Business News & Financial News

Pflimlin Etienne, President of the Mutual Credit, announced Monday he was resigning his post at the head of the French mutual bank.

"I decided, for personal reasons, to end my functions as president of the National Confederation of Credit Mutuel, and the Federation of Credit Mutuel Centre Est Europe," he wrote in a statement released to the press by Credit Mutuel.

The banking group, in its statement, said that Michael Lucas, the current CEO of the Credit Mutuel will replace Stephen Pflimlin as President from October 14.

Previously, a source close to the group's management confirmed to Reuters that information revealed by the newspaper Les Echos.

"Yes, there is a press release that starts tonight at 18 hours, but I think I'll try to move forward," said the source had told Reuters.

France and Britain have ruled out Friday to share the aircraft carriers in the near future but said they were ready to pool several defense equipment including the future A400M military transport aircraft assembled by EADS.

The Defence Minister Herve Morin, who received his British counterpart Liam Fox to Paris for a bilateral meeting devoted to the weapons programs of both countries, also stressed that the French and British companies were to cooperate more and that would make Paris and London joint proposals for NATO reform.

"We hope that our cooperation is in the background the ability (for France and Great Britain, ed) to make budgetary savings," he said during a brief press briefing.

France and Britain, both facing pressures on their finances, have decided to start saving measures, particularly in the defense sector.

"It is logical to examine the issues where we can share the assets rather than acting separately," explained Liam Fox."It's a purely pragmatic."

Herve Morin said, however, that France does not plan to share aircraft carrier with Britain at this time.

A source close to the Defense Ministry told Reuters that the technical characteristics of French and British aircraft made a pooling difficult but that nothing prevented the two armed boats to share logistics.

"The sharing of an aircraft carrier would not be realistic," confirmed Liam Fox.

Herve Morin assured that Paris and London had been exploring a range of issues of cooperation and mentioned as an example the tanker and the future A400M military transport aircraft, a program led by Airbus Military, a subsidiary of European aerospace and EADS Defence.

"We look very real, capacity by size, by industrial subject matter industry, we can do, either in cooperation, or we can decide who would lead us toward interdependence," he said.

"On the tanker (tankers), the maintenance in operational condition (OLS) of the A400M, the joint naval facilities, we can move towards greater pooling."

PROPOSALS

The contract for the A400M program delay of almost four years, must be revised so that some countries like Germany and Great Britain, dissatisfied with the delivery and anxious to reduce their expenses, considering scaling back their orders .

"On the A400M, it actually makes sense, then we have budgetary constraints, to achieve more together than separately and see where we can achieve economies of scale and use of shared assets," Liam Fox said.

Both ministers have not detailed how this sharing could take place.France has ordered 50 A400M while Great Britain could reduce its order for 25 aircraft to 22.

EADS has signed an agreement in March with the seven member countries of NATO to the origin of the A400M, which allows them to cancel up to 10 aircraft from the total 180 aircraft ordered.

Herve Morin also argues that he had discussed a reform of NATO with Liam Fox.

"France and Great Britain are the desire for a reform of the alliance with a reduction of bureaucracy, increased financial control, reduced staffs and physical footprints" he said before adding that France and Great Britain would submit proposals for savings in the next NATO summit in Lisbon in November.

The Minister also invited the French and British companies to enter into partnerships and alliances.

"We need to redefine a number of edges that we may not have the same research centers on both sides of the Channel '," he pleaded.

Safran will decide in the coming days to make a bid on Zodiac and, where appropriate, offer a significant premium to shareholders of the aerospace supplier, said Monday the Tribune, citing inside sources.

No hostile bid will be made, the newspaper said, while the offensive Saffron comes a month after an initial rejection of the leaders of the Zodiac.

"Considering that we have more than one in two chance, we'll go, if it has less than one in two chance, wait. This folder will always feel in six months a year," told the newspaper an internal source of saffron.

A spokesman declined to comment Safran information immediately.A spokesman declined to comment Zodiac.

Around 11:25, the action was progressing Zodiac 13.01% to 49 euros on the Paris Stock Exchange after reaching a high of 53.4 euros earlier in the morning.At the same time, Saffron retreated 1.66% to 19.01 euros.

