Archivio per August, 2010

The tax loopholes of insurance reduced by 3 billion euros

The French government wants to reduce by three billion in Budget 2011, tax loopholes enjoyed by the insurance industry, under the "movement of the plane" of 10 billion to reduce the deficit, said Monday AFP at the Department of Economics. The revenue thus acquired will be made to the Sinking Fund of the social debt of 3.2 billion new resources the government has agreed to pay."This revenue will be made in three steps facing the insurance industry at large, because it is the sector with the biggest stake in what guarantees the sustainability of social protection system," said the entourage of the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde.

Resources collected in advance

The first measure deemed included in the Finance Bill to be presented in late September by the cabinet for life insurance, the preferred placement of the French.Included are contracts known as "multi-media, which include a part in Euro (guaranteed capital invested in bonds) and other units of account (mostly invested in equities).

To date, social security contributions (general social contribution and contribution to reducing social deficits) are made only outcome of multi-support contract, then they are executed each year on contracts in euros only. "We will achieve the social deductions each year for the compartment euro contract of life insurance multi-media", it was argued. In this case, it is not really new but revenue from resources "advance", they added.

Tax incentives obsolete

The second measure relates to contracts "caring and responsible" health insurance, covering virtually all of the supplementary cover.They have since their launch in 2005 of a tax exemption on insurance agreements. "This exemption would allow these contracts to take an important place. But it is a success, so there is no need for a tax incentive very strong, "argued the entourage of Christine Lagarde."These contracts will therefore be subject to tax on insurance contracts, but at a reduced rate of 3.5% instead of the standard rate of seven per cent," he said.

The final measure focuses on the taxation of the "reserve accumulation" that insurers are required to be to smooth fluctuations in interest rates.

Each of these three measures should yield about one billion euros in revenues in 2011.

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Festivals face of declining public subsidies

As every summer festivals in numbers on the territory have not failed to meet a great public success. However, despite attendance that does not deny, the contraction of budgets of local cultural events to make this worthwhile. For the vast majority of them are "small joint ventures", in the words of Emmanuel Negrier, author of "Public Festivals, tapped in large part by public funds.

According to a study by France festivals, grants from these mainly involved local average for 51% of the resources of these events. "The festivals of contemporary music, which developed later than others, however, are less dependent," says Emmanuel Negrier.To give an example of the financial stability of a festival of medium size, the budget of Auvers-sur-Oise is broken down as follows: 44% public funding, 23% from sponsorship or partnerships, and 33% of own revenue, notably from the ticket.

The counties, which face increasing social spending, have generally lowered their subsidies by 10%. This is the case in Rock en Seine, which begins this Friday with the envelope from the general council of Hauts-de-Seine is dropped from 300,000 euros to 265,000 euros on a total budget of 5 million. "The trend is clearly down government subsidies. In addition to the crisis, the reform of local finances led to a narrowing of the capacity of local authorities to act in the field of culture, "says Emmanuel Negrier. A feeling also experienced Lorient Inter-Celtic Festival."Apart from agreements concluded in three years, we enjoy public support dropped from 10% to 20%. In total, they nevertheless represent 35% of our budget, "says there is no fax payday loan.

Increased use of patronage

What, therefore, to overcome this shortfall? There are really only two main levers on which play to increase revenue: the price of tickets and the development of sponsorship. While the increase in ticket prices is a limited instrument which undermines the availability of a diverse public festivals, many events, however, attempt to play the role of patronage. This is for example the case of Inter-Celtic Festival Lorient or that of Annecy.The Crescendo Festival of Annecy has indeed experienced a revival this year thanks to the donation of 500,000 euros a Russian businessman, Andrei Valeriyevich Cheglakov. "The only thing Andrei Valeriyevich Cheglakov wait in return is the recognition by the Mayor of Annecy festival of this size that has an interest in the city," said Pascal Escande, festival director. This case, however, is very exceptional, "he concedes himself.

Especially in times of crisis, it also becomes more difficult to find private funds. While the vast majority of companies have retained last year an almost identical level of funding, "they tend to focus their actions and be more attentive to their consistency," said Beatrice Menanteau, director of Admical , an association that promotes corporate philanthropy.Above all, it is currently unthinkable in France private funds to replace grants: "In Spain, some festivals are completely private. But their benefits are not equivalent to those of French festivals. Neither stimulation of cultural creation, or access to culture to a diverse audience are possible without the help of communities, "argues Emmanuel Negrier.

