Packages in the crosshairs

"In France, loans are not expensive. But the price of the bank on a daily basis is higher than the European average, "notes Nicolas Liolakis, partner at Bain.Overdraft fees, prices of the means of payment and other fees related to account maintenance proved higher in France and the Netherlands, Belgium and even in the UK. What grist to the mill consumer groups who denounce service pricing too expensive. The debate was launched this summer with the publication of the report Pauget-Constans. Emphasis was placed initially on the need to reduce the bill payment incidents for the frail. Already, Christine Lagarde, Minister of Economics who had commissioned the report, has asked banks to make efforts to improve transparency.

In the line of sight, the "packages", these packages collected monthly, considered more opaque and sometimes more expensive than the card billing.It was thanks to these packages, launched in 1990, that Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas other muscles had reached the profitability of their retail banking, also undermined by fierce competition that 'they are engaged on credit. By comparison, British banks take, they, the bulk of their income on credit margins, very expensive in the UK. But the study emphasizes, as with any business service, attention to value for money: the French have, in particular, a mesh of branches among the densest in Europe combined with a high accessibility of the bank distance.

Elsewhere, it is rather one or the other. In the Netherlands, for example, the network, sparse, is complemented by a high rate of customers using Internet banking or telephone.In Spain, the opposite is true: customers enjoy the largest number of bank branches compared to the number of inhabitants and very little use of remote services.

Note also that France ranks well ahead in terms of financial counselors, both in their number and their training. In France, there are 176 client advisors for 100,000 customers, against 114 in the Netherlands and 99 in the United Kingdom. When 60% of advisors dedicated to French individuals claiming a degree, they are less than 20% in Spain.

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The stakes are high. The unions are convinced that the number of protesters – they drew between 800,000 and 1.9 million people on June 24 – will the government's response. "There will be many people because it is an important reform," confirmed Eric Woerth. But unlikely that the response along the lines of what the unions want. Claude Gueant, the secretary general of the Elysee, was very clear on this point yesterday on Europe 1.

"The background of the reform can not change," he hammered on the pretext that "this reform is necessary."And the right arm of the Head of State noted that "the government will certainly put forward during the debate" on the issues of "arduous, long career and polypensionnés. In short, the subjects left open to discussion after the presentation of the June 16 bill and whose unions should know the methods "in the course of the week." They should have an overview Tuesday evening as Eric Woerth is the guest log TF1. The objective is clear: give them a little time to think before their meeting scheduled on Wednesday afternoon to determine the appropriate action to mobilize.

Four active for a retiree

No question, therefore, to revisit the key measure of the bill: the passage of 60-62 years of age of retirement. All Western countries have reached the age slider to balance their pension plans.The diagnosis is the same everywhere: the combined effect of demographic changes and the lengthening of life expectancy is jeopardizing the future of our pensions. In 1950, there were seven active for a retiree in the OECD countries, against four to one today and two in 2050 for a payday loans. The crisis and the soaring deficits have made more acute the need for reform.

Solutions adopted everywhere? The increase in the number of years to reach a full pension and the decline of the legal age of retirement, is exactly the path followed by France, but in even greater proportions. Under pressure from the IMF, Greece has increased the number of installments for five years and passed by 2015 the retirement age to 63 years.Even shock therapy in Spain and Germany, where the retirement age will gradually wedge to 67 years.

Another trend is to align the system of women than men. This is the case in Portugal, Italy and Britain, where the difference between women (60 years) and men (65 years) will be removed and the age increased to 68 years in 2045!

Other foreign education reforms: the relative political consensus in which they were conducted. The German reform of 2007 has been adopted by a large coalition including conservatives and Social Democrats. "The advantage of the German system is that it is very empowering," says economist Jacques Bichot. Everyone chooses their dates of departure and receive a pension based. "

Same in Sweden, where the age limit has simply vanished.In the Scandinavian system, each has a "virtual account that accumulates points throughout the career. Each year, the Swedes are an orange envelope that indicates the amount of their pension calculated on the basis of life expectancy, economic growth and respect for the system's financial balance.

Needless to say that France is an exception with its 60 years of age and 58.7 years of actual age, the lowest in the OECD. Better, it is also in France that we spend as much time in retirement: 24.5 years in 2007, against 19.8 on average in the European Union and 14 in Japan, the lowest.

