The first media group in Europe – which has among others the broadcasting group RTL and publisher Random House – said that its operating profit (EBIT) reached 280 million euros against 248 million a year ago.

"For the full year, we are confident to achieve our goal of moderate growth in sales, EBIT stable at a high , and an increase in profit after minority interests, "said Thomas Rabe said in a statement, chief executive of Bertelsmann. 

RTL Group also announced Wednesday an increase in sales during the first quarter. Growth on French and German advertising markets offset a continued decline in Southern Europe and East.

Bertelsmann, which focuses on digital and abroad to spur growth, announced in late March a change in legal structure, which might suggest that the group is more strongly opposed to an introduction scholarship.

The operating company of Disneyland Paris has improved one percent of its revenue from tourism activities for the period of increased spending by visitors to its parks, despite a decline in attendance.

The group reported in a statement to a net loss of 120.9 million euros in the first half 2011-2012 (October-March) against a loss of 99.5 million, with EBITDA margin reduced to 0.3% against 4.5%. 

Its total sales down 0.9% to 552.4 million euros within the scope of the reduction in its property development activities and lower revenues from its hotels which the occupancy rate fell by 3.6 points to 79.8%.

* EADS confirmed its target of delivering 30 A380s in 2012, despite a slowdown in the rate of production of this unit.

* Pernod Ricard has reported strong sales growth in nine months, despite a slowdown in the third quarter related to inventory reductions expected in France, and confirmed its annual financial targets.

According to its chief financial officer, Gilles Gobaert, April sales did not mark a change in the underlying trend in the first 9 months. He said that Pernod remained open to small acquisitions "tactics".

Pernod Ricard has signed a multi-currency revolving credit facility of EUR 2.5 billion with a pool of 25 banks, which will enable it to refinance debt related to the acquisition of Sweden's Vin & ; Sprit in 2008.

* Alcatel-Lucent has reported a deterioration in its margin in the first quarter, hurt by weak investment of telecom operators in Europe and the United States.

* Technip has published results up to the first quarter, again driven by strong investment of its customers, and reported a record backlog. 

* SAFRAN announced strong growth in quarterly revenue, supported by its commercial engine business, and reaffirmed its 2012 objectives and confidence for years to come given the trends observed ;'re in the market.

* DASSAULT SYSTEMS has been a little more optimistic for its annual outlook after quarterly revenue driven by growth in sales of new licenses and assumptions with more favorable exchange.

* Renault has announced a decrease of 8.6% of its turnover in the first quarter because of the European car market, but confirmed its forecast for the year given the growth registered abroad. 

* PPR has reported a net sales growth in the first quarter, driven by a brilliant performance of its luxury brands Bottega Veneta and Yves Saint Laurent, while FNAC showed a relative re ; resistance.

* Wednesday denied VIVENDI consider dismantling the group's activities after media reports suggesting the possibility of such a scenario.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Bloomberg news agency reported earlier in the day that the conglomerate present in the telecom, media and Entertainment was considering an overhaul of its structure which could lead to a dismantling of the group. 

* Eramet, whose sales fell 10% in the first quarter, said its operating profit in the first half should be lower than in the first half of 2012 Due to the falling price of nickel and manganese.

* Gemalto announced it had registered a turnover of "record" in the first quarter 2012 with an increase of 9%, a performance that allows the specialist smart card to reaffirm its financial targets in 2012 and 2013 .

* Technicolor announced a turnover down 1.5%, a performance nonetheless considered "solid", saying the group can achieve its financial targets in 2012 despite restructuring charges e lifted. 

* KLÉPIERRE confirmed its 2012 targets after posting growth of 3.1% of its rents in the first quarter supported by the activity of shopping centers.

* MERSEN announced a turnover back to the first quarter of 2012, slowed by its solar division, which suffers from a market still at half mast.

* IPSOS confirmed its objectives for this year, following growth of 46% of its turnover in the first quarter, mainly resulting from the integration of Synovate acquired in July 2011.

The rebound is still limited as tensions persist in the euro area.

In Paris the CAC 40 rose 1.18% to 3135.03 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.69% and London, the FTSE is 0.32%. The pan-European index Stoxx 50 in advance for its share of 0.93%.

The values, Michelin, a time reserved to decline, lead of almost 7.11% and the best performance of the CAC 40 after the publication of its turnover for the first quarter showing lower sales volumes offset by price increases.

STMICROELECTRONICS lead of more than 4.50% despite announcing a first-quarter loss attributed to the decline in sales in the segment of products for mobile phones and the impact a court decision.

Essilor rose by nearly 1.61% after announcing strong organic growth over the first three months of the year. 

NOVARTIS was down 1.18% after confirming expect a slight deterioration in profitability this year after a first quarter affected by an interruption production on one of its sites in the U.S. and unfavorable basis for its subsidiary Sandoz.

On the bond market, Bunds are below their record highs Monday, the market pausing, but they remain attractive to the extent that the uncertainty in the euro area is now affecting his core.

