International Business News

Eiffage yesterday confirmed its forecast of sales for 2010 thanks to the growth of its backlog and achieved a 40% jump in net profit group share biannually.

The eighth group of European construction and concessions generally expected that sales suffer in 2010, and 2009, the reluctance of public procurement, while the branch motorway concessions observes it, a gradual recovery its activity.

"For now, we have been heavily affected by margins than they were at the top of the previous cycle in 2007, but we do not know when they ascend," said CEO Jean-Francois Roverato at a meeting analysts.

He noted that the shift of the French market over the last ten years, to concessions and public-private partnerships (PPP) would generate a "return to better fortune" in some time."The question is when," he added.

Eiffage, best known for the Millau Viaduct and the future stadium of Lille, has achieved a net profit after minority interests of 70 million euros in the first half thanks to the reduced cost of debt.

The operating profit has however declined by 2.6% to 412 million, within the scope of the downturn in work due to a climate of increased competition.

Alongside Eiffage, Bouygues has raised its annual target of revenue, thanks to TF1 and real estate, while still waiting for a 5% decline in construction.

Vinci, the world leader in construction and concessions, has published its interim results next to expectations, particularly thanks to the improvement of traffic conditions.

NEXT ISSUE OF THE OFFER OF WITHDRAWAL ON APRR

Eiffage, owner of motorway networks APRR (Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone) and Area (Rhone Alps), has already published July 30 in sales for the second quarter, emerged up 2.2% to 3.547 billion euros.

The company said that the outcome of a bid withdrawal filed on APRR Eiffarie early July by the joint venture between the Australian Eiffage and Macquarie would be published on September 24.

The offering will enable Eiffarie hold 100% of APRR and will be accretive to net income of the group in 2010, says Eiffage.

PRPA reported Friday a net profit increase of 16.3% on back of recovery in traffic, especially trucks.

The group is held June 30 to 26.3% by its employees and 20% by the Strategic Investment Fund (ISF), the float is 35.7%

The action Eiffage closed down 1.34% to 35.99 euros on Tuesday, giving a market capitalization of 3.24 billion euros. It has lost 8.5% since the beginning of the year.

Sanofi-Aventis does not set a limit for lead in discussions with the U.S. biotech group Genzyme, which he formalized this weekend an offer to buy, said Monday the director general of the French laboratory in Echoes.

Sanofi expressed readiness Sunday to pay $ 69 per share in cash, or a total of $ 18.5 billion (14.5 billion euros) to take control of rare diseases specialist.

Asked by the newspaper on the time he has given direction to Genzyme to meet her proposal, Chris Viehbacher said: "It's hard to say since this is a great deal for both parties. "

"The goal now is to meet to discuss," he added."We want to show our determination and seriousness, but not immediately threatening. A lot of time may elapse."

Asked about the production problems encountered by Genzyme, Chris Viehbacher said that Sanofi could help the U.S. group to solve.

"We will certainly have the opportunity to conduct due diligence," said Director General of the French laboratory. "Organic products are difficult to make but we master this technology."

Oil prices had closed up on Friday for the third consecutive session on the New York market, as investors were reassured by statements by Fed Chairman on possible new measures to support the economy if necessary.

The October contract on the U.S. light crude closed up 1.81 dollars, or 2.47%, to 75.17 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At the time of closing in New York, a barrel of Brent crude advanced $ 1.70, or 2.27%, to 76.72 dollars.

On the whole week, the contract on crude grew by $ 1.71, or 2.33%, signing up after two consecutive weeks of declines.

The Federal Reserve Chairman United States, Ben Bernanke said Friday that the economic recovery had slowed more than expected and the Fed was prepared, if necessary, to adopt additional measures to support the activity.

Prices were also supported by redemptions of short positions against the threat of tropical storm "Earl", which moves in the Atlantic and could become a hurricane by Sunday.

Concerns over Hurricane Danielle "were however attenuated as it swirls currently above the Atlantic, far from shore, according to the U.S. weather service.

Accor announced Thursday an increase in its target operating profit in 2010 and has unveiled a new debt reduction target.

The fourth global hotel group, a rival giants InterContinental, Marriott and Hilton and Starwood, will report an operating profit of between 370 and 390 million euros this year, sharply up from 236 million recorded in 2009.

Accor, which has reported interim results up, also plans to reduce its adjusted net debt of 600 to 650 million euros in 2010.So far, the company had forecast a decline in its debt of 450 million over the year.

The group had announced in May a program of disposals of hotel assets for an amount of two billion euros over the period 2010-2013.

In the first six months of 2010, gross operating Accor rose 17.4% (13% on a comparable basis) to 833 million euros, showing the gross margin to 29.2%.

The operating profit marked a growth of 120% (109.3% on a comparable basis) to 154 million euros while sales in accordance with what was announced July 21 the company is progressing 4.7% on a comparable basis to 2.84 billion.

Accor publishes its first results since the demerger of its business prepaid, Edenred, July 2.