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No big movements, the indices have stagnated at these levels throughout the session. Investors have also learned a pleasant surprise on the side of the job today. Entries weekly unemployment, against all expectations, declined slightly in the United States during the week to August 28, at 472 000 478 000 cons last week, according to the labor department. Economists had expected jobless claims averaged 475,000.

Other good news: the promise of real estate sales have rebounded in July.The index of sales agreements rose 5.2% compared to June, when the 79.4 economists had expected a decline of 1%. The decline in the month of June was revised down slightly, to -2.8% against a 2.6% previously announced.

Statistics mixed

But at the same time, investors learned that nonfarm productivity had declined much more sharply than expected in the second quarter to show its sharpest decline since the third quarter of 2006. Productivity has contracted at an annual rate of 1.8%, instead of a contraction of 0.9% initially announced. Although expectations were counting on a decline of 1.9% over the period April to June, this review again cast doubts on the markets.

Moreover, the increase in orders received by U.S. factories in July was weaker than expected.These have increased – after two consecutive months of decline – from 0.1% to 409.5 billion dollars while economists were expecting an increase of 0.3%.

"It has a low volume of trade, economic indicators rather positive, so it is easy to push the market upwards," said Scott Marcouiller, Wells Fargo Advisors. "It does not happen much on the market," said Lindsey Piegza, FTN Financial, noting the hesitation of the indices during the session. The caution is called for before the publication of the very important report on employment and unemployment in August, tomorrow Friday.

Note that on the foreign exchange market, the euro is up slightly against the dollar, but only to increase its gains amid anxiety.

Burger King flies

On the side of values, the automotive sector should stand today.The month of August has actually been the worst for U.S. auto industry since 1983. Sales declined 21% to 11.47 million vehicles. Ford Motor (0.86% to 11.71 dollars) has reported a sales decline of 11%. General Motors, which is preparing an offering of securities to reduce by nearly 61% of the state capital, reflecting a drop in its sales by 25%.

Always on the side of values, the U.S. computer giant Apple (0.74% to 252.17 U.S. dollars) has unveiled the updated version of its iPod portable should be very surrounded. The Apple brand has also significantly lowered the price of its Apple TV boxes, for playback on a television screen high definition video from a computer.

Burger King (25.08% to 23.59 dollars) has formalized its takeover by 3G Capital at a price of $ 24 per share.The total transaction is valued at four billion dollars (3.12 billion euros).

Warren Buffett has filed a formal offer to repurchase its Berkshire Hataway (+0.38% to 81.22 dollars) for the 19.9% stake it does not already own in Wesco Financial (unchanged at $ 363 ).

General Electric (0.80% to 15.13 dollars) and Westinghouse Electric might spend ten billion dollars (7.8 billion euros) in total to build two nuclear reactors in India, Financial Express reported Thursday.Citing unidentified official sources, the newspaper said the two projects are being finalized in preparation for the planned visit in November, U.S. President Barack Obama.

HP (1.20% to 39.68 dollars) announced Thursday it had raised its takeover offer for 3PAR (2.43% to 32.86 dollars) to $ 33 per share, valuing the company Storage Data to 2.4 billion dollars. In the process, Dell (1.98% to 12.36 dollars) refuses to bid and withdraw from the race.

The British firm 3i Group would be in the running, sources said. The content of the talks is still uncertain, however, and it is not certain to lead to a sale of the fast food chain.

This is not the first time, however, that Burger King changed hands. In 2002, a team led by TPG Capital LLC, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bought the company for $ 1.5 billion to Diageo, the British beverage giant.They still own 32% of the chain and have a representation of weight on the board of directors, said the Wall Street Journal.

Listed on the Stock Exchange since 2006, Burger King has a market capitalization of about $ 2.26 billion. The information has not been commented on by the American channel, or by 3i Group, said the newspaper said.

Sales at half

Still, that Burger King has trouble getting out of the financial crisis. The fast-food chain has published its 2009/2010 annual results last week. Verdict: The group's worldwide sales have shrunk by 2.3% in 2009/2010, after a slight increase of 1.2% the previous year. The sales that have slumped particularly in North America (U.S. and Canada), where they lost 3.9%. The annual turnover of the group stood at $ 2.5 billion, down 1% from last year.

"During fiscal 2010, we faced the maintenance of high unemployment and a fragile world economy, a combination that has made this year one of the worst in recent history, in environmental terms economy, "commented Group CEO John Chidsey, the reported results.