Toyota Corolla recalls 1.1 million

New blow for Toyota. The Japanese automaker has launched a new campaign to recall the United States. It covers 1.13 million Corollas, his best-seller.

The reason? An engine problem that affects models built between 2005 and 2008. The decision comes two days after the U.S. National Highway Safety Agency (NHTSA) reported having opened a new investigation into the Corolla, which was already under control since last February after 163 complaints of American motorists.

This new campaign will tarnish a bit more Toyota's reputation, which had been forced to recall more than 10 million vehicles worldwide, mostly in the U.S. since last fall.

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Decline of social plans in H1

Good news on the employment front. The Labor Department announced Wednesday morning in the Echoes of figures on backup plans for employment (PSE) fell sharply from the end of 2009. In the first half of 2010, 668 PES have been reported to the administration against 934 in the second half of 2009, a decrease of 28.5% over this period. Moreover, the month of June 2010 recorded 87 such redundancy schemes, a level at its lowest since August 2008. The Ministry of Labour, however, did not release the total number of jobs destroyed by these schemes.

This news comes in support of other labor market indicators published recently. Two weeks ago, INSEE reported on the creation of 60,000 salaried positions in six months, one year after 2009 generally very destructive.The use of frames also rebounded since last January found the Association for the executive employment (APEC). In July, the job offers published by the association executives and 53% progressed, mainly in IT and business functions.

2009 catastrophic

However, the decrease in the number of PES remains in place relative to the extent that the figures for 2009 had been devastating: 2,245 plans had been identified during this year particularly affected by the crisis, nearly 2.5 times than in 2007. With already 668 PES 2010 is also unlikely that the number PSE set up in 2010 found its level before the crisis (957 PES 2007).

The explosion, finally, the number of broken treaty in June might suggest that some companies use them in lieu of some PES, although this practice is prohibited by law. In order not to attract the attention of governments and not having to pay compensation in the amount tends to grow under pressure, companies could use this mechanism put in place two years ago, or even layoffs in smaller numbers.

Hewlett Packard and Dell in the struggle on the high-tech

The cloud computing continues to attract IT companies. A week after Dell announced it planned to buy the company for data storage, 3PAR, his rival, Hewlett-Packard (HP), outbid on Monday on supply Dell. HP has made an offer of 1.6 billion dollars (1.2 billion euros), against 1.15 billion dollars (894 million euros) for Dell. The proposed transaction represented by Dell when it announces a 87% premium over the closing price of 3PAR. An advertisement that has boosted the share 3PAR over 40% to 25.35 dollars in a market up 0.27%.And while, to 3:35 p.m., Hewlett-Packard lost 0.13% to 39.80 dollars.

Transaction close by the end of the year

HP recently rocked by the resignation of its CEO Mark Hurd in early August, said that the board had approved the transaction faxless payday advance. The closure of the transaction is expected before the end of the year, the company said.

This acquisition would allow the IT group to extend its range of storage products for the cloud computing (cloud computing) and to support its service activities, like other industry heavyweights like IBM, they which tend to generate higher gross margins than sales of computers.

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Sotheby's auction of old vegetable

Even Sotheby's, all recipes are good for boiling the kettle. On 23 September in New York, establishing world-class sales, which usually dispersed collections of paintings or jewelry the most prestigious, will auction … vegetables. But not just any old vegetable he will, almost extinct varieties of pumpkins, pumpkins and eggplants with the production, organic of course, is essentially American. Farmers in several states are currently pushing so valuable prizes. Simmered meals by top chefs and baskets will also be awarded.

Funds raised during this sale, called "The Art of Agriculture", are intended to teach children about nutrition.Agricultural projects for new organic farmers are supported.

Very rare, these vegetables will be presented very expensive: Unions mixing gourd "Lady Godiva Squash" and other "Pink Banana Pumpkin" will be priced at 1000 dollars. If vegetables are then donated to charities, gourmets can buy discrètement.Charles Gautier

Asia claims the world market of the press

Every day, worldwide, 1.7 billion people read a daily fee. Either one quarter of the adult population worldwide. With non-daily newspapers, 37% are adults, from Beijing to New York from Cape Town to Hamburg, from Calcutta to Moscow, blackened fingers over 12,477 titles, or 1.7% more than in 2008. The global distribution of newspapers has reached 517 million units sold in 2009, down 0.8% from 2008 but up 5.7% over five years.