Accor announced Monday the sale of 48 hotels in Europe for 367 million euros. This decision follows the announcement in early July, the sale to Newrest 60% of its business catering on trains of the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits (CWL).

Accor is also preparing to separate from its 49% stake in the casino group Lucien Barriere.

The U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, penalized by the publication of statistics of home resales already been added to fears surrounding the health of perennials the world's biggest economy.

The Dow Jones closed with a loss of 133.96 points, or 1.32%, to 10,040.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 broad, fell 15.49 points, or 1.45%, to 1051.87 while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 35.87 points (-1.66%) to 2123 76.All three indexes have ended at levels unprecedented in seven weeks.

Sales of existing homes in the United States in July suffered an unprecedented fall that brings them back to their lowest level in more than 15 years, a deteriorating just confirmed that the U.S. recovery loses much of its momentum.

Shortly before the publication of these statistics, Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said that the risk of a relapse into recession in the U.S. economy had increased in the last six months even if such an outcome is unlikely in his eyes, a recovery "modest" is being said.

Home resales fell 27.2% last month compared to June to 3.83 million units annualized, the lowest level since May 1995, announced the National Association of Realtors (NAR) The American Federation of Estate Agents. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a much less pronounced decline from 12.0% to 4.7 million.

This statistic has led to a decline in property values.The PHLX Housing Index was down by 1.05%.

"The economic statistics of the day were added to a long list of evidence showing that there is a slowdown in the economy," said Michael Sheldon of RDM Financial.

"Investors were expecting a mediocre statistics, but today's figures have revealed the extent of the disaster."

These events have however not been taken on renewed vigor of the activity on the front of mergers and acquisitions.

Hewlett-Packard and Dell continued to struggle to capture the data storage specialist 3PAR.According to Bloomberg, Dell is preparing to improve its offer after Monday HP has $ 1.6 billion on the table.

3PAR has closed up 3.64% to 27.04 dollars while HP has lost 1.65% to 38.39 dollars and Dell fell 2.97% to 11.58 dollars.

The medical equipment maker Medtronic has also plunged 10.80% to 31.21 dollars after reporting a drop in sales and lowered its forecast.

The announcement weighed on the sector and the Health Sector Index S & P lost 2.03%.

The Paris Bourse rebounded on Monday tentatively early trade, after closing Friday at its lowest in about a month and while several indicators of activity in Europe in August are expected.

Around 9:15 am, the CAC 40 rose 0.27% to 3535.80 points.

STMicroelectronics is the head increases and takes 1.43%, followed by France Telecom gained 1.27%. Brussels will dismiss the complaint of the operator and its competitors SFR and Bouygues Telecom against the state in the allocation of the fourth 3G license to Free, The Tribune wrote Monday.

Carrefour lost 0.28%. S & P cut its rating to "sell-off.

Ahead of London and Frankfurt 0.18% 0.12%.As for the European indices, the EuroStoxx 50 wins and 0.16% Eurofirst 300 rose 0.3%.

The euro has halted its decline against the dollar after losing more than a penny Friday and is trading around 1.2711.

U.S. light crude oil remains below $ 74 after rising briefly crossed. The barrel is trading at around 73.85 dollars.

The president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., Mark Hurd resigned Friday after being accused of falsifying expense reports to conceal a "close personal relationship" with a woman working for a subcontractor.

The announcement was made during the dip the world's largest maker of personal computers by 10%, Mark Hurd is credited with having brought HP to the highest level in five years at the helm of the U.S. group.

Mark Hurd will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak who is acting as interim executive director.A committee was responsible for appointing a new CEO.

A colleague outside the group, who had worked on the marketing of HP between late 2007 and fall 2009, contacted the Board in June and accused of sexual harassment Mark Hurd, the group said.

An investigation ensued and concluded that Hurd had not breached the code within the company for sexual harassment.

But the CEO of 53 years, married, kept "a close personal relationship" with the woman without the knowledge of the board of directors, said HP.

"The investigation board has concluded that Mark had demonstrated a profound lack of discernment that has seriously damaged his credibility and was highly prejudicial to his ability to lead HP, and Mark agreed," said Mike Holston, director of corporate legal department.

The departure of the CEO was unanimous, he added.

The group says Hurd submitted "number of expense reports inaccurate" to conceal the relationship with the offending subcontractor, which has itself received compensation and refunds without a legitimate reason.

The sum of her falsified expense would reach 20,000 dollars for travel, accommodation and meals shared with the woman according to a source close to the Hurd's statements on the case, who spoke of a "working relationship".

Another source with knowledge of the case made it clear that this woman was not a major subcontractor.

ANTICIPATED RESULTS

Mark Hurd, known for its rigor in cost reduction, said in a statement that the decision to resign was "painful".

"I realized that on some occasions I have not met the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I adopted at HP," he said.

The shock is brutal for investors, who saw Mark Hurd as the chief of the success of the Informatics Group.Since his arrival at the helm of the group five years ago, the stock price has more than doubled.

