized the Asian stock markets this morning.

Around 9:30, the CAC 40 index fell by 2.15% to 2965.91 points.

1.48% let go London, Frankfurt and Milan 1.83% 1.66%.The European indices, STOXX 50, lost 2.07%.

The bank accused the largest decrease sector in Europe, the Stoxx index lost 2.55%.

In Paris, Societe Generale lost 4.01%, BNP Paribas 2.07%.

Largest drop in the index, falling 4.37% Michelin, Morgan Stanley has degraded the title of overweight to underweight.

ArcelorMittal lost 3.97%.Credit Suisse cut its target price of 49 dollars to 35 dollars.

Safran, who made his first steps in the CAC 40 lost 1.1%.

The performance of the German government bond (Bund) to 10 years, reference the euro area expands by 3 points to 1.83%.

The euro remains under pressure and is trading around 1.3696 dollars, against more than 1.37 on Friday night.

A barrel of U.S. light crude lost $ 1.04 to 86.92, Brent 56 cents to 111.65 dollars.

The agreement on raising the U.S. debt ceiling was adopted Monday by the House of Representatives by 269 votes against 161 and will now be considered by the Senate.

The compromise negotiated in extremis by the Republicans and Democrats and announced Sunday evening by President Barack Obama plans to reduce the U.S. deficit of 2.400 billion in 10 years and should allow the world's largest economy to avoid being in default payment.

The Senate should vote to turn in the day Tuesday, the day the U.S. Treasury warned that it would no longer be able to pay bills unless an agreement.

Harry Reid, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, announced that the vote would take place at noon (1600 GMT).The text must obtain the votes of at least 60 of the 100 senators, he said.

If senators mimic representatives, the U.S. debt ceiling, currently set at 14,300 billion will be raised and the United States will escape a situation of default, which would have had any impact on the global economic system.

In the hours before the vote in the House, uncertainty still hangs over the attitude of the parliamentary basis, both right and left.

In the ranks of the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives, elected officials close to the Tea Party had raised objections to the compromise negotiated over the weekend in Washington.

In the ranks of the Democratic Party, the left wing complained that the text does not provide immediate tax increases for the wealthiest households and corporations.

"We are very concerned that the text is to make all these cuts but does not include any contribution of the richest people of our country, no income. It's disconcerting," said Nancy Pelosi, Democratic minority leader of the House, before rallying in the final compromise.

Monday night, 174 Republicans voted in favor of the agreement, against 66 who opposed it. The group has divided Democrats, voting for 95 elected, 95 elected voting against.

The image tarnished the political class

With the vote of the representatives, a first hurdle has been crossed.But concerns remain about a possible deterioration in the sovereign rating of the United States, the Triple A allowing them to obtain financing at favorable rates.

If the world's largest economy was losing the "signature" would increase credit costs in the United States and threaten the fragile economic recovery, with implications for the global economy.

The compromise provides for drastic reductions in public spending over ten years but does not affect taxation.It also creates a bipartisan parliamentary committee responsible for defining the end of November a new plan to reduce the federal deficit.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), non-partisan, confirmed that the compromise would reduce the deficit of at least 2100 billion over ten years.

On a political level, hard to say who should win this long and tortuous process.

Barack Obama, who is running in a second term in November 2012, accepted cuts in public spending of a magnitude greater than what he wanted and will have to convince the electorate as he had left no other choice.

However, the Democratic president could garner points among moderate voters and "independent".

"This process was long and messy and, as with any compromise, the outcome is far from satisfactory," he said in a video message released by his campaign. "But he also launched an important debate on how we address the challenges that lie ahead."

Right, John Boehner, the chairman of the House of Representatives, won the cuts he sought and avoided an immediate increase in taxes. But it could emerge from this crisis with a tarnished image, that of a leader under the influence of too sharp Tea Party, the conservative movement that has developed in recent years on the fringes of the Republican Party.

"The process works.It may be ugly, but it works, "Boehner said after the vote.

Finally, the American political establishment as a whole could suffer from these weeks of negotiations, that public opinion could be interpreted as political maneuvering at a time when Washington expects it effective remedies to boost growth and reduce unemployment, which remains at over 9% of the workforce.

