Danone confident for 2012 after a third quarter in line

Confident for 2012, Danone Tuesday reconfirmed its 2011 objectives and expressed confidence for next year by publishing quarterly sales in line with expectations thanks to strong performance in emerging markets.

The world leader in dairy products and bottled water in the third quarter has a turnover of 4.805 million euros, against 4808.33 million expected by analysts polled by Reuters writing.

On a comparable basis, sales growth amounted to 5.9% in the range of 6 to 8% under the group, and as expected down from the 8.7% growth achieved in the first half.Analysts expected an improvement of 5.6% in the third quarter.

Danone said he was "confident" for 2012 and reiterated its 2011 objectives, namely an increase in sales on a comparable 6% to 8% and an increase of its current operating margin of approximately 0.2 point, always like.

This growth will come from all its activities, but particularly integration synergies from Russian Unimilk, said Danone, which still expects to grow its free cash flow consistent with the goal of two billion euros for 2012.

During a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Andre Térisse, said the dynamics of the fourth quarter should be "fairly close" to that of the third.

He said most of the price increases had been "passed, executed and well executed in the first half."

As for the confidence shown in 2012, he said it was based on growth in emerging markets, the integration of Unimilk, which should be completed by the end of the year, and increases performed for several quarters in each of the group's activities.

SALES ALMOST STABLE IN EUROPE DYNAMIC ELSEWHERE

The CFO said the price of milk and plastics were now grown.

On a comparable basis, sales of the branch "water" rose 7.9% to 816 million euros in the third quarter, those of the Fresh Dairy Products division from 3.5% to 2.785 million, the "child nutrition" has increased by 10.5% to 906 million and the pole "medical nutrition" from 9.8% to 298 million.

Growth in fresh dairy products was driven by the brand Activia who performed a double-digit growth in Latin America, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Italy, says Pierre-André Térisse.

In Europe, still comparable, Danone's sales rose only 0.1% to 2.661 million euros in the third quarter, as they progressed from 19.6% in Asia, 740 million, and 11.5% in the rest of the world, to 1.404 million.

In the U.S., where the Greek yogurt segment took 25% market share, Danone has renovated Oikos brand and the first results "are excellent," argued Pierre-André Térisse."We are working to increase our capabilities to meet this demand," he said.

In Russia, he said, the price increases of 2010 have resulted in "a temporary slowing of growth" so that "sales of Danone and Unimilk remained stable compared to last year."

At the Paris Bourse, the action Danone, down in the first few exchanges, quickly moved into the green and won 1.18% to 45.93 euros at 9:20 while the CAC 40 lost 2.1% and the European sector index of the food industry abandoning 0.36%.

Barroso wants to end the unanimous vote in Europe

The President of the European Commission wants to generalize the majority vote, while Slovakia has threatened to block the strengthening of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF). The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso (here at a press conference in Brussels April 13, 2011)

The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso insisted Thursday that the euro area plans to end the rule of unanimity in its decision-making, while the future of EFSF is suspended from the single vote of Slovak deputies. "I respect the sovereignty of a member state of our Union," Barroso said about the Parliament of Slovakia, during a press conference after a meeting in Brussels with Prime Minister Danish Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

But "I hope that this Parliament also respect the sovereignty of the other 16 (Monetary Union countries) who are waiting for decisions to be made" and which have already ratified the strengthening of the Relief Fund of the euro area, the EFSF , said Barroso. The Slovak parliament meets Thursday to prepare the way for a second vote on the anti-crisis instrument in the euro zone after a negative vote on Tuesday that caused a government crisis. In this context, the President of the European executive reversed its recent proposal to end the requirement for unanimity in some decision-making.

This applies for example to all measures related to the financial rescue for the troubled country in the euro area. Brussels would prefer a system of qualified majority voting."Is not it strange that when the IMF makes decisions he makes a qualified majority, whereas in the euro area member states that share a common currency are bound by the rule of unanimity?" S is questioned Mr. Barroso.

"This is something we must look to the future," he added. "This is an extremely important institutional point of view, we must have a system of decision-making more effective in the euro area and the EU if we are to be credible with respect to markets and investors, "he judged.

S & P lowers rating of ten Spanish banks

Standard & Poor's Tuesday lowered a notch credit rating of ten Spanish banks, including the two main countries, highlighting the darkening economic prospects and a housing market still depressed.

The prospect of all banks rated by the agency is now negative, which means that further declines are possible notes.

Among the downgraded banks Santander and BBVA are the main institutions of the country.

