Financial, Business, Personal Finance News

Paris and Moscow to negotiate the delivery of Mistral

Discussions on provision by France to the Russian carrier helicopters Mistral continues in concrete, said Tuesday the Elysee and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The issue was discussed during an interview Nicolas Sarkozy with the Russian ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov and Anatoly Serdyoukov present in Paris for a meeting of the Council of French-Russian cooperation on security issues (CCQS).

Both sides agreed that the latest contacts on the back Mistral were "encouraging", said the French presidency.

"We are continuing our discussions with great confidence.This is the message that both the Russian and the president expressed "she added.

Sergei Lavrov confirmed that assessment.

"Negotiations are ongoing and concrete," he said at a press conference with French Foreign Minister and Defence Minister Bernard Kouchner and Hervé Morin. "These negotiations are about the transfer of technology."

Bernard Kouchner told a French delegation visited Moscow a week ago to continue the negotiations continued in Paris on Tuesday.

"We trust and negotiations are continuing.The technical negotiations on the transfer of technology ", he said.

RUSSIAN POSITION UNCHANGED, SAYS LAVROV

The head of Russian diplomacy said that the Russian position had not changed from what President Dmitry Medvedev announced last March, namely that negotiations were "exclusive" with France.

Russia has yet announced the end of August to launch a tender for the supply of two helicopter carriers, while Nicolas Sarkozy had secured in late July that the contract would be to France, even if it was still being negotiated.

But Sergei Lavrov said that the launch of a tender being a mere legal issue and that the Russian government was compelled to submit.

On the tender, the Elysee said that Nicolas Sarkozy noted that he had been released in accordance with Russian legislation and said "understand this procedure.

Buildings Projection and Command (BPC) Mistral class have a length of nearly 200 meters long and weigh 21,300 tons.They can carry up to 16 helicopters and four barges carrying materials or two landing craft and 900 men.

They can also carry a heavy tank and quarantine host a headquarters capable of conducting a joint operation sea of limited size.

All these characteristics have worried the former Soviet Union republics such as Georgia or the Baltics, and the United States.

France has broken a taboo by agreeing to hand over these buildings to Russia, as this is the first export of high technology military equipment to a NATO countries to Russia.

But a French diplomat said he was not a high-tech equipment and that Moscow did not need for operations on its borders, since his land-based helicopters are perfectly capable of conducting missions in Georgia or the Baltics.

BP would have triggered the sale of its assets in Alaska

BP has relaunched the sale of its assets in Alaska after the collapse of talks for a sale to the American Apache in July, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Citing banking sources, the newspaper reported that Apache, which is based in Houston, Texas, is still face potential buyer.Occidental Petrolem Corp., another U.S. group, could also show interest.

The Financial Times says it is not known yet whether the British staff intends to sell its entire 26% stake in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which includes a right of exploitation of the deposit payday loans.

BP is also in talks to sell assets in Vietnam and Venezuela as part of its plan to sell $ 30 billion to finance the cost of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Friday, the oil group said that the cost of the disaster reached eight billion dollars now.

Women's magazines Be and Envy are about to merge

Lagardere Group and Marie-Claire will announce on Friday the merger of their respective women's weekly, Be, Envy, launched in spring, following the slowdown in sales, "wrote Le Figaro.

The announcement comes as the magazine Grazia, the Italian group Mondadori, celebrates its first anniversary, the newspaper said.

Lagardere Active said Thursday it would make an "important announcement" on Friday morning, without further details.

"The proposed merger of two weekly was presented yesterday to the works of two groups," said a source quoted by Le Figaro.

To move into the niche market of women but crowded, Lagardere had decided in March to create the brand Be, both magazine, website, television series, application for the iPhone and web radio.

Lagardère Group owns 42% Marie Claire, one of which minority interests Arnaud Lagardère, general partner of the group, reiterated Thursday night trying to get rid.

"Be" was the first launch of magazine audience Lagardère since 2003. The group, which had invested some 20 million euros rough in launching this new brand, targeted a breakeven within three years.

According to Le Figaro, the approximation of the two week early due to faltering sales.Be seen its circulation fall to 171,397 copies sold in late June against nearly 230,000 at the beginning, while qu'Envy barely exceeded 160,000 at the same time cons over 240,000 at its launch in February.

New fall in unemployment in France in July

The stabilization of the labor market was confirmed in July in France with an increasing decline in youth unemployment and a rise in job vacancies so that the executive is preparing a return to social and political agitation.