McDonald's in great shape

An environment that does not seem to affect the group's main rival, the leader McDonald's. The latter announced early August that its global sales had flown by 7% a year in July. Its sales jumped 5.7% in the U.S., 5.3% in Europe and 10.1% in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

In France, QUALIUM Investment Management Company (formerly CDC CI), a subsidiary of Caisse des Depots, have finally decided to keep its stake in the fast food chain Quick, after considering its sale last spring, reported The Tribune last week. Despite the crisis, the brand continued to grow in 2009. Its sales rose 3.7% in volume, for a value of 925.7 million euros.

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At Google, renting movies is not entirely new. YouTube has since the beginning of the year. But the catalog is currently comprised mainly of works by independent studios, which attract few users. It should be completed by this time the great successes of the cinema, for rent as they are released on DVD.According to the Financial Times, Hollywood would have been seduced by the arguments of Google, which has a substantial pool of hearing.

Negotiations "in emergency"

These negotiations, which ran for several months, are now conducted "in emergency", as competition increases in the United States. The DVD rental company Netflix has completely redesigned its online service, through a monthly subscription. For its part, Hulu has benefited from the support of its shareholders Disney, News Corp. and NBC Universal to become the number two online video in number of visitors, behind YouTube. The site, which offers since its launch films and series for free, advertising, launched in August a section fee.

Google's main rival in the video rental property remains yet Apple.On Wednesday, Steve Jobs is expected to announce the arrival of television shows on iTunes for rent payday advance. Each episode would be 99 cents suggested by the American press, or the same price as a piece of music, and could be viewed for 24 hours. Until then, Apple proposed that these series as sales, two or three times more expensive. The choice of location, most popular, was reserved for movies.

For both IT groups, the issue is not simply to increase their income with online video, but also to make their devices more attractive to take a position in the salons. The iTunes videos are playable on Mac and PC, iPod, iPhone and iPad. A new version of Apple TV, the box that connects to televisions, is also in preparation.In front, Google is also preparing a range of appliances connected to TVs, with the help of Sony and Logitech.

"It's hard to convince the French suppliers'

According to the Financial Times, the Google service "would probably be launched first in the United States before being extended gradually to other countries. Negotiations abroad take effect in time. Apple has more than two years before proposing, in April, a few thousand movies for sale and rent in France.

Unlike music, Internet rights are often held by television stations and local media. "By outsourcing their content to Apple channels lose the freedom to set their prices and the relationship with their customers.Difficult to convince the French suppliers, "said Frederic Sitterlé, former Director of New Media and founder of the Figaro service VOD MySkreen independent. Conservative channels have preferred to have their VOD services. While discussing the opening of a joint French platform.

Markets follow the footsteps of Asian stock market this morning, had a very volatile sessions. In fact, dominates the wait before the publication of the second estimate of U.S. GDP in the early afternoon and the index of consumer sentiment across the Atlantic.

Add to this the intervention of the President of the U.S. central bank, Ben Bernanke.In a speech that will be closely watched by global markets, it will review the state of the global economy.

On Wall Street Thursday, the two markets already anticipated bad news, including a possible downward revision of GDP and a speech even more pessimistic than previous ones in terms of bad statistics released in recent weeks. The surprise drop in unemployment registration Weekly announced yesterday was not enough to support the Dow Jones finished below 10,000 points.European shares managed to stay in the green but have erased some of their gains late in the day.

Side currencies this morning, the euro was rising against the dollar (0.17%) to 1.2722 dollars in morning trading but came down a little mid-day at 1.2708 euros.

Publications honored

Essilor (-2.24% to 47.120 euros) issued before market net income group share down 1.3% to 197.5 million euros.The world leader in ophthalmic optics, however, confirms its growth target of 5 to 7% of its turnover this year, and a stable operating margin over the rate of 18.2% achieved last year .

Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone (APRR: + 0.04%) will release its second quarter results after market close on Friday.

Several groups have also published their results Thursday after market:

Lagardere (-1.43% to 28.86 euros) has raised its target of annual operating profit on the basis of a continued upturn in the advertising market.Arnaud Lagardere also said that Canal + France would be introduced on the stock market probably in early 2011.

Stallergenes (1.69% to 57.13 euros) published interim results up and confirmed it expects for 2010 a growth of over 10% of its business and a "significant increase" in operating margin , which was 16.7% in 2009.

Formageries Bel (3.31%) reported sharply higher results in the first half but warned that the rising price of milk in France contribute to the decline in operating margin in the second half.

