News – Business & Economi

Warren Buffett has filed a formal offer for the purchase by Berkshire Hathaway of its 19.9% stake it does not already own in Wesco Financial.

Wesco, which is headquartered in Pasadena, California, is run by Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

The transaction in cash and stock should be around 500 million dollars (390 million euros) on the basis of book value at Wesco dated June 30His actual amount will be determined on the basis of the carrying value of the company at the time of the closing of the transaction Warren Buffett hopes that it will happen this year.

In a statement, Wesco said it had established a committee of three independent directors to consider the offer from Berkshire fast cash.There is no guarantee that the transaction is concluded, says the company is mainly active in insurance, furniture rental, and steel.

Warren Buffett, who is aged 80 years, has announced its intention to redeem the remaining Wesco August 26, which has resulted in a leap of 11.8% per share this year.

Wednesday, the stock closed up 46 cents at $ 363, giving the 19.9% stake coveted by Berkshire market capitalization of 514 million.

Berkshire had acquired 80.1% stake in Wesco there are more than 30 years. Charlie Munger, aged 86, is CEO of the group since 1984 and has parallel Vice-Chairman of Berkshire since 1978.

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.

France is open to the entry of Japanese group Mitsubishi in the capital of Areva, said Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

"I told the Prime Minister of Japan its wish, the desire to see (…) strengthen the association between Areva and Mitsubishi for the realization, inter alia, a new reactor, the reactor ATMEA and I indicated In particular, France was open to input from Mitsubishi capital of Areva, said François Fillon during a trip to Japan, according to a text sent to the press.

The French nuclear expert working on the implementation of a proposed capital increase of three billion euros, which should mark the entry in its capital of international shareholders.The operation aims to secure funding for an investment program of nearly ten billion euros by 2012.

Sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and Kuwait, as well as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, are anticipated to participate in this fundraising.

Marks & Spencer has reported a third consecutive quarter of sales growth recurring but at a slower pace and was cautious, like its competitors, prospects of consumption.

The British group, the number one clothing in the United Kingdom and also present in food and household goods, said its sales at stores open at least a year rose 3.6% the 13 weeks ending July 3, which correspond to the first quarter of its fiscal year.

This increase is in the top end of analyst expectations thanks to good performance clothing.It is, however, lag behind the 5.1% increase the previous quarter.

The recurring sales excluding food fit up 6% while sales in food rose 1.5%.

UK retailers worried about the consequences of tax increases and budget cuts announced by the government on June 22 consumption."We had a good start to our fiscal year, but after the recent budget and the measures taken to reduce the deficit, the increase in VAT, we are cautious on the outlook," said Chief Executive.

However, he ruled out a relapse of the British economy in recession and confirmed the target of a stable gross margin for the entire year.

Marc Bolland, who took over the reins of Marks & Spencer last month, confirmed he will present a strategic plan was updated in November.It could however be facing a revolt from some of its shareholders at the general meeting of the week, some investors do not hide their criticism of his pay 15 million pounds (23 million) annually.

The international sales rose 0.9% while those on the internet via M & S Direct have jumped 49%.

Marks & Spencer has underperformed the Stoxx 600 index of European retail sector by 11% since the beginning of this year. The value finished at 352.7 pence on Tuesday in closing a course corresponding to a capitalization of 5.4 billion pounds.

It yields 2.52% at 343.8 pence in morning

Like the European stock markets, Wall Street fell heavily on Tuesday because of a resurgence of fears about the budgetary problems of the eurozone when approaching an important deadline that expects European banks Thursday.

In this concern, which brought down the S & P 500 in a session low of 2010 has added the announcement of the sharp drop in U.S. consumer confidence, a statistic that raises questions about the strength of the recovery U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones 30 industrials surrendered 2.65% or 268.22 points to 9870.30. The S & P 500 is broader, lost 33.33 points, or -3.10%, to 1041.24.The Nasdaq Composite fell on its side of 85.47 points (-3.85%) to 2135.18.

This is the first time since June 9 as the Dow and the Nasdaq finished respectively in the 10,000 and under the 2,200 points while the S & P 500 closed at lowest close since the beginning of the year.

Speakers also noted that the S & P 500 broke through the key threshold 1040.78, which until now was the previous low of 2010, thus raising concerns of a further decline of this index in the short and medium term.