The number of jobseekers in category A, which includes those without work and actively seeking employment, fell for the second consecutive month, declining by 14,400 (-0.5%) last month in France, to 2,676,600 people.

He declined 8,600 (-0.3%) in June, which was the second decline year after the March.

By adding job seekers engaged in a Pool (Class B and C), the number of unemployed increased by 0.1%, however in a monthly basis in July (+5.300) for an increase of 8.1% year on year to 3,963,800 people (4,208,300 including Dom).

"It's positive, we have for the second consecutive month falling unemployment.It's an indication of stabilization of unemployment, "said Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde in an interview with Reuters.

"We have a range of indicators is positive and give us hope that this trend early (…) will probably keep", she added, citing the purchase intentions, ocean freight, advertising, the interim, the recovery of stocks, investments and consumption.

"Who says less of job seekers said wages and therefore more consumption and at the level of public finances, less unemployment and thus a situation of public finances Unedic-improved," continued Christine Lagarde while the government is preparing the draft budget 2011 will be announced in late September.

The executive confirmed last week its goal of bringing the deficit of France in 6% of GDP next year despite the lowering of a half-point to 2.0%, its growth forecast economy.

DOWN FOR THE YOUNG, THE RISE FOR OVER 50 YEARS

The upturn on the labor market due to an accelerated decline in youth unemployment.

Job offers collected by job center for their part, returned to the increase.

Among youth under 25 years, the number of unemployed declined by 2.8% in group A compared to June fell by 1.8% in one year.For categories A, B and C, the youth unemployment down 0.2% on month but a 1.8% increase over one year.

Job offers collected by Pole employment grew 3.6% in July in France and show an increase of 12.7% over one year.They were down by 0.6% in June from the previous month increased 7.1% over one year.

The long-term unemployed and those over 50 years, however, continued to grow.

For over 50 years, unemployment has increased by 0.8% in group A (+17.6% yoy) and 1.1% for the three main categories (+17.1% on year).

The number of long-term unemployed – registered at employment center for a year or more – rose 0.8% in July for categories A, B, C with a mass increase that is over one year (+27.6% ).

The detailed statistics also shows that entry to public service employment in Class A, B and C were down 2.4% from June, down 4.4% year on year.

The outputs of the same categories are in the same time remained stable but rose 4.1% over one year. Among them, radiation administrative advances of 7.3% compared to June, the search stops 11.5% and entries on probation by 17%.

The French economy has created 23,900 jobs in the market sector in the first quarter with growth of the economy by 0.1% and 35,000 in the second quarter with growth accelerated to 0.6%.

Unemployment according to ILO will be published Sept. 2 by INSEE. He stood at 9.5% in the first quarter (9.9% in counting overseas departments), the highest since the fall of 1999.

Plastic Omnium second half sees a "dynamic"

Plastic Omnium said Thursday confident the second half after a first half of the year marked a rebound in net income and revenue thanks to the automobile and the environment.

The group specializes in large plastic parts for the vehicle (body and tanks) or for the collection of waste (containers), posted first half net profit of 72.3 million euros, against eight million a year earlier.The results of the last six months is more than double that achieved all of 2009.

"The activities of Compagnie Plastic Omnium will continue to appear dynamically in the second half of 2010," the group said in a statement.

The title, which earns more than 106% since the beginning of the year, bringing its market capitalization to nearly $ 700 million, has risen by 4.5% to 39.82 euros ten minutes after the opening of trading Paris.

If the turnover of Plastic Omnium has fallen 15% in France, total sales were up by 28.5% to 1.52 billion thanks to a near doubling of sales in North America and Asia.

Emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China) now account for 9% of turnover Automotive Group, a proportion expected to rise "significantly in the next three years," said Plastic Omnium.

This balance, which specifically involves the construction of five new plants should help offset the slowdown in the European car market anticipated the second half of the year with the gradual disappearance of the last car scrapping.

Plastic Omnium has also stated that the acquisition of 50% of the Belgian Solvay Inergy Automotive Systems, a leading global fuel systems and fuel tanks, which the project was announced in June, is expected to close shortly and completed by the end of the year if the competition authorities give green light to the operation.

In the environment, the group's turnover increased by 6.2% in the first half thanks to the development of sorting and of underground containers for the collection.

Soitec is a return to equilibrium in H1

Soitec said Monday sales of 2010-2011 in the first quarter increased 56.5% over the same quarter in 2009-2010 and 9.6% from the previous quarter, against a background of strong demand and thanks to a favorable currency effect.