For Banco Santander, the rating drops to AA-, against AA with a negative outlook. Similarly, for Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, the note back from AA to AA-.The new perspective is also negative.

S & P also revised the rating outlook of four banks, reducing it from stable to negative, and placed the bank under review with negative implications.

Gecina will sell other assets to reduce debt

The real estate group Gecina said Thursday it planned to sell 500 million euros of additional residential assets to accelerate debt reduction.

Citing the economic and financial climate, the land says it wants to focus more on sales than on new acquisitions in the office sector.

"By making an additional amount of sales of 500 million euros of residential assets, Gecina will quickly reach a target of 1.5 billion euros in sales," we read in the press release.

The title Gecina closed Thursday at 67 euros (5.15%). He was accused Wednesday the largest decrease of the SBF 120 in response to the departure of its CEO, Christophe Clamageran, because of differences over strategy.

GDF Suez to Eni sells a share in the fields in the North Sea

GDF Suez said on Wednesday an agreement with Eni to sell to the Italian group's 10.4% indirect interest in the gas fields of Elgin-Franklin in the UK North Sea for 590 million euros.

This is part of its program to sell 10 billion euros, said the French energy company in a statement.

Participation in question is owned through the company EFOG, a joint venture between GDF Suez (22.5%) and Total (77.5%), which itself holds 46.2% of Elgin-Franklin field.In 2010, these assets accounted for 5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in natural gas production and hydrocarbon GDF Suez.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011, said the French group.

Around 9:30, the action GDF Suez was almost unchanged at 22.52 euros while the CAC 40 gave 0.29%.

Do you live better or worse than before?

According to a survey, three out of four Fançais observe a decline in their standard of living. And you? The basket of essential goods for households with small budgets

Three in four French people think life worse than before, a decision that had never reached such a level for twenty years, according to a survey by TNS Sofres for the association of mayors of major cities in France.

To the question "Did you feel that in recent years people like you live better or worse than before," 75% of respondents answered "less". This feeling is a "historic high in the evolution of the personal situation of the French" in the TNS Sofres survey, conducted since 1981, said the institute.

It manifests itself particularly in the 25-49 age group (81%) and among the employees (87%) and workers (82%).Only 14% say their side "better life", while 10% see no change (1% undecided).

With an unemployment rate of 9.6% according to INSEE, and generally 3.3 million people, who are not working but want to work in France, the fear of becoming unemployed grows in the opinion, according this investigation. Two out of three French (66%) fear of "risks of unemployment", for themselves or someone in their household. A result in increase of 4 points from last year and 16 points since 1988, said the Sofres.

And you, your standard of living has deteriorated there? How do you explain it? do you fear unemployment? Give us your opinion in the comments.

CASA provides a deal to freeze the money market

Credit Agricole, which accounts for the second quarter suffered a heavy burden to Greece, said Thursday that it could compensate for a freeze on cash from U.S. money market, essential for the refinancing of European banks.

The group, which is the latest French bank to publish its second quarter, also ruled out any increase in capital stock exchange after the fall of his title since late June, just like all European banking shares.

"The refinancing home residual dollar money-market funds (funds U.S. Money, Ed) is now reduced (…

Faced with the debt crisis in the euro area and degradation in early August after the United States note by Standard & Poor's, banks try to reassure investors who have shown past two months, concerns about the refinancing of European banks.

These concerns have led to a fall in European banking shares. The European banking index has lost more than 26% since late June.

In this context, the titles of the French banks were particularly hard hit, including a plunge of 48% for Societe Generale and Credit Agricole 40%.

NO CAPITAL INCREASE PLANNED

"The month of July took place normally.August was a bit more complicated given the financial movements and disturbances that have existed.This is what we can say about the game BFI (banking and investment, Ed), "said Jean-Paul Chifflet, the executive director of Credit Agricole, asked about the activities of the bank over the last two months.

"We do not plan a capital increase," he added.

In the second quarter, the bank, which launched in late July a warning on its results, posted a net profit of 339 million euros, down 10.6%, after a charge of 653 million euros related the Greek crisis.

According to the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters, analysts on average expected a net profit of 193 million euros.

The load on Greece proves ultimately less important than initially announced.

Net income for the Crédit Agricole group as a whole for its spring to 881 million euros for the second quarter. For comparison, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale respectively reported a net profit of 2.12 billion euros and 747 million euros.and

Given the deterioration of the crisis in Greece, Crédit Agricole was forced to abandon its goal of returning profits to its Greek subsidiary Emporiki in 2012, without setting a new schedule.

