Posts Tagged ‘customers’

S & P: Berlusconi denounced political pressure and media

September 21, 2011 - 1:24 am Comments Off

"Il Cavaliere" did not like to see the note in his country degraded by Standard & Poor's. "The ratings of Standard & Poor's seem more driven by stories in the newspapers as the reality and they seem to have been negatively influenced by political considerations," said Silvio Berlusconi in a statement. The Italian prime minister said that the country has already approved measures to balance its budget in 2013 and Italy in adopting new ones to stimulate growth. The austerity plan of 54.2 billion euros adopted on September 14 does not seem to have convinced the rating agency which doubted the credibility of the government and the Italian president.

Without having published a press release responding directly to the attack of the Italian President, Standard & Poor's is fighting back."The sovereign ratings by S & P ratings are apolitical, based on the evolution of" credit risk, provided to investors, "says one in the U.S. rating agency.

Moody's and soon …

S & P also ensures that its assessment is based on "independent analysis and detailed economic and fiscal outlook in Italy and on assumptions about the expected evolution of the debt.""The ratings indicate how the various policy initiatives may impact on the financial reliability and to hear any suggestions on policies that a government should or should not continue," said the rating agency.

Entangled in new revelations about his private life, Silvio Berlusconi is aware that the decision of S & P is a blow to the country, as Moody's may degrade the note of Italy in October that had never been lowered since the beginning of the debt crisis.

Player Figaro BFM

The world at the bedside of the euro

September 14, 2011 - 1:56 pm Comments Off

While Europeans are struggling to develop a common strategy of leaving the euro crisis, several major powers, anxious, just lend a hand to the old continent. The U.S. treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, will participate Friday and Saturday at a meeting of finance ministers of euro zone countries to be held in Poland. This is the first time a foreign official is invited to a meeting of the Eurogroup.

Officially, "the presence of a representative of the American administration will be part of the transatlantic dialogue on the current macroeconomic and financial issues," said the Polish Presidency in a statement. But in fact, Americans doubt the ability of Europeans to find a solution and Timothy Geithner should urge his counterparts to intensify efforts to resolve the crisis of the euro, says Bloomberg.One analyst told the agency "the Americans were anxious quietly and discreetly present, they become intensely anxious and present."

In the wake of rumors about a possible support from China to Italy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told him at the opening of Summer Davos Forum, held for three days in Tianjin, China that his country "will continue to increase its investments in Europe Internet Payday loans." The prime minister said he was confident "China believes that the European economy can rebound." But Wen Jiabao said, "I hope that EU leaders consider their relationship with courage to China a strategic point of view." China wants to be granted market economy status from the European Union, which considers that the conditions are not yet in place.

China is not the only emerging economy to say ready to support the European Union.In fact, the five major emerging economies, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), will discuss next week the opportunity to help the Union européenne.Ils could include increasing their holdings of bonds denominated in euros.

And Europe itself is mobilized. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should discuss the situation of the country on a conference call scheduled for late afternoon.

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Job creation slowed employees

September 9, 2011 - 5:52 am Comments Off

Despite zero growth in the second quarter, the French economy continues to create jobs, but at a slower pace. Payroll employment grew by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to INSEE and employment center, and 0.3%, according to ACOSS. This low growth follows the sharp rise in the previous quarter (0.3% employment center, and even 0.5% or INSEE ACOSS).

Depending on whether one considers the figures released by the three institutions, which use slightly different methods of calculation but that publish their data at the same time Thursday morning, it was 33,000 to 55,000 jobs were created during the second quarter . The French economy finds a job creation rate closer to that of 2010.

Fewer jobs created in the tertiary sector, the most promising

The tertiary sector is once again benefiting the most from this dynamic.By itself, it carries the bulk of net job creations. Payroll employment rose to 0.3% (0.4% according to ACOSS), although note that INSEE has created half the jobs in the previous quarter (69,200 to 32,100 jobs against first quarter) fast cash advance loan.