After the resignation of the government, the Netherlands, however, successfully awarded two bond lines that allowed them to raise two billion euros. 

Sign of the tensions in the euro area, Italy had to pay Tuesday unprecedented efficiencies since January in connection with auctions of zero coupon bonds or indexed.

Investors also sought a high premium for a tender Spanish short term.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro is changing the balance of around 1.3163 dollar but failed to really bounce back despite the successful bond issue in the Netherlands and after experiencing its worst day in a week Monday.

The European currency hit a 20-month low against the pound sterling at 81.45 pence, weighed down by concerns over the euro area.

The public deficit of Greece for 2011 "is estimated at 9.1% of GDP, to 19.6 billion euros", said Monday the Greek Statistical Authority (Elstat) in a statement. "The Greek government debt for 2011 reached 355.6 billion euros, to 165.3% of GDP", according to this text. These figures are very close to the forecast contained in the budget of the country voted in December, which foresaw a deficit of 9% of GDP, against 10.6% in 2010 and a debt of 161.7% of GDP, against 144, 9% in 2010.  

"Greece has managed to reduce by two years the general government deficit of 6.5 points (…), which we will soon have primary surpluses," said Finance Minister Philippos Sahinidis, quoted in a statement. Mr. Sahinidis predicted in March that the deficit would amount to around 9.2% of GDP. First country affected by the debt crisis, Greece is subject to a strict austerity program to consolidate its public finances. This program, dictated by its creditors EU and IMF, was agreed in exchange for international loans and a debt restructuring that enabled the country in March, erasing about 105 billion euros.

"The need for continued effort to restore fiscal and financial recovery is the goal of next year (…), which will also benefit the Greeks" to justify "their sacrifices," said Mr. Sahinidis. According to budget estimates, the country targets a deficit of 7% in 2012 and a reduction of its debt to 145.5% of GDP after the restructuring. The Minister visited during the weekend in Washington, where he met with the Executive Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, on the sidelines of the meeting of the General Assembly of the organization and a ministers' meeting G20 finance.

"The discussion with Ms. Lagarde was held in a positive atmosphere. We have addressed the issue of recapitalization of banks in Greece after the successful restructuring of debt of the country and the progress made in implementing the sanitation program of the economy, "said Mr. Sahinidis, quoted by the Greek news agency, Ana (semi-official). "Today there is greater optimism about the country's exit from the crisis," added the Minister.

In March 2010, financial storm, the government launched the national loan to support the economy: the key to an envelope of 35 billion euros to finance research and innovation. Two years later, the device has already helped to select and provide funding to 880 projects on 3,000 proposals received.  

"Today it is 25 billion spent, but in a few days, there will be 27 billion," says Alain Juppe, who was with Michel Rocard, co-chairman of the Supervisory Commission and Great Loan Rene Ricol, Commissioner General investment, a press conference-record March 20.

€ 6 billion for education

Among the 880 projects already selected, higher education is carving the lion's share. 8 and excellence initiatives, designed to bring out the poles leading academics, have been funded for more than 6 billion euros. In addition, eight technology research institutes combining private and public research have received a total of 2 billion.  

In industry, it is aviation, and in this case EADS, with its two subsidiaries Airbus and Eurocopter, which has hit the jackpot: € 1.4 billion for two demonstrators, one of composite airplane, another helicopter of the future. The banking industry, announced in February by Nicolas Sarkozy, should also benefit from a contribution of one billion euros through the big loan.

In sustainable development and the digital economy, the budget allocated to the various projects are less important. They concern, for the first, low-carbon or renewable energies, for the second, the digitization of content, cloud computing, e-health or e-education.

No doubt, the teams have carbureted big loan. They still have two new programs announced yesterday university hospital oncology in Ile de France and Toulouse. But it is still early to assess the impact of these investments for the future of the economy and the role of France in international competition.

Hiring in the private sector has greatly accelerated in the United States in February, according to the monthly survey on employment of the consulting firm HR ADP released Wednesday. Private companies have created that month 216,000 more jobs than they destroyed, ADP says in a statement

The balance of hires, adjusted for seasonal variations, appears and up 25% from January and very close to that given to the median estimate of analysts (218,000 net job creation).

ADP has revised upward its estimate of 2% of hires in the previous month, to 173,000. "The increase in employment [... remained] solid "in February, and" almost all sectors of the economy created jobs, "writes ADP, noting that" the average monthly hires totaled 200,000 over the past five months "…. According to the survey

….. ADP, February was the twenty-fifth consecutive monthly rise of private employment in the United States

.

In Paris, at 9:30 am, the CAC 40 lost 0.83% (29 points) to 3458 points. London yields 0.56% and Frankfurt was down 1.01%. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 0.96% after gaining over 9% since the beginning of the year, supported especially by abundant liquidity injected by the Bank Central Bank (ECB).

The values ​​of the automobile are among the largest declines. The European sector index losing 2.2%, weighed down primarily by PSA Peugeot Citroen.