However, the bank maintains its financial targets for 2014, ie a net profit of six to seven billion euros in 2014 and revenue over 25 billion.

The use of frames are still good

500,000 jobs have been issued by APEC last year, up 67% over the previous year. The number of offers increases in all sectors, except in the areas health-social-culture.

Summer benefits managers. In July, the number of jobs assigned to the Association for the employment of cadres (Apec) recorded a further increase of 54% over the same month in 2010, 44,506 offers. In total, from August 2010 to July 2011, nearly 500,000 jobs have been published by Apec, up 67% over the previous 12 months.

The highest annual increase for the technical services which represent nearly 10% of the offers, up 84%.All functions, except from the health-social-cultural experience sustained growth and especially the R & D studies, which represent 14% of the offers, up 72% and industrial production, with 6% of the offers, an increase of 70%. The computer has 28% of the offers, up 68%. The sales-marketing, which represents over a quarter of offers, also shows a sharp increase of 64%.

The monthly index of job opportunities for executives on the Internet – calculated by APEC to measure the evolution of these online offerings – in July rose 82 points. Again it is the technical services and R & D studies that show the largest increases, respectively 113 and 130 points.

Fitch confirmed the AAA rating of the United States, stable outlook

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday it confirmed the maximum rated AAA in the United States, bringing the world's largest economy some breathing space after decommissioning carried out by its rival Standard & Poor's here more than a week.

The rating agency added that the prospect of the country was stable.

European shares cut their losses after the announcement of Fitch, but on the other hand Wall Street has ignored this announcement and was sharply lower in early trade.

"The confirmation of the AAA sovereign rating of the United States reflects the fact that the main pillars of the exceptional quality of the signing of the United States remain intact: its role in the global financial system and a healthy economy, diverse and flexible that provides the basis of its income, "Fitch said in a statement.

"The flexibility of monetary and exchange rate increases accordingly the capacity of the economy to absorb shocks and adapt."

Fitch warns that the outlook for its rating will depend on the economic situation and current legislative work in Congress to reduce public debt.

It states that upward revision of projections in the medium and long-term debt, resulting either from an economic recovery is weaker than expected from the inability of a joint committee of Congress to propose a deficit reduction of 1,200 billion dollars at least, could place the U.S. in a negative outlook.

"The decision on the rating would most likely revise the outlook to negative, a probability of more than 50% of a downgrade in the space of two years.Downgraded by one notch would be less likely. "

Economists take note of the decision of the agency, without apparently seeing too many implications for the immediate future.

"In general, it is not really a concern of the United States downgrade from Fitch and Moody's or, and I do not believe, therefore, that the markets will react a lot," said Omer Esine ( Commonwealth Foreign Exchange).

"Fitch is based on the ability of the United States to pay principal and interest on the debt, which no one seriously questions. No one is worried about being repaid," said Jane Caron (Dwight Asset Management) .

Slowdown in the first mortgage in 20 months

New indicator of a lull in the French property market, the amount of loans ceased to accelerate. The growth rate was increasing since October 2009.

The rate of increase in the volume of mortgages has experienced its first downturn in June for 20 months, according to figures released Wednesday by the Bank of France, announced a sign of a lull after two long years of euphoria.

Total real estate loans to individuals being reached in late June, 829.8 billion euros, up 8.9% year on year, against 9.3% in May The annual growth rate of housing loans had accelerated continuously since October 2009, with the exception of January 2011, where he remained stable.

A study by the Housing Credit and the CSA institute, published July 20, provides for a stabilization loan production throughout the year.The slowdown was expected, therefore, after two very dynamic, driven in particular by the tax deductibility of loan interest and tax system Scellier rental investment. End of 2010, the first provision has expired and the second has become much less attractive for tax purposes.

The market was also brought in 2009 and 2010 by the very low interest rates and by safe-haven status of the stone, in a torment for the financial markets. After a difficult start to the year 2009, total current mortgage jumped 17% between May 2009 and June 2011, 118 billion euros.

In June, the total credit to households and firms (non financial) reached 1.892 billion euros, up 5.8% year on year, which is the thirteenth consecutive month of acceleration.

Besides the slowdown in mortgage lending to households, the month of June was also marked by a sharp acceleration in business credit, to 3.9% yoy against 2.5% in May If investment loans continued to grow (4.4% against 3.8%), the movement is mainly due to the recovery of cash loans, bleak since the financial crisis. In June, their rate of increase over the year was the highest since January 2009, to 4.1%.