Posts Tagged ‘people’

French Cheese: weak exports

March 8, 2010 - 9:23 am Comments Off

Exports of French cheeses have dried up in 2009, according to French customs. In value exports fell 4.8% to 2.5 billion euros as in volume, with a decline of 1.7% to 591,121 tonnes. Exports represent 30% of French production.

The price of milk in question

The primary cause of this decline is the price of milk. Highest average of 15% in France compared to Germany and 9.5% from the Netherlands. Germany is Europe's largest exporter of cheese in front of France since 2003 in volume and value since 2006.

This drop increases with the cheeses using milk as much of the Emmental. Its exports fell 10% in 2009 and processed cheese, like Saint-Moret or Laughing Cow, requiring a lot of milk, they decreased by 13.5%.These high prices are crises repetitions of French dairy farmers, worried about the fall of their income.

For other reasons, Gruyère is also in a delicate situation. The European Commission may not give the French Gruyere the protected designation of origin (PDO), leaving the field open to Swiss Gruyere . The decision will be made in a few months.

Prospects in the U.S.

However, signs of recovery in the high end is particularly noticeable in the U.S. market, the first destination of French cheeses outside the European Union ahead of Switzerland and Japan. Arnaud Gauthier, cheese and creator of Frenchcheese club, said that "the U.S. market is a huge potential."He created a club offering premium products and to penetrate different markets in terms of complicated legislation. Example: the tripling of tariffs on Roquefort cheese in January 2009.

French cheesemakers are two sides to the Paris Bourse. Bel Cheese (The Laughing Cow, Boursin, Babybel …) and Bongrain (Caprice gods, Coeur de Lion, Tartar …). At the opening of trading on Friday, as the Cheese Fair was up 2.38% to 129 euros and that of Bongrain at equilibrium (0.06%) to 54.55 euros.

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The Kindle boosts Amazon results

January 29, 2010 - 1:45 pm Comments Off

In 2009, net income of Amazon rose 40% to $ 902 million or $ 2.04 per share. The U.S. Internet provider has presented these figures Thursday after the close of Wall Street, at the same time it announced its net profit for the fourth quarter, which soared 71% over the same period a year earlier, and rising to $ 384 million, or $ 0.85 per share.

During the last three months of 2009, marked by the holiday shopping season, Amazon's sales jumped 42%. Its turnover in the fourth quarter then reached $ 9.52 billion, which is better than expected. Due to a favorable currency effect, sales in the fourth quarter rose more rapidly in international markets (ie markets UK, French, German, Japanese and Chinese, which together grew by 49%) on the northern markets American (36%).But the two geographical areas show a growth rate similar sales since the currency effect is offset, and equivalent volumes.

This dynamic sales at year-end allows Amazon to total $ 24.51 billion worth of sales throughout the year, or 28% more than in 2008 low fee payday loans .

The group attributes this performance to the success of its electronic book reader, the Kindle, released in a hundred countries. "Millions of people now have the Kindle, and those who have a Kindle read a lot. When we have two editions (print and digital), six editions we sell Kindle books for 10 paper, "said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.

On its forecast for first quarter 2010, Amazon is planning a sales growth of about 32 to 43%.Its quarterly revenue could be up to 7 billion dollars. Over the period, operating profit could rise by 13% to 50%, Amazon said.

The group finally warned that its Board of Directors has endorsed a program of share repurchases by the group, amounting to 2 billion dollars.

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Public debts worry Coface

January 19, 2010 - 2:41 am Comments Off

A shock exceptional in its scope but not its duration. Coface, which examines the risks of outstanding companies, announced Monday at a symposium on the country risk, the end of the credit crisis. While recalling the unprecedented nature of this recession, the worst post-war related to the bankruptcy of Lehman. Between its 2007 peak and the lowest point in 2009, the global economy fell by 6.1 points, two times the oil crisis of the 1980s or the collapse of the dotcom bubble.

"There is a strong correlation between the curve of defaults and that of economic growth, said President Francois David. For six months we see an improvement in creditworthiness of companies. "After rising 19% in the first half of 2009, the total payment incidents has decreased by 40% over the last six months.With this improvement, Coface has revised upwards its ratings, while it had conducted several waves of decommissioning throughout the crisis. Note that unlike traditional agencies, which follow the sovereign debt, the insurance company is only interested in credit risk business. The improvement is true for most industrialized countries. The A2 rating of the United States is no longer under negative watch while France, Germany and Japan, in particular, came under positive watch.

Household debt

But if the bulk of the storm passed, many clouds darken the sky of the recovery. It is primarily the weakness of private demand, which remains constrained by the debt ratio and savings rates, and deterioration of the labor market."The key to growth lies in the particular behavior of the American consumer, accounting for 18% of global GDP," notes Francois David.

Another black spot, the rate of industrial capacity utilization remains limited, especially slowing business investment. "The recovery in 2010 will depend even public spending," says the chief economist at Coface, Yves Zlotowski. With the risk of digging a little more deficits. The situation is particularly alarming for the "pigs" – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain – where the debt has increased the most between 2007 and 2011. "The markets could force them to implement budget cuts, which contribute more to the recession," said Yves Zlotowski. The economist is also concerned about overheating in China and the rebound of stock markets, including commodities, stronger and faster than the real economy.Coface expects global growth in 2010 of 2.7%, driven by emerging markets (5.3%) against 1.4% for developed countries.

Offices: the market is recovering

January 8, 2010 - 11:06 am Comments Off

According to preliminary data released this morning by Immostat-IPD, the total investment in commercial property (offices, shops, warehouses) in Ile-de-France for the past year totaled 5.2 billion euros. This figure compares with a volume of 8 billion in 2008. This is the bottom of the range anticipated by the professional last October. In fact, the last quarter that saved the furniture with a total investment of 2.54 billion euros, or nearly half the activity of the year.