"Mark Hurd has a large responsibility in the revival of the group," said analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro.

"His departure will leave a big void at the head of the group."

The now former CEO of HP scored his mark, combining the rigor of external growth strategy, which took shape with major acquisitions as the pioneer of the smartphone or Palm, in 2008, EDS Corp., a leading software houses U.S. 13.9 billion.

Analysts said the place of Mark Hurd will be coveted both externally as internally, where the manager's PC division Todd Bradley and chief strategy Shane Robinson figure are potential candidates.

Hurd's departure, they added, should not affect either the strategic direction of the company or its performance.

The announcement was however immediately reflected on the price of HP has lost up to 10% in after-hours transactions, dropping to 41.50 dollars after the meeting ended at 46.30 dollars.

To cushion the shock, the group decided to bring forward the publication of its quarterly results.

He announced on Friday earnings per share to $ 1.08 in non-GAAP standards for the third fiscal quarter offbeat performance slightly higher than that anticipated in the consensus among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S consensus forecast of $ 1.07.

The company raised its earnings per share over the year to a range of 4.49 to 4.51 against $ 4.45 to 4.50 dollars previously. The consensus is at 4.49 dollars.

HP also said it expects an annual turnover of between 125.3 and 125.5 billion dollars, while analysts are predicting a figure lower than this range to 124.515 billion dollars.

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 / CJO published by Customs.

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

Six economists polled by Reuters had expected on average a deficit of 4.5 billion euros in June, with estimates ranging from 4.0 to 4.9 billion.

The remainder of May was revised to 5.179 billion from the $ 5,500 billion announced an initial estimate a month ago.

Exports FOB data CVS / CJO surged to 33.016 billion euros against 29.948 billion in May, reaching their highest level since August 2008.

Imports amounted to 36.812 billion euros against 35.127 billion the previous month.

In June, France sold its 26 Airbus reported 1,719,000 euros for 19 aircraft against 1,050 million euros in May

The vagaries of the economic recovery and the prospect of new banking regulations temper the optimism of investors after quarterly results exceeded expectations published this week by several major European banks.

Reversals of impairment greater than expected second quarter have offset the slowdown in investment banking, penalized by the threats of contagion of the crisis of the Greek sovereign debt investors who scalded.

Societe Generale has reported a profit of nearly one and half times higher than expected, and Standard Chartered, which operates mainly in Asia, has released a record result.

Lloyds has returned to the green to the first half thanks to a halving of asset impairments.

However, European banks have not divested of their caution, particularly when faced with the consequences of coming prudential reforms.Although the deadlines for application of solvency ratios so-called "Basel III have been repulsed, concerns remain about them.

"There is fragility in the global economy and nervousness in financial markets," said John Peace, Chairman of StanChart, adding that British banks were particularly disadvantaged by the rules on pay, taxation and financial regulation.

Most European banks which have published their results on Wednesday have followed the trend shown Monday by BNP Paribas and HSBC with a lower level of bad debts.

However, even if SocGen gained 0.6% at the Paris Stock Exchange in the afternoon, StanChart lost 6.3% to the London Stock Exchange.

The quarterly results and the prudence of banks are an excuse for profit taking while the lure investors to the sector had been increased by the publication, July 23, heartening results of resistance tests suffered by banks in the European Union.

The European banking stocks index yielded 1.2% on Wednesday afternoon, after having won over 20% since early July against 10% for pan-European Stoxx 600 index – and nearly 9% since the release of stress tests .

"The results show that emerging markets like China, India and Brazil are areas where we can go to generate meaningful activities," said Ted Huang, a fund manager Pinebridge Asia High Yield in the results of StanChart.

Against the trend, the German Postbank increased its provisions for impairment related to risky real estate loans and has revised downwards its objectives.

Allied Irish Banks The Irish, partly nationalized, has also reported a doubling of losses in the first half while making clear progress towards its recapitalization.

These two facilities join the Italian UniCredit, the first credit agency in Central and Eastern Europe, which was published on Tuesday a quarterly profit well below consensus, hit by a dramatic drop in trading revenue.

BP announced the sale for 1.9 billion dollars (1.44 billion euros) of its Colombian subsidiary to a consortium of the Canadian Talisman Energy and Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company.

This sale is the latest of British Petroleum, which has announced plans to lift a thirty billion through asset sales to offset the costs of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP has already sold last month to seven billion dollars of assets in the United States, Canada and Egypt, the American Apache.It also plans to divest its assets in Pakistan and Vietnam, which could bring him $ 1.7 billion, in the opinion of analysts.

The Kuwait's oil minister said Tuesday that the national carrier Kuwait Petroleum International might be interested in certain assets from BP.

The emirate's sovereign wealth fund owns shares in British company to the tune of 1.75% and on Monday denied media reports that BP had asked him to reach 3%.

BP announced last week a charge of $ 32.2 billion on its second quarter results, due to the spill, but analysts believe the final slate will be much higher.