Employment in industry also continues to stabilize. After ten years of bleeding, loss of this sector had continued to widen in the first quarter. Again, the industry recorded a near-stability of its workforce, with 300 stations destroyed in the second quarter as employment center, a flat evolution, also observed by ACOSS. Perhaps a sign that the adjustment of long-term employment in the sector is nearing its end.

Finally, the interim, a leading indicator of employment, is down sharply, however. After two years of steady increase, temporary employment drops to 0.5% over the quarter.A change in both positive and negative, in part due to a higher reactivity of the interim depressed economic conditions, and another part in more sustainable employment creation by firms.

HP in the footsteps of IBM

August 20, 2011 - 2:40 am Comments Off

Duly noted. The world of PC has failed to develop at the same time dedicated to business activities and those aimed at individuals. Léo Apotheker has decided to separate from its computers, tablets and smartphones, "knocked out Apple "in the words of one U.S. analyst.

The stock has also lost more than 20% at the opening of Wall Street on Friday.A heavy penalty for a major strategic shift and two ads that markets generally enjoy little HP is preparing to spend 10 billion dollars for the purchase of Autonomy, the UK's leading software, and provided that the split of its business PC would cost one billion dollars in restructuring costs.

Just like what IBM has done six years ago, HP has chosen to focus on the activities dedicated to businesses (services, servers, data storage, network), while maintaining the imaging and printing. This focus on the professional world seems "logical" in light of the past of its CEO. Léo Apotheker has spent over twenty years with the German software company SAP, which he directed for eight years. These are businesses that generate margins sharply higher than in hardware sales.In 2010, business services have made 57 billion dollars in sales with in the key, 8.7 billion of operating income. Opposite, the PC division, tablet and phone posted a turnover of 40 billion turnover, but only 2 billion loss payday loan lenders.

By refocusing on activities "business," Leo Apotheker also takes the bet that he will develop the activities of data storage and servers. HP boss set including data analysis and cloud computing (computer services remotely) to raise. Competitors will be renamed the IBM, Oracle, Cisco and not Apple.

Consecration of the failure

The future of the PC division, mobile and tablet (PSG) remains uncertain. All scenarios are possible.A split, with a possible initial public offering that would make an independent business, but competition to apply. Redemption, we know the ambitions of China's Lenovo, which has already bought the PC division of IBM and wants to become world number one. Finally, pure and simple abandonment is also not excluded. This scenario is the worst, while HP has spent $ 25 billion a decade ago to buy Compaq and 1.8 billion last year for Palm. The group also invested in the revitalization of its software WebOS, and in the manufacture of tablets and smartphones with touchpad that just marketing. "In this area, not a sprint, it's a marathon," said Leo Apotheker, in an interview with Le Figaro, in late June. It seems that the runner will be out of breath from the first kilometer.

Pain: an ATM in Paris

August 13, 2011 - 12:04 am Comments Off

In recent weeks, a new generation of vending machines first appeared in Paris. Located near the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the machine offers, 24 and 24 hours seven days a week, fresh bread, sold a euro baguette. One hundred and twenty rods craft, pre-cooked for ten minutes, are placed for maximum seventy-two hours in the refrigerated dispenser. The end of the cooking is done at the pace of demand for ten more minutes. They can then be kept for more than five hours, to ensure consumers of warm bread.

The origin of this world first, as original as vending machines swimwear and sunglasses located at the entrance to the pools, is Jean-Louis Hecht.The baker was able to marry fifties vending, mainly industrial and bakery.

"Small steps slowly"

It all began in 2001 when the contractor completed the first prototype of its distributor, together with a technical school in Moselle. He suggested "small steps small steps" toward a machine patented by the company and assembly of industrial equipment Mecondielle Portuguese. The investment is huge for this baker without the cost of the assembly, the machine comes already at 30,000 euros. Then you would need two hundred and fifty hours of assembly.

The machine, the first of which is in commercial service since January in Moselle, in the other bakery owned by Jean-Louis Hecht, naturally allows to inflate sales, thanks to its opening hours."It is also a strong vehicle for promoting that is not gray at the bakery, says Jean-Louis Hecht. On the contrary, this innovation is a service that complements the baker's trade but do not replace. "

He said it will become indispensable in France and abroad, because of the quality of the product offered and the economic viability extraordinary profits are 30% higher than the store, according to the contractor.