"The real loser in this exercise is Washington," said Scott Reed, Republican elections.

The government will soon close 4500 accommodation places for the benefit of emergency housing. A bad strategy as associations, however, who approve its policy of "housing first". A homeless man is housed in a center of the Samu Social de Lille.

The resignation of Emmanuelli served as trigger. Wednesday, the former secretary of state slammed the door of the Samu Social de Paris, which he founded in 1993. "The social emergency, no one believes it is more manageable," he said. In May, the government announced a 3.3% decline the funding of accommodation, to 1.204 billion euros. The association also denounced a drop of the resources allocated to marauding, the day care and the number 115. In late June, the Samu Social even had to close its only center of Paris.Directly affected by the various criticisms, the Secretary of State for Housing, Benoist Appeared, held the same evening to respond on the board of France 2.

But instead of appease stakeholders, it has rekindled the flames by announcing the elimination by the end of the year 4500 hotel accommodation places, replaced by housing. "We have families with children, single women, for whom the care places are not appropriate, because the accommodation yes," he said.

Benoist Appeared in fact follows a strategy launched in autumn 2009, the "housing first". Its principle focus on access to ordinary housing, avoiding as much as possible the transition from shelters.For the National Federation of Home and Rehabilitation (Fnars), it also amounts to saying that housing stability is a condition "prior to the required insertion", not the culmination of a long journey in accommodation, as previously envisaged.

No debate on the merits

This policy would "not necessarily fully shared by Xavier Emmanuelli," said Secretary of State for Housing. His philosophy, at least, is not affected by most organizations, aware of the economic and social costs of accommodation. "The principle of 'Housing First' is not controversial.Now everyone agrees to say yes, with support from hotel 17 euros per night per person more than 1500 euros per month for a mother and two children-hotel accommodation cost more expensive than housing, which is absurd, says Juliette Baronet, head of research expert on housing consulting firm Fors-Social Research.

But replace accommodation places for housing can not be decreed. "Today, we did not, especially in areas where the rental market is very tight as the Ile-de-France and Paris.This policy can be set up on the long term, "said Juliette Baronet.

Benoist Appeared attaches yet to replace 4500 accommodation places by the end of the year, betting mainly on "intermediation rent", to which the state will spend 30 million euros this year: association serve as a third between landlords and tenants, and the state covers the difference between the rent paid by his last and the market price. In 2010, around 5000 homes were affected, and only 1500 are now available, according to the Fondation Abbé Pierre.

Rationalisation costs

"In this context [of lack of affordable housing], it is outrageous to cut the appropriations for hotel nights," complains the executive director, Christopher Robert, interviewed by Les Echos. For several other associations, the government seeks mainly to save money.Representatives of the State "seem deflected in a logic of cost efficiency, providing temporary housing solutions and support small," the worried Fnars in April.

The shortage of accommodation places, however, leads to absurdities, and additional expenses. Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) has revealed that 111 families without homes were sheltering emergency between mid-May and early July. "In the long run, their living conditions are even worse than they were at the hotel and the cost to society even more important," observes Juliette Baronet, the bureau Fors-Social Research.

The government portrays him on his positions.The budget allocated to only emergency housing, shelters and rehabilitation has increased from "670 million euros in 2007 to 933 million euros in 2011, and should be at a similar level in 2012, an increase of 39% over the five year period, "reported the firm Valérie Pécresse, the budget minister. But the needs have also exploded. More than 680,000 people still do not have a home personnel, including 133,000 homeless.

Despite the anger in the street, the project received 155 votes out of 300. The country will be able to receive the last installment of the aid from the EU and the IMF and avoid the default.

The austerity plan for the period 2012-2015, Greece needed to secure new funding from its creditors, but strongly contested in the streets because of the sacrifices it represents for the Greek people, was adopted Wednesday by Parliament.

While police continued to make shots of tear gas in front of the parliament which houses since morning demonstrators opposed to the project, the plan finally received 154 votes and a socialist dissident voices on the right, the 298 deputies present ( of 300 seats) in parliament Wednesday, according to an official count. 138 members of the opposition of left and right voted against.

Members who voted one by one to the call of their name and district must also vote Thursday on the implementing legislation which establishes the means to achieve budget savings in the plan by 2015.