Saffron is able to offer a premium of 30-40% compared to the current course, says the Tribune, the equivalent of the highest historic title in 2007, to 58 euros.

Safran is ready to bring the family shareholders of Zodiac in its capital, the newspaper said, which would dilute the share of the state, now a shareholder group to 30%.

Citing "multiple sources," the newspaper wrote that the family Domange shareholder Zodiac up 9.28%, is not ready to sell, unlike the Peugeot family (5% of capital) who would be willing to cede Units.

Safran will do this for an offer to allow shareholders to retain the family tax benefit they have obtained by signing a pact Dutreil "six years ago and through which they receive a tax exemption on capital of 75%.

In prior postings to the families, Safran said his project is an acquisition of Zodiac, but that it could be achieved by exchange of securities and merger in order to preserve the fiscal pact, The Tribune wrote.

Violent protests in tens of thousands of textile workers in Bangladesh have led to the closure Tuesday of 700 plants supplying most major brands of western clothing.

The riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas on the workers in the industrial area of Ashulia, north of the capital Dhaka.In this sector, workers, requiring a higher minimum wage of 25-70 dollars, have erected barricades of old tires, set fire to trucks for delivery and launched missiles at the police for fourth consecutive day.

Some 800,000 workers spend many factories closed down 700, but "tens of thousands" more are on the streets, forcing shops to close, "said deputy chief of police in Dhaka Monowar Hosain.

Plants that have been forced to close their doors provide Western chains such as Wal-Mart, H & M, Tesco, Carrefour and Metro, as well as major brands like Tommy Hilfiger, GAP and Levi Strauss. The workers demanded wage of at least 5,000 taka (70 dollars) per month.The current minimum wage set in 2006 is only $ 25.

Read also: Foxconn increases wages by 70% in China

Under the patronage of manufacturers and exporters of textiles (BGMEA), the violent protests, which began Saturday, has created a climate of "panic and anarchy, forcing factories to close until further notice. "More than 50 factories were ransacked by protesters who prevented and deliver orders on time, resulting in losses totaling millions of dollars," said Vice-President of the BGMEA, M. Mohiuddin Shafiul Islam.

Labour Minister Mosharraf Hossain promised after an emergency meeting with the management of textile wage increases, but has threatened "strong action" demonstrators.Textiles account for 80% of annual exports of Bangladesh and its factories employing 40% of the workforce of the industrial countries, most of them women.

News Corp. has been beneficial in the fourth fiscal quarter thanks to strong performance of its cable networks and advertising revenue growth of its newspapers.

The media company posted a profit of 875 million, or 33 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, against a loss of 203 million (eight cents per share) a year ago when News Corp recorded a asset impairment charge.

Turnover rose 5% to 8.11 billion dollars. The Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S gave a turnover of 8.05 billion.

Action News Corp. gained 2.9% to 14.25 dollars after the close of Wall Street, in response to these results.It grew by 12% since the beginning of the year, while the S & P movies and entertainment took 8% in the same time.

Rebound in advertising revenue and lower costs led to a growth in operating income by 20% in the press in the U.S. and internationally. The operating profit of its cable division has increased 31%.

In contrast, there was decline results from the satellite television and commercial services, and loss of the digital divide, including social network MySpace.

Carphone Warehouse, the first European distributor of mobile phones, publishes quarterly results above its forecast, thanks to smartphone demand, pushing up the stock price of more than 5%.

The British group showed some caution about the economic climate but said he was confident, however, achieve its goal for the year in April.

Of the thirteen weeks to July 3, the first fiscal quarter, sales in stores open at least a year rose 3.7% at constant exchange rates in the European market.

This increase is greater than analysts' forecasts that anticipated growth of 2%, according to a survey conducted by the company.

Carphone has also said that the three new stores opened since April in Britain under the name Best Buy have been successful had a "very positive", without giving figures.

Asked by Reuters about the economic outlook, the group general manager Roger Taylor said: "I am not a prophet of doom. But I do not presume to rapid growth, either."

The title gained 5.09% to 227 pence at 10h00 GMT, the FTSE 100 yielded 0.19%.