The stock market decline began in Asia, has increased in Europe and has also hit Wall Street, where the financial and industrial stocks were the hardest hit.

The CBOE Volatility Index, also known as "index of fear" has surged 17.69% to 34.13, its highest level since early June

Investors have questioned the soundness of the European banking system before a return of 442 billion euros that banks should proceed with the European Central Bank on Thursday.

U.S. consumer confidence as measured by the index of the employers' organization Conference Board, sank in June after three consecutive months of increases, due to concerns related to employment.

Another sign of concern, the Conference Board has revised downward its leading indicator for China in April: it is up more than 0.3% against 1.7% previously announced.

"Investors are holed up in hiding at the slightest problem. This is not a good sign. They are not being spent – there is no fluidity in the movement of money," said Joe Saluzzi, co-director of trading at Themis Trading.

The KBW banking index plunged 4.43%, with JP Morgan Chase yielding 3.84% to 37.06 dollars, Bank of America 4.4% to 14.57 dollars and Wells Fargo 4.07% at 25 $ 93.

Among the heavy industry, Boeing has lost 6.33% to 63.04 dollars, Caterpillar 5.51% to 60.85 dollars.

Noting a marked turnaround that after months of sluggish demand, Lufthansa is optimistic about his chances to reach its profit target by 2010.

"Despite the first negative quarter and the closure of airspace early April, the developments in recent months has reinforced expectations of a higher operating profit in 2010 than last year," reads a statement released Monday by the airline before a meeting with investors.

In May, Lufthansa had already confirmed its 2010 target of a higher operating profit to 130 million euros generated in 2009.

The company also revised up slightly its forecast for the fuel bill this year, seeing now to 5.3 billion euros against 5.2 billion previously.

About 10:40 GMT, Lufthansa advanced 1.10% to 11.91 euro, making a little more than the index values involving the airline and travel industries (0.57%).

The good performance results of listed companies should trump concerns over the sovereign debt of the euro area and allow the CAC 40 index gaining about 1.6% throughout this year, shows a Reuters poll after the losses in the first half.

The benchmark index of the Paris Stock Exchange should close the year at 4000 points against 3939 end 2009, representing an increase of 9.8% from the close of Wednesday to 3642, according to the median estimates collected from 28 analysts and managers.

They have therefore been revised downwards from the level of 4,200 points set by the March survey.

The professionals see the ACC achieve 4200 points in mid-2011, 15% above their closing Wednesday.

Since 1 January, the CAC 40 fell 7.48%, partly due to concerns about the debt of states in the euro zone, whose magnitude is considered a threat to economic recovery.

"The financial situation of companies could target higher but it is true that the economy would suffer from too heavy indebtedness of some countries," said Christian Jimenez, a fund manager and president of Blue Diamond, which sees the CAC 40 4,000 points at the end of December and 4,200 in a year.

After a mixed first quarter, the CAC 40 was on a downward trend in mid-April, hit by fears of a spreading crisis of the Greek debt to other countries like Spain and Portugal.These concerns have also knocked the euro to its lowest level in four years against the dollar.

CONTRARY WINDS

The benchmark index in Paris has plunged nearly 20% in less than two months, as many stock markets around the world.But it has taken over the past two weeks, erasing some of its losses thanks to the relative calm fears about the debt and purchasing cheap stock whose valuation ratios had fallen to their lowest level for over a year.

Analysts and managers also consider the depreciation of the euro as a positive development for French firms, including of course those who make a significant portion of their sales outside the euro area.

But many professionals like to recall that all the headwinds blowing on the Paris Bourse are not appeased.

"There are negative surprises waiting on corporate earnings in an environment of austerity plans for economic growth and very low in the euro area," explains Philippe-Henri Burlisson, director of fundamental managements at Groupama Asset Management.

"Today the consensus forecast 20% increase in EPS in 2011 compared to 2010.This does not seem tenable and will be revised downward, which will result in falling stock markets. "

He added that the possibility of an increase in corporation tax in the context of measures of fiscal consolidation is a threat to businesses focused on the French market.

"The areas most at risk are those related to domestic consumption and those whose production facilities are relocated to escape under a higher tax burden," he adds.

Philip Henry sees Burlisson ACC 40-3400 points at the end of 3500 and mid-2011.