Personal Finance News & Advice

Antoine Frérot, CEO of Veolia Environnement, on Wednesday defended his project of "transformation" of the group to its shareholders by ensuring that they should be measurable results within two years.

During the general assembly of giant utilities, Antoine Frérot, who escaped in February in an attempt to destabilize linked to ; its restructuring plan, acknowledged that it would be "demanding" but he promised it would allow Veolia to adapt to the "new deal" world. 

Forced to deleverage, Veolia plans to disengage from some forty countries on 77 in which he was present last year, and sell for five billion euros assets, starting with its transport activities, which met in the center Transdev cellmate with the Deposit and Consignment Office (CDC), and considered too "greedy capital ".

"Within two years, we will benefit fully from all the positive effects that should give us the size of our group," said Antoine Frérot, adding that Veolia would then have found "the weight of an athlete ; you who followed a diet and is ready for competition ". 

Antoine Frérot was destabilized in February by news reports suggesting its replacement by the former Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo, but he managed to keep the trust board and has since initiated a reform of the management team.

He said Wednesday that the redesign of the executive committee was to "create a new dynamic management team with a tight and solid." 

The group's shareholders also approved Wednesday the change in the composition of the Board: Esther Koplowitz and Jean-Francois Dehecq, former head of Sanofi lose their seats while Jacques Aschenbroich, the Director General ; General of Valeo, Maryse Aulagnon, CEO of Affine land or Nathalie Rachou, founding partner of Topiary Finance, are entering the CA.

These amendments were approved by an overwhelming majority at the AGM.

On the eve of it, Jean-Francois Dehecq had criticized the strategy of Mr. Frérot in an interview with Le Monde, accusing it of "abdicating global ambition" of the group to focus "a vision of their accounting." 

As Esther Kolplowitz, Jean-Francois Dehecq is deemed close to the positions of the former CEO of Veolia Proglio, now head of EDF.

The Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker took aim Monday citing officials increasingly openly output of Greece in the euro area, considering that the event fell within "propaganda" and "nonsense".

After a meeting of finance ministers from the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker said he was strongly opposed to this idea, recalling its commitments to Athens.

If Greece adopts a government and this government confirms the implementation of the austerity program demanded by its international creditors, some objectives of this program could be softened, said the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. 

Greece was plunged into political crisis since the legislation on May 6, which did not give an absolute majority of the two main parties signed the Memorandum of austerity, the Conservatives New Democracy and PASOK socialists. The radical left Syriza, arrival of the second vote, refuses to join a coalition supporting the austerity, while claiming a desire to maintain Athens in the eurozone.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Monday proposed the formation of a government of technocrats, but rejected by Syriza speculates and many observers are betting on new elections next month .

"I do not even consider a one second out of Greece in the euro area. This is nonsense, this is propaganda, "said Jean-Claude Juncker during a press conference, lambasting those who threaten the expulsion of Greece ..

……. Over the weekend, two officials of the European Central Bank, Patrick Honohan and Luc Coene, have openly discussed the possibility of that Greece abandon the single currency and they concluded that this assumption would not be fatal for the euro area

. But Europé ens also good reason to keep afloat Athens, starting with the fact that the ECB and the member countries of the euro area are the main holders of Greek debt, which would be lost if bankruptcy. 

A DESIRE "UNWAVERING"

"Our unwavering desire most is to keep Greece in the euro area," said Jean-Claude Juncker. "We will do everything possible to achieve this end."

"The output of Greece to the euro has not been the subject of our debate today. Nobody, absolutely nobody, has echoed this view," he assured.

"The Europeans are well aware of efforts already made by Greek citizens. This is not the time to slacken efforts at reform. On the contrary, the continuation of fiscal and structural reforms are the best guarantees for Greece a more prosperous future in the euro area. "

… ….. "But public opinion in Greece, the Greek citizens, must understand that we have agreed on a program and that program should be implemented," he said

The

. Eurogroup President left dangling some concessions if the political situation would be explained in Greece

. Even though

European officials stress that the margin of renegotiation of the aid plan-the second since 2010 – 130 billion euros is very reduced, Jean-Claude Juncker said there could be debate on the extension of the period given in Athens to achieve its objectives. 

"I did not say there was any intention to extend this period, we must do things in order," he said, recalling the conditions imposed by the EU:

"We need a Greek government. The Greek government must clearly commit to the program. Then, in exceptional circumstances, we would not rule out the possibility of discussing this issue."