These statistics, released Wednesday by the World Association of Newspapers and publisher of the news media (WAN-IFRA) in its annual report on global trends in the media are reasons to be "optimistic", says President WAN-IFRA, Christoph Riess.

In detail, the global market of the press especially took advantage of Asia's appetite for newspapers. The region is home to 67 of the 100 largest newspapers published worldwide.There is also the major newspaper markets – with, in mind, India (110 million copies sold daily), China (109 million copies a day) and Japan (50 million copies) . It also published in the archipelago that is the largest daily in the world published: Yomiuri Shimbun runs every morning at more than 10 million copies.

Very hungry for news, Asia recorded in 2009, an increase of 1% in the distribution of its daily revenue. Over the past five years, it has increased by 13%. The region is thus one of the most dynamic, after Africa, where the diffusion has increased by 30% since 2004. The distribution of non-daily newspapers in Asia, she rose 3.1% in 2009, ahead of Australia and Oceania (+1.8%) and Europe (+1.5%).Over five years, this category grew 17.3%.

Going digital

Conversely, markets with a mature media environment see sales of their papers back. The distribution of paid dailies has declined by 3.4% in North America and 5.6% in Europe in 2009. Over five years, these two regions have lost 10.6% and 7.9% in the distribution of daily press charges. "While traditional newspapers in many markets mature losing readership, media companies on these markets are at the forefront of the digital revolution, is consoled Christoph Riess.Many newspapers in mature markets have turned to digital platforms and new forms of printed publications, expanding their product portfolio, their audience and revenue. "

However, for WAN-IFRA, "the advertising revenue related to digital activities will not compensate the losses of printed products. However, newspapers have a real card to play on mobile phones: "Mobile services can reach 100% of the population and the payment for such services has been well established in the customs," the report says.

Paris hesitates despite SocGen

After opening at 3746.56 points on balance, the CAC 40 suffered some profit taking and lost around 10:30 just over 0.5% to 3726.45 points. At midday, the index feature yielded 0.54% to 3727 points before picking up one hour before the opening of Wall Street. 14.30 ACC exceeds 3750 points (+0.13%). Tuesday evening now, the benchmark index of the Paris market had bent slightly, from 0.12% to 3747.51 points, while nearly 3,750 points in the wake of Wall Street, penalized by economic indicators so good that anticipated.

Investors reacted positively Wednesday morning, however, the results of Societe Generale, published before the opening, and that are much better than expected.Monday, BNP Paribas and HSBC had already published accounts reassuring and had restored confidence to investors worldwide.

In Asia, Tokyo has fallen sharply while export values are penalized by the yen continued to rise against the dollar. At 85.5 yen to the dollar, the yen has never been stronger.

Economic News still loaded

On Wednesday, the macroeconomic news might still punctuate the markets. In the euro area, the focus will be on the PMI services and composite July (2nd estimate).Growth in the French sector of services has accelerated slightly in July, but expectations of entrepreneurs are less strong, according to the PMI survey published Wednesday by Markit Economics.

At 11:00, retail sales in the eurozone emerged flat in June mainly due to lower sales of food products, following a 0.4% increase the previous month (revised from +0.2%) but show a larger increase than expected 0.4% in one year, after 0.6% (revised from +0.3%) recorded in May Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an average increase of 0.1% from one month to another as well as annual.

Overseas, the ADP employment figures in the private sector in July will be well attended in the financial world, at 14.30. Then at 16 hours, the ISM index of activity in services should lead the market.Finally, at 16:30, the traditional weekly crude oil stocks are known. All these figures of importance, so that on Tuesday, the statistics on consumer spending and incomes of households were poorer than expected.

Société Générale and Axa have done better than expected

As for values, investors have been informed by stock-half-year results of Societe Generale (1.38% to 46.02 euros) payday loans. Net income was more than tripled to 1.084 billion euros in the second quarter. Economists expected a doubling.Moreover, its Greek subsidiary Geniki announced a widening its net loss in the first half, the economic difficulties the country promoting the proliferation of bad loans.

AXA (-1.76% to 14.47 euros), has reported net earnings in the first half down 29% to 944 million euros. It's better than expected and operating income, which excludes special items, spring, him, down 3%.

Suez Environment (-0.23% to 15.14 euros), which specializes in managing water and waste, noted Wednesday its growth forecast for the full year 2010, after posting first half results strong growth. Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of number two French water treatment and industrial waste, says his group's performance in the first half.