A solution for villages without trade

In Paris, the distributor already sells 80 sticks a day, and Jean-Louis Hecht look forward to go further. The entrepreneur wants to "make the most of" his idea and does not sell his patent. He thinks big and would like to extend it by buying several bakeries and industrial equipment, backed by the facade.

The baker has other ambitions for his vending machine.A consulting firm located in Portugal working on a version independent of any trade, which would be installed in remote locations such as villages, tourist resorts or passage.

With the unmistakable design of his machine, Jean-Louis Hecht even considering creating a string, which spread in the desert regions of all trade, to allow each person to have its traditional fresh baguette every day. He finally claims that his invention has international potential, in Europe or the United States, where consumers are fond of "French baguette."

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Wall Street resumes

June 8, 2011 - 1:08 am Comments Off

U.S. stock markets open up on Tuesday. The Dow Jones advance of 0.32% at 12,126 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 and NASDAQ 100 respectively go up by 0.43% to 1292 points and 2713 points to 0.39%. On Monday, Wall Street has ended sharply lower. Markets are always hampered by bad macroeconomic indicators published U.S. these days who are fears of slowing growth overseas and the crisis of public finances in euro area continues to produce their effects.

Operators have very few indicators to follow this week to get a clearer picture of the economic situation. To 21 hours, however, U.S. investors will read the digits of consumer credit.U.S. carriers like their European counterparts, should be particularly attentive to developments in the crisis of public finances in Europe. Aurel BGC specialists also worry about the constraints of increasingly heavy burden on U.S. banks that ultimately risk, according to them to make them more restrictive in the distribution of credits. The real estate sector, already in bad shape for many years could suffer. The U.S. Treasury Secretary argues in favor of new rules to all U.S. financial world. It aims in particular the derivatives market.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro is rising against the greenback at 1.4666 dollar.The dollar is under increasing pressure since the announcement late last week to disappointing figures on the labor market in the U.S., where the economy has created three times fewer jobs than expected in May, and where unemployment rate went up against all odds. And the oil markets, a barrel of losing 25 cents in New York at 98.76 dollars while that of Brent North Sea fell by 41 cents to 114.07 dollars in the morning. Investors await a meeting of OPEC in Vienna tomorrow could decide to increase production.

The side of values, the paper group American International Paper (30.88% to 4.15 dollars) on Monday launched after the close of Wall Street, a hostile takeover bid for rival Temple-Inland for $ 3.3 billion in cash. International Paper has 30.6 dollars per share for 108.3 million shares floating.This represents a premium of 44% over the course of Monday afternoon, which was 21.21 dollars. Temple-Inland said that its board of directors rejected the offer of International Paper "after careful consideration" because it "grossly undervalues ​​Temple-Inland and is not in the interest of its shareholders" .

Apple Monday unveiled two new versions of its operating system Mac OS and IOS, and the novelty icloud should still be surrounded by very Bourse.

Sales of General Motors (+0.76% to 28.78 dollars) in China in May decreased by 2.7% over the same month last year, according to an AFP calculation based on Figures released Tuesday by the American manufacturer. The first global car market, GM has passed 190,674 vehicles. The group emphasizes that its sales in China for the first five months of 2011 reached a record of 1.079 million units.In 2010, General Motors was up 2.35 million vehicles in the Chinese market.

Also in the automotive industry, Ford Motor (1.87% to 14.17 dollars) is preparing to announce ambitious production targets, setting aims to sell 8 million vehicles a year by the middle the current decade, said on Tuesday the New York Times. The group, which currently produces 5.3 million vehicles per year, ranking it among the major automotive.In 2011, the global leader Toyota has sold 8.42 million vehicles.

The U.S. company RSA Security said Monday evening that information in connection with its products, recovered during a cyberattack, had served in another cyber attack against the defense group Lockheed Martin (-0.12% to 77.29 dollars), and proposed to replace its equipment.