A Socialist deputy Panayotis Kouroublis, voted against the plan, but a conservative colleague on the right has defied the instructions of his party in New Démoratie and supported the plan. Five members of the center-right who defected for months the main opposition party of New Democracy voted white.

Immediately after the vote, Prime Minister, George Papandreou, said the group's exclusion of Mr Kouroublis, reducing to 154 votes out of 300 most of which now has the socialist government, faced on Thursday to a new crucial vote on law enforcement's master plan voted on Wednesday.

Mr.Kouroublis had said shortly before the vote that he "could not accept blackmail" exercised by the euro area ", which referred to the probability of bankruptcy of the country to urge Athens to adopt a plan deemed" unfair ".

His colleague Alexander Athanassiadis Socialist, who had previously stated publicly that he would vote against the project changed his mind, saying he was "convinced" by the speech of Prime Minister George Papandreou in the gallery.

He is a member of the Department of Kozani (NW), where a large unit of the public electricity company, the DEI whose planned privatization has faced strong opposition. DEI's employees on strike shall, moreover, to power outages affecting wild for a few days randomly neighborhoods of large cities.

"Framework medium-term fiscal strategy," the new plan, dictated by the EU and the IMF, provides savings by 2015 from 28.4 billion euros and mass privatization to bring 50 billion euros .

Since morning, the whole of Europe had their eye on Athens. This project was a precondition imposed by the euro area for further financial support to avoid a default of Greece, which would put at risk.

The finance ministers of the euro zone must meet July 3 to decide the payment of a fifth installment of the loan assistance of 110 billion awarded last year to Greece.

Wednesday, from morning police fired tear gas before the Greek Parliament to clear the protesters, however, fewer than in previous events, but more determined.Protesters had arrived early Wednesday to try to prevent at least symbolically vote for the project, surrounding the parliament.

From 0500 GMT, police conducted the first firing of tear gas at small gatherings trying to block the main roads around Athens.

The general strike started Tuesday 48H also disrupted for second day air transport, ports also immobilizing the ferries to the islands. Banks and pharmacies are closed, the public sector paralyzed.

In addition to the persistent pressure from the EU, including President Herman Van Rompuy said Tuesday that the hours "ahead are decisive" for Greece, Greek MPs also received a warning from the new executive director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, who started his appointment as a call for "national reconciliation" policy in Greece.

The A400M, the future military transport aircraft developed by Airbus, has suffered another setback as it will remain grounded for most of the Paris Air Show, for its first appearance in the first air show world.

The aircraft suffered a problem with one of its reactor just days before the show, participate in the parade of the Patrouille de France on Monday but then will not make any flight demonstration.Spectators will see the ground, said the Airbus management.

"This is not a security issue, but flight tests are very demanding right now," said the head of the military division of Airbus, Domingo Urena-Raso.

Airbus did not provide estimates of the cost or delay caused by this problem, but she assured that it was being resolved. The company has not changed its objective of a first aircraft delivery in early 2013.

The A400M has been developed by France, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey at a cost of more than 20 billion euros.The project has already been delayed for four years and he was saved with an extension of 3.5 billion euros from the contributing countries last year.

The aircraft flew in December 2009, Airbus hopes to sell half a thousand.

Approximately 340,000 spectators and participants are expected at the Paris Air Show June 20 to 26

This new setback could also threaten the presentation of the device at an upcoming air show scheduled for July in Britain, in which should be unveiled its official name: Atlas.

This name was chosen to symbolize the endurance of the aircraft by reference to Greek mythology the Titan condemned by Zeus to support the world.Atlas including attempted to transfer the burden to Heracles in vain during the episode of the golden apples of the Hesperides.

Hercules, the Latin double of Heracles, is the official name of the main competitor of the A400M, the C-130 Lockheed Martin.

Oursel Luke, CEO of Areva, is the favorite to replace Anne Lauvergeon head of French nuclear specialist, reports the newspaper La Tribune.

According to a forthcoming article in the Thursday edition of business daily, Nicolas Sarkozy would have sliced ​​and decided not to renew Lauvergeon the end of his second term as chief executive of Areva, which ends June 30

An announcement should be made by Friday, the newspaper reported without citing its sources.