Bic (+0.54% at 56.10 euros).The group anticipates a slowdown in particular the growth in sales of lighters and razors in the second half.

Sopra (-0.02%) and Iliad (-1.15%) also posted pre-market.

Maurel & Prom: + 68% of first half sales

Energy. Departments of Ecology and Economy announced Tuesday that the government planned to increase to 15 August electricity rates by 3% on average for households and 4% to 5.5% for businesses. EDF is the head of the CAC 40 to 34.7 euros.

Maurel & Prom (-0.45%% to EUR 9.78) Tuesday announced sales up 68% in the first half of 2010, helped by the rise in production fields in Gabon and in particular into production fields and Omgw OMBG. Note that the oil companies are particularly sought after in recent sessions.The oil was indeed installed comfortably beyond 80 dollars.

Vilmorin (+0.17% to 74.63 euros) Tuesday posted a consolidated turnover from 2009 to 2010 up 6.2%, supported by his vegetable business. The fourth seed has confirmed global forecast fiscal year 2009-2010 ended June 30, "a good performance of its margins," despite the increased "significantly" from its research investment.

Teleperformance (-0.72% to 19.31 euros) announced Tuesday for the first half rose 3.9% in sales on a reported basis, down to a 2.6% decline in comparable, indicating that positive impact of its restructuring plan on the second play of the year.

The CAC 40 rose 3%, reaches 3750 points

The Paris Bourse was raised a notch to 16 heyres. Already the CAC 40 took more than 2% since this morning, but the ISM index of manufacturing activity, released on Monday across the Atlantic in 16 hours (Paris time) gave a boost to U.S. indices, as best expected. European stock markets all benefit.

In Paris the CAC 40 wins no less than 2.96% at 3,750 points to 16.20. The month of August begins very well, after one month of July already favorable to investors in Paris.

Last month, the CAC 40 was well recovered, compared to a decline in June and a memorable month of May in terms of poor performance. Between 1 July and this July 30, the index rose 9.1%. Since the beginning of the year, it remains a decline of 7.45%. Compared to a year ago, it was up 6.3%.

On the face of macroeconomic indicators, two publications are important to remember.In Europe, growth in manufacturing output and new orders accelerated, reaching their highest level in three months, according to the latest PMI survey released Monday and conducted by Markit Economics Institute. The PMI index for manufacturing final Eurozone appears already to 56.7 in July against 55.6 in June

On the other side of the Atlantic, the ISM has continued to grow, but less than before. The increase in activity in the manufacturing sector in the United States has continued to slow in July, the index measuring the ISM has fallen to 55.5, but less than expected, according to figures released Monday by the association .

On the values front, are monitored:

BNP Paribas (4.59%) which unveiled on Monday its quarterly results before the market in good order. They are far beyond expectations, thanks to lower provisions.The title gained 4.19% to 54.92 euros. The title brings in its wake Societe Generale (2.97%). For its part, Credit Agricole gained 2.33% to 10.75 euros.

Air Liquide (1.29% to 87.48 euros) on Monday confirmed its objective of increasing its net profit in 2010 after an acceleration of growth in sales between the first and second quarter, thanks emerging markets.

France Telecom (1.09% to 16.24 euros) has initiated discussions with shareholders Meditel second operator in Morocco, to acquire 40% stake in it, according to the Moroccan weekly News, suggesting a possible investment of 650 million euros. Title varies slightly to 16.05 euros.

Eurazeo announced Saturday that entered into exclusive negotiations with the U.S. fund Carlyle for the sale of the hotel chain B & B.Eurazeo gaining 1.74% to 49.73 euros.

The construction group Vinci (2.44% to 38.05 euros) was selected Friday by the Government for the concession and the construction of the airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, who should take over from 2017 the air service from Nantes-Atlantique.

Areva (-2.96% to 354 euros) on Friday, as expected, half results penalized by an additional provision under the Finnish EPR OL3, but confirmed its 2010 targets.

Eiffage (2.21% to 39.57 euros) published a quarterly revenue up 2.2% and said its order book stood at EUR 10.8 billion at July 1 ( +4.4% at constant since 1 April 2010), more than 11 months of activity.

APRR (stable) – The Socialist leader Arnaud Montebourg said it had seized the financial markets authority (AMF) to try and block the delisting of Autoroutes Paris Rhin Rhone (APRR) requested by Eiffarie, a joint venture of Eiffage and the Australian Macquarie Group