The French group Mersen (ex-Carbone Lorraine), specializing in high performance components for industry, today announced a cooperation agreement "long term" with the U.S. manufacturer of glass and advanced ceramics Corning.

Walt Disney Studios (0.66% to 39.66 dollars) would consider dismissing 250 employees, or 5% of their staff around the world, especially at company headquarters in California (West), said Monday U.S. media specialist.

The British oil group BP (0.93% to 44.35 dollars), listed on Wall Street has informed the co-shareholders of its Russian joint venture TNK-BP that it might sell shares in it at Russian oil giant public Rosneft to boost its proposed alliance with the latter, says the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Wall Street was down to rising unemployment

June 4, 2011 - 5:40 am Comments Off

After losing more than 2% over the last two sessions, the U.S. stock markets continue their descent. This Friday, the Dow Jones lost 0.79% to close at 12,151.34 points, the Nasdaq 1.46% to 2732.78 loose points and the S & P 500 was down 0.97% at 1300.16 points.These statistics had already weighed on the Dow Jones yesterday, which had thus ended down 0.34% to 12,248.55 points.

A trend that has also confirmed Friday with the publication of the monthly report on employment in the U.S. Department of Labor, rather disappointing, the United States that have created 54,000 jobs in May, three times less than expected and not enough to prevent a rise in unemployment to 9.1%, against 8.9% expected.

The increase in activity in services is accelerating

The increase in activity in services has accelerated in the United States in May, more than expected, according to ISM trade association, whose index of purchasing managers in the sector released Friday appeared to increase by from April, to 54.6.

The Fed does not intend to undertake new measures to boost the economy, according to Richard Fisher, one of its members.In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this morning, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve believes that "the Fed has done its job" and that if necessary additional stimulus measures, "they must come from elsewhere" .

The U.S. Treasury will sell the 6% that still holds in Chrysler to Fiat. The Italian will thus hold a majority stake in U.S. manufacturer. And the state will pocket U.S. $ 560 million.

Short-term domestic concerns will not prevent operators to remain vigilant regarding the conditions for aid to Greece as part of a new plan, unveiled in principle this afternoon Low fee payday loans.

Walgreen: -0.14% to 43.16 dollars

Walgreen announced today, before opening on Wall Street, the level of its sales in May: they rose 7% to 6.08 billion, up 5.6% on a comparable basis.Remember that the title had been boosted on Wednesday by a recommendation by UBS improved, which initiated coverage on the purchase of the title, with a price target of $ 51.

Chevron: -0.12% to $ 101

Chevron announced late yesterday that four people died in the explosion of one of its refineries in Pembroke. A fifth victim was hospitalized in serious condition.

New York Times: 6.34% to 8.05 dollars

For the first time in its history, the New York Times says the direction of writing to a woman. Jill Abramson, now editor in chief, will assume his new duties on September 6. She will replace Bill Keller, who wants to resume writing. The chief editor Dean Baquet will be provided by currently assistant Jill Abramson.

Relax on the raw

As for raw materials, the pressure falls.In this sector, investors await OPEC meeting next Wednesday, which could lead to a decision by the organization to increase its oil production. Despite the many demands and frequent recently, OPEC had refused to put the issue of increased production in its agenda, and has been for four years. The markets will also tend ear to New York, where the French agriculture minister, Bruno Le Maire, must speak about the speculation on raw materials, around 18 pm (Paris time).

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Wall Street remains frozen in negative territory

May 13, 2011 - 11:20 pm Comments Off

After a session in the green Thursday, the NYSE should end on the last day of the week in the red. After an opening balance, the losses have increased for the Dow Jones was down 0.97% at 12,574 points. The Nasdaq also lost 1.02% to 2834 points while the S & P coward 0.82% to 13,438 points.

Oil heckled

The tensions are still very vivid in the markets for raw materials and oil. The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill to increase oil production in the United States to respond to soaring gasoline prices, despite opposition from the Obama administration to new drilling WedFor its part, China has announced to suspend its exports of diesel and severely restrict its exports of refined products to ensure adequate domestic supply and fight against inflation in fuel prices.