Bongrain (-0.04%) announced that has released its interim results were up sharply but warned that second half was not as favorable.

Etam (3.24%) reported Thursday a jump in operating profit in the first half thanks in particular to China, but also an increase in its debt.

La Poste wants to join Vivendi

The Post announced Thursday that entered into exclusive negotiations with SFR, the telecommunications subsidiary of Vivendi (1.67% to 17.655 euros) to launch a mobile telephony offer under its brand.

GDF Suez (-0.08% to 24.32 euros) will find a new site to build a power plant in Chile, a project of approximately 865 million euros questioned because of the proximity of the initial site with a nature reserve.

Atos Origin (-1.05% to 30.245 euros) Thursday announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Venture Infotek, a leading company operating in the Indian market for means of payment.

Excluding currency and acquisitions, growth in turnover is 5.9%, "in line with its annual target," the company said in a statement.

The Group's net profit was down slightly from 1.3% to 197.5 million euros. The group is penalized by the provision of 41.5 million euros to pay the fine imposed by the German competition authority (Bundeskartellamt) for formation of cartels.Adjusted for this provision, net income reached 238.8 million euros, an increase of 19.3%.

Essilor confirms its annual targets

"In the second half of 2010, in a context of renewed activity still fragile, Essilor will pursue the strict implementation of its strategy of growth based on new products, geographical expansion, acquisitions and organic conquer the environment range, "the group said.

This confirms target for 2010 sales up 5% to 7%, excluding currency and strategic acquisitions, and margin contribution stable excluding acquisitions and strategic change IFRS. In the first half of 2010, the margin of Essilor has eroded slightly over the same period in 2009, yielding 0.1 percentage points to 18%.

After falling sales of existing homes (yesterday), on Wednesday, orders for durable goods rose only 0.3%, against 2.8% expected.The U.S. stock markets have opened in the emblematic red and embarking again finanières European places.

Second bad news dropped to 16 hours in the U.S. yet, sales of new houses have relapsed in July to reach a new record low since 1963 at least, after an unexpected plunge 12.3% from June , according to official figures released Wednesday in Washington.

Tuesday, across the Atlantic, the bad sales figures for housing (the lowest since 1995) had already severely affected exchanges.

On Wednesday morning, the CAC 40 was, however, tried to trace down the tip, reviving briefly in mid-morning, with 3,500 points, after an early morning start in the red (down 0.25% to 3482.53 points) .A rise that coincided with the announcement of a surprise increase barometer Ifo main confidence index in Germany. The latter settled in August to 106.7 points against 106.2 in July (as confirmed), while economists and analysts had expected the decline to 105.7. Their estimates ranged from 103.8 to 107.5.

After returning to equilibrium time, the Dax reassigns 0.77%. The London FTSE follows the same path (-1.05%) after starting in negative territory (-0.10%) followed again by a brief rebound.

Since the beginning of the week, the CAC 40 has yielded no less than 3.3%. And since August 6, the index dropped 9.7%!

As for currencies, the euro has stabilized against the dollar payday loans online.The euro traded 1.2662 dollar.

Edenred unscrews

In terms of values, many trucks will publish their results quarterly and half in this weekend.

Lagardere takes the lead, up from 3.94% to 29.045 euros. The title is supported by Exane noted that his opinion of "Underperform" from "Outperform." The target price has been raised from 35% to 35 euros

Edenred, the old branch of prepaid services group Accor became autonomous, has reported an operating income of 155 million euros in the first six months of the year, down 7.1% . Turnover rose 3.8% to 461 million. But the group is very conservative forecasts, the growth in issuance volume yet to be affected by rising unemployment in Europe.The securities were down 0.22% to 13.78 euros.

L'Oreal (0.90%) and Sperian (+0.09) will publish its first half results after market close.

The Polish government has shortlisted five offers to buy the 51% stake in state power company Enea on Tuesday said the Treasury Department, without specifying the identity of candidates. EDF (-0.44% to 31.63 euros) and GDF Suez (-0.80% to 24.32 euros) would be in the running according to media reports. Only EDF confirmed it had made a preliminary offer.

Scor (1.91% to 16.285 euros) has been a change of recommendation by Fitch. The broker has raised its outlook on Tuesday its debt rating of reinsurance group to "positive" cons "stable" and kept at "A" rating from its long-term debt of the group.Fitch said the decision including the prudent investment policy conducted by SCOR and the diversification of its risks.