"We have not discussed today because the other two conditions are not met: there is no Greek government and there is no special circumstance. In any case, this would not imply a significant change. "

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plunged by nearly 2% Tuesday, within the scope of the strong yen, a trend that still weighs on export-related values, and a caution investors because of renewed concerns about the debt crisis of the euro area.

The Nikkei lost 1.78% or 169.94 points to 9,350.95 points and the Topix broader, yielded 14.78 points (-1.84%) to 789, 49 points.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange remained closed Monday due to holiday, has also suffered from U.S. and Chinese indicators worse than expected.

The Nikkei fell to its lowest and closing of two and a half months while the Topix fell below 800 points for the first time since mid-February.

Japanese stocks have ended down Friday in the wake of Wall Street, investors wondering about the growth prospects in the U.S. and the status of sovereign debt in the euro area.

The Nikkei has given 0.28% or 27.02 points to 9561.36 points, while the Topix broader, fell by 0.27% or 2.19 points to 811.94 points.

Values, Toshiba ended down 2.37% to 330 yen. The U.S. said the SanDisk memory prices continue to suffer from market saturation.

Olympus has instead awarded 6.37% to 1,286 yen. The shareholders of specialist optical voted to appoint a new board to replace the 11 directors discredited by the accounting scandal that has weakened the group.

The union's general secretary was speaking on Tuesday. He eventually wants to see the executives of the CGT before making its preference among the 16 persons nominated. Contrary to expectation, Bernard Thibault has not indicated its choice from the Tuesday before the executive committee of the CGT, but it presented a "progress report".

The general secretary Bernard Thibault of the CGT announced Tuesday that the AFP will continue consultation with executives of the union until May 25 before expressing his choice to succeed him as head of the plant.  

Contrary to expectation, Bernard Thibault has not indicated its choice from the Tuesday before the executive committee of the CGT, but it presented a "progress report" on the consultation, which began more than two months and should lead before Confederal Committee (NAC, the parliament of the CGT) of 30 and 31 that will decide the name of the successor. From this initial consultation, it appears that "a majority" of executives want a woman to take the reins of the central and "one half" of those who have expressed the wish that the future leader "is derived from the private".

At this point "16 names" have been advanced by executives consulted among which are those of Eric Aubin, from the private, Nadine Prigent Naton and Agnes, two governing board members of the union, he said. Part of the executives consulted defined a profile but without giving names. Bernard Thibault and denies reports that Eric Aubin had collected a clear majority on its name. The Secretary General will continue its consultation on the way between 9 and 24 May in departmental federations and unions. At a meeting of the Executive Board on May 25, "I give my opinion," he said.

For now, said Bernard Thibault, secretary general of the 51 departmental unions (of 95), 23 patterns Federations (32) and 48 members of the Executive Board and Financial (of 61) were expressed, either verbally or writing to the Secretary General.

In January, Bernard Thibault announced his decision not to seek re-election at the 50th Congress of the plant in March 2013 in Toulouse, opening the proceedings of his estate. He had a novel approach-launched a "consultation" with the bosses of departmental federations and unions to achieve "a proposal that can accommodate the broadest consensus possible."

The Spanish economy is expected to in the first quarter a contraction equivalent to that of the last quarter of 2011, said Minister of Economy of the country in an interview published Monday, confirming that economy is in recession.

"If you had asked me this question two months ago, I would have thought the first quarter of 2012 would have been much worse than the last quarter of last year. But this does not happen, "said Luis de Guindos according to the interview given to El Mundo

." At the moment, I see a first quarter like the last quarter of last year. "

These words fall in line with other such statements recent times by members of the government, suggesting that Spain is in recession again

. gross domestic product (GDP) declined 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011, but the fall of the Euribor rate, used to adjust interest rates on mortgages of the Spaniards, had brought a strip ger respite to the economy, said Luis de Guindos. 

According to many economists, the Spanish economy will contract more strongly than projected in the government, while the austerity measures be put in place gradually.

Yields of Spanish debt to ten years have passed Monday morning to above 6% for the first time since the beginning of the year, while the Spanish CDS reached new highs, a sign As tensions in the bond market countries 'peripheral' in the euro area have not improved.

The Minister of Economy also said that the government would take further measures to help small and medium enterprises solvent to obtain credit from banks.