Oil prices have also played a roller coaster, unsettling investors. After opening up in New York, a barrel fell sharply in mid-day, the barrel of light sweet crude (WTI) crude for June delivery yielding 84 cents to 98.13 dollars. Finally, the barrel ends up on redemptions of short positions after previously mounted on reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been injured. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the barrel finished at 99.65 dollars, up 68 cents, or 0.69%, after hovering between 97.09 and 100.70 dollars.

The course followed the evolution of currencies.During the session, the sudden inflation of the dollar made it less attractive dollar-denominated assets such as oil, while the volatility of trade was exacerbated as we approach the weekend. The euro initially lost ground Friday against the dollar after the announcement of accelerated economic growth in the first quarter in the euro area, but eventually succumbed to concerns still living on the Greek budget crisis .

Around 18:30 in Paris, the European single currency was worth 1.4091 dollars against 1.4316 at the opening of U.S. markets and U.S. dollar against 1.4244 on Thursday. Yesterday, she already had fallen in session at 1.4124 dollars, its lowest level since April 1.

Consumer confidence rises

Fluctuating oil prices have pushed into the plan's announcement contained inflation.The consumer prices in the U.S. rose as expected by 0.4% in April compared to March because of rising food prices and gasoline, according to statistics released Friday by the Labor Department.

Moreover, consumer sentiment recorded a rise to 72.4 in May unexpected vision against 69.8 in April, the index of the University of Michigan. Analysts were waiting to 70.

Yahoo! penalized

The side of values, the Nasdaq Composite is sealed by the fall of Title Yahoo (-5.18% to 16.28 dollars) after the Internet portal said Alibaba Group has reorganized the capital structure of Alipay, one of the leading online payment systems in China, without being notified when it is a shareholder of Alipay.

The earthquake in Japan, which has disrupted production car in the Japanese archipelago, has claimed its place as world number one sector to Toyota, doubled in the first quarter and probably for the year by the American General Motors ( 0.06% to 31.44 dollars) and Germany's Volkswagen. Toyota sold 1.79 million vehicles worldwide between January and March, down 12% year on year.Meanwhile, GM sold 2.22 million cars, and returning, at least for this quarter, the world number one spot he had sold to Toyota in 2008.

For his part, Nvidia (-6.65% to U.S. $ 19.14) reported after the close of Wall Street, for the first quarter of 2011 from a profit down 0.2% to 135 million. The gross margin was 50.4%, a record level. Sales reached $ 962 million against 948 million and 1 billion expected a year ago.For specialists Aurel BGC, "the group is clearly affected by the downturn in PC sales and growth opportunities on the shelf is far from certain … For the current quarter, the Group expects a growth of 4 to 6% of its sales. "

SunPower (-0.89% to 21.19 dollars) achieved during the first quarter 2011 revenues of $ 451 million against 347 million last year and a loss of $ 0.02 per share against a BPA from $ 0.13 a year earlier. For the current quarter, SunPower expects a turnover of 500 to 550 million.

CA Inc. (-8.86% to 22.84 dollars), formerly Computer Associates International) in the fourth quarter of financial year 2010/2011 a turnover of 1.13 billion dollars against 1.17 billion expected and earnings per share of $ 0.48 against $ 0.5 expected.About its prospects, the group expects a growth in turnover of 6% to 8% at constant exchange rates for the year 2011/2012, and GAAP EPS in the range of 1.79 to 1.86 dollar. In addition, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of 0.05 dollars per share and a stock repurchase plan of $ 500 million. Last night, losing the title

Nordstrom (-1.64% to 48.37 dollars) for the first quarter sales of 2.32 billion dollars, in line with expectations, and earnings per share of $ 0.65 against $ 0.67 and expected $ 0.52 last year. The board of directors also voted a share repurchase plan of $ 750 million.

The wave of mergers and acquisitions continues. Yum! Brands (+0.28% to 54.88 dollars) has announced the launch of a tender on the Asian restaurant chain Little Sheep at a price of 6.50 Hong Kong dollars per share.