Several names have circulated in the press as potential successors to Anne Lauvergeon, including Marwan Lahoud, Chief Strategy Officer of EADS and of Laurent Collet-Billon, Delegate General for Armaments, income insistently in recent weeks.

But it would ultimately an internal candidate who would hold the rope, according to the Tribune, which has Oursel Luke, one of four members of the Executive Board of Areva, as a "favorite".

Mines graduate, he joined the nuclear giant in 2007 after working in several departments including the functions exercised at Schneider or Geodis.

Areva declined to respond.Asked late Wednesday, the Elysee Palace declined to refute or confirm the report and declined comment.

A member of the supervisory board of the French group told Reuters he was not informed of the possible appointment of Luke Oursel.

Supposed to endorse the choice of the Elysee, the council has not yet been convened, "he added.

The International Monetary Fund has selected two candidates for the post of Director-General, those of Mexican Agustin Carstens and the French Christine Lagarde. The Israeli-American Stanley Fischer is rejected. To my left, Mexico's Agustin Carstens. To my right, the French Christine Lagarde. The match has already begun …

The International Monetary Fund announced Monday, June 13 in a statement it had selected two candidates for the post of Director-General, those of Mexican Agustin Carstens and the French Christine Lagarde, while the Israeli-American Stanley Fischer is rejected.

The IMF "will consider applications from Agustin Carstens and Christine Lagarde for the post of CEO," said the institution in a statement. Mexico had announced the candidature of its central bank governor on 22 May, five days after the resignation of the French Dominique Strauss-Kahn.The French Minister of Economy, whose name had been suggested earlier still, even though Strauss-Kahn was detained in a case of sexual crimes and had not left his post, was confirmed May 25 that it would be a candidate.

As Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, he announced his entry onto the scene in a statement Saturday, the day after the official close of nominations. The IMF argues that the nominations of Mr. Carstens and Lagarde were selected "in accordance with the decision adopted by its board of directors on May 20, which details the procedure for selecting its next director general, and in agreement Regulation with the IMF, which sets the age limit for lead at 65. Stanley Fischer is 67 years old.

The Board of Directors of the IMF, a body composed of representatives of 24 countries or country groups, has set a goal of appointing a new CEO by June 30.

A report of the Fraud Control indicates that the oil does not fully reflected at the pump lower crude oil prices. Christine Lagarde threat of force them.

The Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said Sunday that the government could impose on oil to reduce fuel prices at the pump if they do not justify the price drops enough found so far by the administration.

"Yes, yes, yes," replied the Minister on Europe 1 to a question asking whether there could be sanctions and a "decision almost authoritarian" of falling prices, which currently operate at very high levels.

She had said that pump prices have not fallen enough, delivering the preliminary findings of a report from the Directorate General for Consumer, Competition and Repression of Fraud (DGCCRF).

According to Le Parisien, which published the bulk of the report Monday, the price of a barrel of Brent oil from the North Sea, which is a reference to the world, fell by 8.5% between 2 and May 15, from 125.18 dollars to 114.56 dollars. This would represent a "downside" of the pump price of 6 cents per liter for diesel and 4 cents for a liter of unleaded 95.However, this potential decrease was reflected in the case of diesel as a proportion of 50 to 70%, according to the distribution networks.

The report said as well have been a price decrease of 3.9 cents in supermarkets, by 3.2 cents in the stations of the oil majors and 2.6 cents from the independents. And the situation would be worse for unleaded where the potential drop would not have been passed or whatever.

Christine Lagarde acknowledges however that the decline of the euro against the dollar over the period has absorbed some of the decline in crude prices.To the tune of 50% says the report from the DGCCRF, which emphasizes that "the impact of changes in the pump prices of oil" also depends on "the evolution of supply and demand in the European refining market ".

"With Frédéric Lefebvre (Secretary of State for Commerce, ed), we will request further explanations" for the industrial sector, has nonetheless warned the minister.

"If we do not receive appropriate explanations that justify non-compliance with the commitment of oil (to pass on prices at the pump prices of oil, ie), we will take action," warned Ms. Lagarde, displaying the firmness "extreme" government. Which remains to be seen. Pricing freedom is indeed the rule in France.

Questioned by AFP, the French Union of Petroleum Industries (Ufip) was not immediately available for comment on these statements.