Wall Street ended the week on an irregular notes, the Dow ended down slightly and the S & P 500 up slightly, while the Nasdaq Composite is virtually unchanged ;.

The S & P 500 has not signed unless its best week in three months and ended Friday at its best since May 20, 2008.

Investors become more optimistic about economic prospects have pushed the S & P 500 above 1,400 points, despite economic data relatively halftone Friday.

The index has gained nearly 30% of its lows hit in October.

The Dow Jones lost 20.14 points (0.15%) to 13,232.62, while the S & P 500 is 1.57 points (0.11%) to 1,404.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.11 points (0.04%) to 3,055.26.

On the whole week, the Dow registered a gain of 2.4%, the S & P also 2.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite 2.2%.

The U.S. consumer sentiment fell in early March, rising gasoline prices by raising their inflation expectations, shows the survey conducted by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan published e Friday.

Industrial production in the United States was stable in February compared to January, the sharp drop in mining output was offset by higher manufacturing output, rose for the third consecutive month. 

The consumer prices rose 0.4% in February, their largest increase in ten months due to soaring gasoline prices, according to figures released Friday by the dice ; Department of Labour.

"The fundamentals are improving, corporate profits are increasing and the market has really good upward momentum," said Stephen Wood (Russell Investments).

"I think there was still room to go up, it says it keeps an eye on oil as it could be destabilizing if it rises too."

Some also point out that the stock market could be ripe for profit-taking with a CBOE volatility in the depths.

He finished down 6.2% to its lowest level since June 2007. 

From this point of view of the volatility, it was the week of "four witches" or the expired contracts (futures and options) in March, an event which tends to increase precisely the unstable side.

The redemption price of renewable electricity in France would result in additional annual cost of 7 billion euros compared to market prices in 2020, said Wednesday Proglio, CEO of EDF.

The financing of renewable energy in France is provided by the contribution to public service of electricity (CSPE), part of the bill paid by consumers, and through tariffs redemption by EDF set by the government. 

Taking into account the objectives that France has set itself for 2020, EDF considers that the overhead of this mechanism amounts to one billion euros per year for this horizon onshore wind, two billion for offshore wind, photovoltaics for 2.5 billion, one billion for the biomass sector and 450 million for cogeneration.

"In total, all segments combined, the additional annual cost for 2020 is around seven billion euros," said Henri Proglio at a hearing before a board of interviewers ; you of the Senate on the actual cost of electricity. 

The CEO of EDF said that the rise of the CSPE did not follow recent years the pace of development of renewable energy, resulting in a deficit for the group compensation cumulative $ 3.8 billion weighing on its debt and results in financial burdens of around one billion.

"The funding mechanism must be developed (…). Funding support for new energy could be provided other than by the CSPE, "he said

." It re corresponds to the objectives of economic policy: environment, industry, employment, land and has no reason to be financed solely by electricity consumers, which is the the low-carbon energy. "

" This could be financed by a fund over a much broader base, " Proglio said

. The boss of EDF has specifically asserted that "the energies strongly emitting CO2 as gas or oil "could be tapped, implicitly targeting groups such as GDF Suez and Total

.

The consumer prices in France rose 0.4% on month in February as a result of higher energy prices, services and fresh produce, statistics show released Tuesday by the INSEE.

Over one year, inflation in February stood at 2.3%.

In January, the index of consumer prices declined by 0.4% over the month and rose 2.3% yoy.

The harmonized price index HICP, which allows comparisons with other members of the euro area, increasing its share to 0.5% on a month for February. It rose 2.5% year on year.

Twenty economists polled by Reuters on average expected a rise in the HICP of 0.5% a month to month and 22 acceleration of 2.6% on a year.

Emirates Airline Airbus account to claim compensation for cracks appeared on the jumbo A380, the Financial Times on Friday.

"From a business perspective, this is a horrendous experience. It has caused many difficulties in trade and we are not very happy with how it happened, "says the FT President Tim Clark of Emirates. He adds

Emirates expects to lose up to 90 million by the end of March due to the immobilization of the A380, which began in January

. Emirates has found cracks on the ten A380s that have been inspected to , but now all of 21 aircraft from the fleet will be subject to repairs, said Tim Clark

. President Emirates Airbus accuses of having initially denied the extent of the problem, while recognizing that the manufacturer was working now to rectify the situation …… Emirates has yet

… 69 A380s on order. 

Airbus was not immediately available.