Oberthur would sell CardSystems

May 12, 2011 - 4:32 pm Comments Off

Still no comment from Oberthur Technologies on Thursday. Yesterday, Bloomberg launched the rumor of the sale by the specialist of security technology in its field of smart cards CardSystems, then this Thursday's Les Echos that delivers its information on the possible transaction. According to business newspaper, Oberthur want to part with 60% of this activity, which represents 73% of its total turnover, which would be valued over a billion euros. Rothschild and advise the company transaction could be in the form of an LBO is to say, an acquisition by a bank loan.According to Les Echos, the offers of the candidates will be received during the first fortnight of June.

Oberthur, which is no longer publicly traded since November 2008, is the world's second largest smart card with 20% market share worldwide, according to Gemalto, another French side in the Paris Bourse, which claims about 40 %. If smart cards are the heart of business, Oberthur weaker margins amid fierce competition.This could explain why the group wants to break away.

Sell ​​to watchlist De La Rue?

But the transaction would not she intended to make funds available to propose a new offer on the UK's De La Rue, he has failed to buy earlier this year? Oberthur could indeed put on the table more than 1.08 billion euros previously offered to pay for a company that works primarily on the trustee and that prints the tickets of more than 150 countries around the world instant payday loan. Eyeing a lucrative market that Jean-Pierre Savare, CEO of Oberthur, even if it might confront the British government, who intends to protect its business.

In addition, analysts said Exane BNP Paribas, "if the activity CardSystems was sold to an investment fund, it is not certain that the owner undertakes R & D, while at the same time Some key executives could leave the company. " For them, "the industry could then experience a period of turbulence that could lead to Gemalto the opportunity to win market share." Meanwhile, Gemalto folds from 1.37% to 33.73 euros on the Paris Stock Exchange on Thursday to 13 hours.

The activity CardSystems provides smart cards and related services to segments of the mobile but also payment, transport, digital TV and convergence.The other divisions handle everything trustee (bank notes, checks, etc..) Identity (manufacturing and personalization of documents such as passports or driving licenses), and the cash protection ', emerging market of equipments for the protection of banknotes in the distributor for instance. Oberthur Technologies has approximately 6,800 employees in all continents of the world.

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Unlimited calls to less than 25 euros at Numericable

May 11, 2011 - 2:08 pm Comments Off

The veil is lifted. After intrigued the web for nearly a week, Numéricable book details his mysterious "mobile revolution". The cable operator announced with great fanfare the launch of a mobile telephony offer unlimited tariff of 24.90 euros per month for residential customers Numericable, and 49.90 for others.

Numéricable becomes a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. "We go on the mobile market," with "the best offer on the market in price and service content," said the secretary general of the group Numericable, Jerome Yomtov. The group offers its subscribers an offer of unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in France, unlimited texting and unlimited internet access (3G up to 500 mega) for 24.90 euros per month.

"To get this offer of 24.90 euros, it is already subscribed Numericable, or you become one," insists Jerome Yomtov.For non-subscribers Numericable, the offer goes to 49.90 euros. Furthermore, the proposal does not include a phone. "Our job is to provide the best possible subscription, the phone is another job, a job distributor of electronics," said the secretary general.

The site has created a buzz larevolutiondumobile.com

With this offer comes directly Numericable hunt on the land of Free. The intriguing communication campaign that preceded this announcement is also no secret intentions Numericable. The website created for the occasion, but the "mobile revolution" refers directly to Free. Indeed, Free is the telephone operator at the initiative of triple play in France, and as such, boasts of having "revolutionized broadband in France."He even used the word to his sales pitch, naming "Revolution" the latest version of its box, launched in December.

Furthermore, Numericable used the red color of Free and organized a press conference at the Pershing Hall in Paris, where Free has the habit of organizing its own press conferences!

The communication operation worked: "larevolutiondumobile" has created a buzz on the web with over 50,000 messages on Twitter, affecting over 300,000 people. The Facebook page of the site has involved more than 2,600 fans in less than a week.

But if the teasing is successful, Numericable seems to have attracted the wrath of Free. The case could be settled in court.

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