The U.S. stocks have ended without major trend Wednesday as investors wondering about the tone set by the Fed in the minutes of the last meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee.

The Federal Reserve said that its members should be prepared to adopt new measures to support the economy if the environment deteriorates.

See Fed talk about slowing down and hear that she may have to provide more support and cash undoubtedly shaken the markets, "said Bruce Zaro, chief investment strategist for Delta Global Advisors.

The Dow Jones, which includes the thirty most important values of American industry, was up 0.04% to 10.366.72 points, the S & P 500 index fund managers, dropped 0.02% to 1095.17 points.

The Nasdaq's side showed signs of resistance, clinching 0.35% to 2224.84 points, thanks to technology, supported by better than expected results released Tuesday by Intel. The title of the Informatics Group closed up 1.67% to 21.36 dollars.

Investors have also learned the consequences of the publication of statistics showing that business inventories had risen less sharply than expected in the United States in May while sales fell for the first time since March 2009.

The S & P showing variations of values related to consumption has dropped 0.54%.Abercrombie & Fitch has lost 0.83% to 35.93 dollars while JCPenney yielded 0.86% to 22.99 dollars.

The bank has also been the subject of intense clearances pending the results of resistance testing is suffered by 91 European banks.

The KBW index of sectoral sector fell 1.61%.

A reversal of the trend, GlaxoSmithKline closed up 1.76% to 36.35 dollars after the positive vote from the Food and Drug Administration on a diabetic, developed by the laboratory.

The World Trade Organisation has postponed the publication of a report on an action by the EU against the United States regarding subsidies granted to Boeing.

The progress report was published as a confidential WTO panel on the cons-procedure initiated by the Europeans was due July 16, two weeks after the decision of the international institution holding illegal subsidies received by Airbus from European governments.

"I can confirm that the president did speak with the parties concerned and said that because of the complexities of the case, there would be a delay in publishing the report," said Keith Rockwell, spokesman for the WTO.

The United States and Europe accused each other of illegally subsidizing their respective aircraft manufacturers.

Nicolas Sarkozy announced Monday the appointment of Rémy Pflimlin, current head of the press operator Presstalis (ex NMPP) to chair the group France Televisions in place of Patrick de Carolis.

56 years old, Remy Pflimlin, former director of France 3, is the chief executive of France Televisions appointed by the Head of State under the reform of public broadcasting, which had already brought Jean-Luc Hees to head of Radio France.

The term of five years Patrick de Carolis ends next August 24.

"The President intends to appoint Pflimlin Remy as president of the company France Televisions," said a statement from the Elysee.

After the Act of March 2009 on the appointment of chairmen of public broadcasting, the choice of the Head of State requires the favorable opinion of the Supreme Council of Audiovisual (CSA) and the cultural affairs committees of the Senate and the National Assembly.

The CSA has already received the proposal from Nicolas Sarkozy, said the statement from the presidency.

A recurrent rumor until recently gave Alexandre Bompard, current head of Europe 1 (Lagardère Group), a favorite for the job.

Alexandre Bompard is regarded both as close to Nicolas Sarkozy and the businessman Stephane Courbit, which almost redeemed, in tandem with Publicis, the advertising of France Televisions.

THE SITE OF THE BOARD

Remy Pflimlin among other tasks will take a decision on restarting the process of privatization of France Television Advertising, suspended in mid-April by the Board of Directors, chaired by Patrick de Carolis.

The board was then raised uncertainties about the possible maintenance of advertising on its antennae day after 2011, especially after an attack in this direction led by Jean-Francois Cope, president of the UMP group in the National Assembly.

The law of March 2009, which endorsed the decision after the fact of advertising from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 in January 2009, provides for the complete elimination of advertising screens on satellite public in late 2011, when the extinction of the television broadcasting analog.

France Televisions has earned 405 million euros in advertising revenue between 6 hours and 20 hours in 2009 – against 260 million originally projected in its budget.

These advertising performance helped France Televisions to rebalance their accounts in 2009 three years ahead of its business plan and generate a net profit of 19.6 million euros instead of a projected deficit of 135.3 million.

The Board of Directors of France Television said Tuesday, June 29 that a return to balance the books reached in 2009 should continue into 2010.