The government increases the ads about the recent surge in pump prices.

Mid-April, he had indicated he would draw upon the oil sector to the tune of 115 million euros to finance an upgrading of kilometric scale taxpayers.

The wedding dress for Kate Middleton is a dream for millions of young girls but Handicraft who helped create this unique piece usually do much less.

To boost the image of crafts, Colbert has taken a series of initiatives, including through an agreement with the rector of Paris, to discover the business of luxury students graduate.

"Find craft skills and motivate the younger generation for this type of art is a general problem with the French industry," says Elisabeth Ponsolle des Portes, Delegate General of the Comité Colbert, the agency that represents seventy-five houses in the area of luxury in France.

"Today, it is difficult, for example, find furriers and motivate young people to train in this profession," she adds, while stressing that the trades are devalued in French society.

"We let them visit the shops or high fashion jewelry and give them the opportunity to talk with the artisans to show that these trades are considered true treasures for the company," says Elisabeth Ponsolle Gates.

The finding is similar to the UK where the British jeweler Theo Fennell said it was difficult to convince young people to devote considerable time to acquire scarce skills, at the finish, earning less than in other occupations popular with people their age.

"One might think that young people are lining up to become an apprentice, but this is not the case," said Theo Fennell, founder and artistic director of the eponymous brand at the global summit of luxury and fashion hosted by Reuters.

SECURING THE KNOW-HOW IN THE LACE

A Caudry, the cradle of lace industry in northern France, the transmission of craft skills is a priority for companies such as Sophie Hallett and Solstiss, two lace makers have recognized some of their reasons in the dress of the wife of Prince William.

The lace of the dress made in great secrecy by Sarah Burton Alexander McQueen, one of the houses of the PPR group, have been carefully assembled from different grounds of English and French lace to create a unique piece.

"We are committed to sustain our business because it is a rare skill.It's a job that is not learned in books, "said Maud Lescroart, marketing director and member of the family who runs this company for three generations.

Maud Lescroart says it takes about seven years to train a tulle, the worker-craftsman who operates the business on which is woven Leavers lace.

Sophie Hallette society, which manufactures lace for fashion houses such as Valentino, Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier, employs 200 people and trains about 20 new recruits per year.

Herve Protais, sales manager and director of the house Solstiss, a local competitor, however, recognizes that it is not always easy to motivate youth to work on looms dating from the nineteenth century, much noisier than modern machines .

"Work schedules are also very irregular, since rates are driven by cycles in the collections of fashion and haute couture," he adds.

Herve Protais insists, however, that Soltiss, who works with houses such as Chanel and Givenchy, is not faced with major difficulties in recruitment, the profession still enjoying a real social recognition and offering Caudry addition of attractive salaries.

Tulle workers who are paid to produce, can earn up to 3,000 euros per month, "he recalls.

During the crisis, which has forced companies to lay off lace, tulle from the craft has been very little affected, these skills are very difficult to trace where the activity is restarted, Herve Protais also observed.

Desperately WATCHMAKER SEARCH

The question of know-how arises more acutely in watchmaking in Switzerland, which is currently facing pressure on the productive side to the popularity of Asian consumers for luxury watches.

The Swiss watch industry is currently experiencing a wave of recruitment.

Swatch Group, which had insisted on the need to keep skills sharp during the crisis, plans to hire between 1,000 and 1,500 people this year.

Last week, rival Richemont, owner of the house Cartier has also announced plans to create up to 800 jobs in Switzerland.

"We will train people for the positions we offer. We expect that many people discover that we recruit the watch industry," acknowledges Alan Grieve, the spokesperson of the group.

Richemont watch form about 65 per year.Vacheron Constantin, one of the oldest houses to watch Swiss entry into the group in 1996, as currently twelve apprentices and this figure could rise to sixteen in two years, said Juan-Carlos Torres, CEO of the house.

According to figures published by the Employers' Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, 318 watchmakers and business associates were formed in 2010, twice more than in 2001.

Paul-Andre Hartmann, director of a special school based in Le Locle, the heart of the Swiss Watch Industry, said the danger for the entire profession to see the younger generations turn away from these trades.

"If they disappear, the entire watch industry will be affected," he warns.