Obviously, the penalty was not built until the stock market: shares tumble 16% HRA on the square in Dublin. And in its wake, Saint-Gobain and Lafarge, respectively dropping 5.43% and 4.94% and position themselves behind the curve on the CAC 40. Bouygues sold him, 3.65%. In Switzerland, Holcim loose 2.3%, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 index sector yield 4.2%.

Tough competition

Myles Lee, the CEO of HRA, said that the performance of the U.S. economy are "not good", but anticipate relapse into recession. "The economic news from the United States are disappointing and below expectations. It now seems clear that the economic recovery there, even if it occurs, will not be as strong than expected, "he said on Irish TV channel RTE.

Its chief financial officer, Albert Manifold, said his side as the weakness of the commercial construction activity and delayed investments of state and local governments in the United States had generated sales below expectations July and August, usually two months porters.

In addition, pressure on margins is increasing, so that several competitors are trying to reduce their prices, "said HRC.

Commodity prices and budgetary discipline

Harry Sebag, an analyst at Saxo Bank, explains that "businesses have impacted their margins and cut prices to gain market share." Already weakened, companies are also facing the weaker euro and higher commodity prices, driven by demand from emerging countries, which darken the outlook for the sector. Fiscal rectitude who moved to Europe and hence lower investment in construction, does shoved a bit more nail.

For the construction specialist in Europe, Euroconstruct, the sector should not resume until 2012.Particularly affected by the gloomy atmosphere, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal.

In France, since the beginning of the year, Lafarge has won over 37% in stock, Saint-Gobain, 24%, French Cement declined 19%, Vinci, Bouygues 14% and 12%.

A monitor, tomorrow, Wednesday, sales of new homes in the United States, which fall in the afternoon. On Tuesday, the bad news on the front sales of existing homes of great concern.

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The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Bercy warned on Monday evening Regulatory Commission of Energy (CRE) and the Higher Council of the energy of their intention to decline by 12% the purchase price by EDF of the photovoltaic electricity. The professional plans and large facilities will be affected by this adjustment of tariffs, not small household below 30 square meters. An order to this effect will be applicable on 1 September. In taking this decision, France follows the footsteps of Germany and Spain, who have already made adjustments."Today, France is far ahead of the implementation of the objectives of the Grenelle Environment. The rates remain favorable, but the cursor is repositioned slightly to avoid the deadweight speculative, "said the entourage of the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde.

Recall the situation. To encourage the development of environmentally friendly energy sources within the framework of the commitments of the Grenelle -23% renewable energy by 2020 – and to encourage installation of photovoltaic panels, the state has allowed those who invested able to sell to EDF electricity and produced on the basis of a regulated rate for the amortization of attractive features.This incentive involved both individuals who were installing equipment homemade-like solar panels on the roof of a house, the professionals that integrate PV in buildings, on roofs of car parks or supermarkets.

Only here: end of 2009, anticipating a decline rates announced, the French rushed to ask EDF to buy their electricity photovoltaics. The total power demand on the year was 50 times higher than in 2008. This has caused both a queue and a financial risk. Forcing the government to take early as January 2010 emergency measures, as well as adjustments of rates of transitional arrangements to handle the influx of applications.In the wake of last March, Bercy had asked the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF) to identify problems so that such a bottleneck does not happen again. Today, 60,000 applications are pending, mostly for small installations.

60 euros per year

The decision to reduce tariffs by 12% based on the findings of the report that IGF is to deliver to Bercy Le Figaro was purchased. It stresses that "the cost of the photovoltaic sector has become very attractive with lower production costs of signs (development of production capacity in Asia) and a collapse in prices linked to the Spanish crisis.Above all, the document points out that "the difference between the purchase rate (between 414 and 580 euros per megawatt hour) and the market price (56 euros per MWheure) is funded by electricity consumers via the contribution to electricity utility (CSPE). Its authors have amounted to about 60 euros per year for a household heating to electricity loads more can be passed on to consumers 'bills (1.5 billion euros per year from 2012), if nothing' was done. "It's a question of purchasing power," insists the entourage of Christine Lagarde.

"This tariff change is the first step in a necessary adaptation of the control system of feed-in tariffs, this development, which should afford the industry outlook solid and sustainable development until 2020, will be prepared in the fall consultation with all stakeholders, "concludes it at Bercy.

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