Also in Ile-de-France region, which contains 70% of national activity, take-up, which agglomerates investments by enterprises for their own needs and leased, moved it to 1, 8 million square meters for all of 2009, against 2.4 million in 2008 and 2.7 million in 2007.At the same time, the supply of offices immediately available is up 6% at the beginning of the year compared to last quarter, representing 3.26 million square meters.

For 2010, even if professionals are optimistic, they believe that further improvement observed in late 2009 will depend on the quality of provision and financing needs. Many uncertainties remain, particularly on the employment front, leaving fear tougher price point operators. In terms of rental values, "the time is still correcting, notes and DTZ. After declines of 10 to 25% depending on the relevant markets, the movement should continue, says the consultancy. Accompanying measures (exemption from rents and attendance), already strengthened in 2009, should still be denser.

The Paris Stock Exchange ended down 0.74%

December 9, 2009 - 11:00 pm Comments Off

After hesitating, the CAC 40 fell in early afternoon after falling from the perspective of the debt of Spain. The flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange closed down 0.74% at 3757 points, erasing some of its losses in the wake of Wall Street, which came in the green for a surprise cut stocks U.S. crude oil.

After degradation, yesterday, by the Fitch rating of the debt of Greece, the rating agency Standard and Poor's said Wednesday it lowered the outlook for Spain to "negative" cons "stable "Now his notes from" AA + ". S & P expects "GDP growth significantly lower fiscal deficits and persistent" for Spain.For 2010, the Spanish government expects the public deficit represented 8.1% of GDP.

The sharp downward revision of Japan's growth in the third quarter (+1.2% to +0.3%) also urges caution.

In the United States, the U.S. Treasury announced the extension until October 2010 bailout of banks (TARP), a budget line of $ 700 billion, passed in October 2008, which was also used to bail out the auto industry .

Summary of values

On the Cac 40, only five values are displayed in green. Unibail rose 0.99%, 0.30% EDF, Bouygues of 0.18%, Air Liquide of 0.10% and Suez Environment of 0.03%.EDF announced on Wednesday that it will participate in a tender for the construction of several nuclear reactors in Abu Dhabi, via a consortium with GDF Suez (+0.55%) which held the reins.

Alcatel-Lucent, Lagardere, Vallourec and Peugeot yield more than 2%. Axa closes walking and cowardly 3.98%. The meeting is also painful for ADP, down 3%. In a statement released Wednesday, ADP has lowered its performance outlook for 2010, now expecting to achieve an EBITDA of between 850 and 880 million euros, while the previously anticipated between 900 and 960 million .

EADS yields 1.02%. According to Les Echos, the group may be removed from the Galileo project for the benefit of HBO. This has indeed been selected for a first batch of 8 satellites in the 22 remaining building. For other lots, the European group will agree to make sacrifices.

Areva lost 4.44%.Its president, Yves Martin, will be at 11.30, a hearing on the international strategy of the nuclear group to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

Mercialys fell by 2.73%. The group will enjoy the next change of SBF. The company created by casino will integrate the SBF 120 index after the close of the meeting of December 18.

Derichebourg gaining 3%. The group noted, under the 2008-2009 fiscal year with a current operating loss of 5.4 million. The second half ended September 30, earnings reached 25.2 million for a turnover down 43% to 2.4 billion euros.

Compagnie des Alpes (-0.66%) said Wednesday it had acquired 90% of the company operating the ski resort of Les Deux Alpes.46 million euros have been disbursed for this operation, conducted by a consortium of Compagnie des Alpes has 60%, Caisse des Depots 19%, the Banque Populaire des Alpes 12.6%, and Caisse d'Epargne Rhône Alpes 8.4%.

Scrapping bonus: the device is extended

October 27, 2009 - 1:47 pm Comments Off

Good news for car manufacturers but also for buyers. The payment of the scrapping bonus of 1,000 euros for motor vehicles delivered in 2009 will be extended to those purchased until December 31, even if delivery takes place in 2010, announced Minister of Industry, Christian Estrosi in Le Parisien this Friday.

Christian Estrosi was reported in mid-October that the government was studying the measure for the automotive industry, badly affected by the economic crisis.

"The customers who order a vehicle before December 31, 2009 will receive the premium of 1,000 euros even if the supply does in the first quarter of 2010," said Minister of Industry Parisien. One detail that is important. So far, it should be delivered and invoiced before the end of the year to receive 1 000 bonus for breaking.Otherwise, the buyer could not receive the premium reduced to 700 euro, applicable from 1 January, which has cooled many consumers.

He added: "Now is therefore the order date and not the billing date which is valid to qualify for the bonus. We wanted this change, first for it benefits the consumer, then to absorb more manufacturers to reduce the amount of the premium.

He also recalled that the premium would go to 700 euros in the first half of 2010 and 500 euros in the second.From 2011, "we will return to the previous situation with a bonus amounting to 300 euros," he added.

He said 400,000 vehicles have already benefited from the premium to scrap today and "we should reach 500,000 by the end of the year."

Christian Estrosi also believes that the super eco bonus will also be a strong incentive, "over the scrapping bonus, since buyers of clean vehicles that emit less than 60 grams of CO2 per kilometer will enjoy a bonus of 5,000 euros" .

Believing that the bonus had saved the French manufacturers, said he expected in return "a very strong solidarity with sub-contractors because they are the ones most affected by the crisis."

The Federation of Industries of equipment for vehicles (Fiev) said in mid-October that it expected a general decline in activity from 20 to 25% in 2009, after starting the year with production falling by almost 50%.

This reduction would result, she says, by a decline in enrollment this year included "in a range between 7 and 10%" of the 107,000 employees of the sector.

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