The world's leading manufacturer of silicon-on insulation (SOI) for the microelectronics industry said in a press having achieved sales of 68.6 million euros over the period April to June 2010.

Soitec anticipates sequential growth in sales over 20% in first half on the basis of one euro to $ 1.27, with a return to balanced operating income, including its new photovoltaic business Concentrix.

"The latest information on the second quarter show a level of wafer sales support," said the company in a statement. "On a sequential basis, the quasi-stable plate sales at constant exchange rates to continue to support the initial prediction of the group given the correct orientation of the demand," she adds.

Soitec announced in May that a return to operational balance power could intervene in the first half, Concentrix out after a loss of 28.9 million euros in 2009-2010 and 28.4 million in 2008-2009.

Soitec acquired last December 80% of photovoltaic systems provider Concentrix.

Wall Street ends sharply down

The NYSE has ended sharply lower Friday, the Dow Jones industrial yielding 30 261.41 points, or 2.52%, to 10,097.90 points.

The S & P 500 is broader, lost 31.62 points, or 2.88% at 1064.86 points.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 70.03 points on his side (3.11%) to 2179.05 points.

Santander bought the German commercial banking division of SEB

Santander is one step closer Monday toward its goal of becoming a bank offering a full service commercial bank in Germany with the acquisition for 555 million euros in the division for the subject of Swedish SEB.

Santander seeks to expand its presence in Europe, especially Germany and Great Britain, and the high growth markets such as Latin America.

"Germany is an important market for Santander.This acquisition is an important step towards achieving our goal of being a commercial bank offering a full service in Europe, "said its chairman Emilio Botin said in a statement.

The Spanish bank believes that its ratio of Tier One capital could fall by ten basis points due to the acquisition, the amount is close to 500 million previously reported by sources close to the situation.

According to head of operations in Latin America, Santander, Francisco Luzon, quoted by the Financial Times, Santander plans to strengthen Colombia and Peru, where its market shares are between 10 and 20%.

Around 9:15 GMT, Santander and SEB yielded respectively 0.69% and 0.76%, while the Stoxx index comprising the major European banking stocks lost 0.66%.

The European Commission awarded it a satisfactory plan of Athens

The European Commission said Wednesday that the reform program initiated by Greece out of the recession and the debt crisis was largely on track.

The process of fiscal consolidation is consistent with guidelines established under the rescue plan member countries of the euro, the commission said in a report on his mission to Athens for the month of June

Brussels also awarded full marks to the advancement of fiscal and structural reforms of pensions and the site opened by the government of George Papandreou in exchange for massive financial support from its European partners and the IMF.

The report notes as well that if tax revenues were slightly below expectations, lower expenditure of the State is it more pronounced than expected.

But the Commission considers that the Greek economy suffers from a lack of competition and some macroeconomic data are incomplete.

"Although this overall assessment is positive, with an application of this program largely on track, this preliminary review has identified a number of pressure points and areas where further progress is necessary," reads the report in .

Greece, the debt crisis has shaken the euro area, negotiated a financial assistance of 110 billion euros with the EU and the International Monetary Fund and pledged in return to a policy of economic stringency in particular through a reform of its pension system adopted in late June by the government.

On Monday, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said he was confident his country's ability to meet its goal of reducing the budget deficit to 8.1% of GDP this year, against 13.6% in 2009.

To access the full report of the Commission, in English, double-click here

Airbus booked 131 orders in first half

Airbus announced that it garnered 131 gross orders in the first half, thanks to the mega-command of 32 A380s from Emirates announced in June at the show in Berlin.

A subsidiary of EADS, which shows 117 net orders adjusted for cancellations, said it had delivered 250 aircraft since the beginning of the year, including seven A380.

The order from Emirates, which had enabled Airbus to open with fanfare the Berlin air show, however usually less prolific ones Farnborough (England) or Le Bourget, is estimated at some 11 billion dollars based on list price purely indicative.

Airbus also won 27 orders in the first half for the single-aisle A320s and 25 A350-900.On both models, Boeing has received command of the Brazilian airline TAM also announced in Berlin for 20 A320s and five A350-900s with a total value estimated at $ 2.9 billion at list prices.

The backlog of the manufacturer revealed six cancellations A330-300 in June, including two from the Finnish airline Finnair.

Airbus did not identify the company behind the other four cancellations of orders for A330s, but industry observers have estimated that Gulf Air (Bahrain,) four units could reduce its order for 20 A330s.

According to the latest data from Airbus, DAE Capital (Dubai), who said renegotiate its orders with Airbus and Boeing, has so far not received his order of 100 Airbus.