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.

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.

European banking stocks were up, supported by the results of resistance tests conducted by the European authorities to restore market confidence.

Investors, who had initially criticized the methodology of stress tests conducted by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), believe that exercise helps alleviate fears about the solvency of banks.

Having suffered in mid-morning on concerns about exposure of Deutsche Bank in sovereign debt, the sector index Stoxx 600 European banks is again on the rise.

Around 12:50, the index has risen by 0.41%.

The Societe Generale and ING shares rose 2.97% respectively at 39.12 euros and 3.08% to 7.1280 euros.

The Santander, the first bank capitalization in the euro area remained stable at 10.11 euros after opening up to the Madrid Stock Exchange.

"The stress tests show that the French banks and European banks in general, are more truly threatened by a solvency risk," notes Simon Willis, NCB Stockbrokers analyst financial in a research note.

"It remains for banks to find sufficient levels of profitability, long-term effort that requires strategic reviews of activity and improvements in their organization," he says.

Analysts at Credit Suisse in turn emphasize that the publication of detailed exposure to sovereign debt will enable investors to better understand the needs to recapitalize banks and credit risks in the event of default on the debt of a State.

Of the 91 banks in the European Union subject to the tests, only seven property – five Spanish, one German and one Greek – have failed and could therefore be forced to raise 3.5 billion euros of equity.

Others were successful only just like German or Italian Deutsche Postbank Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

DEUTSCHE BANK ASSENTED

French banks BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BPCE have all passed the test of successful resistance, which allows securities to outperform their benchmark.

BNP Paribas gained 0.86% to 50.22 euros, Crédit Agricole 0.94% to 9.44 euros.

The Franco-Belgian Dexia, which has also passed the tests, scores 2.6% to 3.39 euros.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank, which also passed the tests, is punished by investors for failing detailed its exposure to sovereign debt.The title and yielded 1.24% to 49.13 euros.

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors will also ask the German banks to explain why they did not give details Friday of their holdings of sovereign debt.

In conducting these tests, CEBS and the European Union have sought to ensure that large EU banks had sufficient capital to cope with a deteriorating economy would be worse than expected and new shocks.

Learning from the Greek debt crisis, the tests also incorporated discounts on the value of certain bonds held by banks.

Most members of the Federal Reserve have lowered their growth forecasts at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Fed FOMC minutes showed 22 and June 23 on Wednesday.

They also felt they should be prepared to take further steps to support the economy if economic conditions continue to deteriorate.

"Drawing the consequences of changes in the financial context, most participants have slightly lowered their forecasts for growth," the minutes show.

"The Committee will consider whether to adopt more supportive measures if the weather deteriorates."

Meanwhile, the Fed will continue to evaluate the methods currently available to it to drain a huge volume of loans it has injected into the financial system, says the U.S. central bank.

The Fed officials have lowered their growth forecasts for 20,110 to a range between 3% and 3.5%, whereas it previously predicted a rise in gross domestic product from 3.2% to 3.7% in May last.

The Federal Reserve expects the unemployment rate between 9.2% and 9.5% in the fourth quarter, more or less what it provided in its previous estimates.

The reflections of the Fed have weighed on the Treasury bill yield to thirty years, investors anticipating a continuation of interest rates at current levels until at least the end of the year.

"This suggests that rates will stay low for long enough and, if necessary, the Fed will try to invent new ways to support the economy," said Ward McCarthy, chief economist at Jefferies & Co.

The general tone adopted by the Fed is tinged with caution, the Fed merely saying that the recovery is underway.

It reiterated its promise to keep interest rates at a level close to zero for an extended period.

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%).

Sales of new cars in France have continued to rise in April, to 1.9% from April 2009, but at a much more slowly, reflecting an impact of declining car scrapping and leaving the uncertainty about the rest of the year.

"This figure is normal. We see a gradual reduction of the effects of scrappage" observes François Roudier, spokesman for the Committee of French car manufacturers.

The spokesman noted "a decline in registrations and orders on new line", small cars that benefited most from the car scrapping. Meanwhile, "we see a rise in average range on some models," he adds.

Carlos da Silva, an analyst at IHS Global Insight, a judge even when the result of April "a little surprising" and speaks of "semi-surprise"."The compact segment is doing rather better than what we expected" while "small cars to fall again mechanically," he notes.

Moreover, "manufacturers have continued to put much money on the table to try to compensate" the premium reduction. They have indeed offered to their customers numerous discounts and promotions. In this context, May will be "a little month of truth," said Carlos da Silva, who expects a decline it expected in April.

"I do not see how that can withstand much more, plus there is not really new models," he said.

French manufacturers are considering a European market decline 9 to 10% this year.1,000 euros last year, the scrapping bonus increased to 700 euro from 1 January, but for vehicles ordered before December 31, the premium remained at its former level for deliveries until the end of March.

This measure was prompted a boom in orders at the end of the year, registrations recorded in the first quarter up 17%. In the first four months of the year, the increase was 12.9% compared to the same period of 2009.

The Minister of Industry Christian Estrosi welcomed in a statement of "the good performance of the market", which "demonstrates the effectiveness of the government strategy of gradual withdrawal of the scrappage scheme".

On 1 July, the scrappage decline further, to 500 euros.

The month of April has been more favorable to French brands, up 8%, as foreign brands, down 4.9%.Of the 190,986 new cars registered last month, the French brands accounted for 56.1% of the market.

The increase was 17.2% for the Renault group and 7.3% for PSA Peugeot Citroen. At Peugeot, we judge that "the effect of scrappage continuous" and "concerns an order for two 206 + and 207," the Director of Commerce France, Olivier Veyrier, said in a statement.