PSA lost more than 5% in the Paris Stock Exchange after the announcement of the terms of the capital increase of a billion launched after its alliance with General Motors. The French group also announced it would not pay a dividend this year.

The German Merck was down 1.3% after reporting fourth quarter results below expectations, within the scope of a claim to half mast for the crystal used in the tee ; léviseurs flat screen.

The earnings season in Europe has been relatively poor. According to Thomson Reuters data Starmine, only 49% of STOXX 600 companies have published the results meet or exceed expectations, against 68% of companies S & P 500 on Wall Street.

"The macroeconomic data from the euro area, while the main liquidity operations of the ECB are completed, have aroused fears of a recession and de ; ceived markets. To make matters worse, China has lowered its forecast for growth ", says Koen De Leus for KBC Securities in Brussels.

Markets have also coldly received the message sent Monday by Athens, which it was prepared to force private creditors to take losses on Greek debt. Private investors have until Thursday to say whether they intend to or not participate in the exchange of debt that should allow Greece to erase more than 100 billion euros of its debt, as part of its second bailout of 130 billion euros.

The majority of the capital should remain controlled by regional banks, which will 230 million euros on the table while the state plans to provide at least 250 million.

A financial source said that the state would recover the direct participation of over 40% in Volksbanken after the recapitalization.

The capital of the bank is currently owned 60.8% by sixty Austrian credit institutions, to 23.4% by the German DZ Bank, to 9.4 by the insurer Ergo% and 5.7% by Raiffeisen Zentralbank. 

Volksbanken had received in 2009 one billion euros from the state but failed to meet its deadlines for repayments on time, providing the government Austria the opportunity to turn his loan into securities.

The Austrian Minister of Finance, Maria Fekter, however, said they wanted to avoid this scenario, Vienna has already had to nationalize Kommunalkredit and Hypo Group Alpe Adria since the outbreak of the financial crisis .

Its CEO, Jean-Laurent Bonnafe, also said he expects this year to stabilize the crisis in the euro area and an economic slowdown in Europe, e cartant and the recession scenario chosen by some economists.

"We think there will be some sort of stabilizing the situation in the euro area," said Chief Executive of BNP Paribas in an interview with Reuters Insider. "There will be some kind of slowdown (economic, Ed) in Europe this year, but no recession."

Asked about the prospects for business in 2012, he reported a "strong" start to the year in investment banking.

Around 24:50, the BNP Paribas signs the largest increase in the CAC 40 up 6.62% to 35.73 euros, outperforming the European sector index (+2.5%). The action resumed nearly 18% since the beginning of the year, bringing the Group's market capitalization to 43 billion euros, after falling 36% in 2011 .

"The performance (of the CIB, ed) is clearly better than the average BFI European and American," said Alex Koagne, an analyst at Natixis Securities.

"In addition, the group was generally optimistic, indicating that the beginning of the year had been good in this business," he says.

"AHEAD" ON RECAPITALIZATION

Despite being down by 50% to 765 million euros in the fourth quarter, net income is superior to the expectations of analysts surveyed by the editor Reuters. 

The latter on average expected higher losses in the banking business and investment banking (CIB), the image of what came out of the results of Deutsche Bank.

"Despite a year marked by many non-recurring items (…), the bank shows a fair return while its solvency and liquidity position continue to strengthen, "said Pierre Chedeville, an analyst at CM-CIC Securities in a note.

BNP Paribas, which has decided to maintain a dividend, unlike SocGen and Credit Agricole, also estimated to have reached six months ahead with the objectives set for recapitalization by European regulators, with a capital ratio of 9.6% at end 2011. 

"They do not need to accelerate the process of 'deleveraging' (reducing balance, Ed)," Yohan holds Salleron, manager at Mandarine Gestion.

The French bank, who spent an additional charge of 639 million euros in its accounts for the last quarter of 2011 on government debt, reports that it has now reached 75% of its funding on the Gre ; this against 60% previously.

NEW DEVELOPMENT PLAN IN 2013

Its chief executive said to be confident that the group will not have to place new provisions on Greece, which is negotiating a new bailout with the International Monetary Fund The European Union, the European Central Bank and its private creditors. 

In BFI, where the bank has suffered for 510 million euros in losses on disposals of sovereign debt in Q4, the group table in 2012 on new charges outstanding € 850 million related to divestitures of assets and restructuring of its operations.

"The early years (2012, Ed) has been quite strong in investment banking", indicated Jean-Laurent Bonnafé.

Hired as many European banks in a plan to reduce stock and asset sales, the general manager of the BNP, however states that he "no plans" regarding a sale of its subsidiary American BancWest. He also rejects any sale of its land Klépierre which the bank holds 51% stake.

In terms of its refinancing needs, focus point on which investors concerned about the financial health of European banks, BNP announced that its issuance program in the medium and long-term amounts to 20 billion euros for 2012, five billion has been raised.

The new leadership of the bank, led since December by John Lawrence Bonnafé, present in 2013 a new development plan.