US & World News

Audi, the premium brand of the Volkswagen group, plans to exceed this year's Mercedes-Benz, the luxury brand of the Daimler group, reaching 1.3 million sales, said Tuesday the chief executive of Audi.

"We will exceed Mercedes this year and move from place to number three to the number two," said Rupert Stadler to the press on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Audi is also optimistic about the prospects for the sector as a whole.

"There are two warning signs. Sales to fleets of vehicles and sales of used cars. Neither reports of headwinds," said commercial director Peter Schwarzenbauer.

Much criticized for his handling Simois since the earthquake and the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Naoto Kan throws in the towel. Naoto Kan waives his salary as prime minister of Japan as the nuclear crisis is not over.

Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said Friday his resignation from the chairmanship of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, in power) and his departure next week of the government. "Today (Friday), I resigned from my position as party chairman," he told MPs the DPJ. "Once a new president is elected, I will give up right away my prime minister and my government resign."

DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, confirmed that the election of the successor of Naoto Kan will take place Monday morning. The winner will be elected prime minister, probably the next day by Parliament.In Japan, the president of the majority party in the Chamber of Deputies is assured of his appointment to head the government, even with a Senate controlled, as is the case today, by the opposition.

Fifth prime minister in five years, Naoto Kan, 64, elected in June 2010, finally threw in the towel after suffering for months attacks by the Conservative opposition, but also those of his own camp, to manage considered calamitous disaster of March 11. Fell to the lowest in the opinion polls, the leader of the center-left government is criticized for his hesitation and awkwardness face of disaster caused by the massive earthquake and the giant tsunami that devastated the coasts of northeastern Japan and caused a very serious nuclear accident at the plant in Fukushima.

Finance Minister Seiji Maehara to favorite Estates

In early June, Mr.Khan had promised to leave office after the Parliament had passed three bills close to his heart. The law on a supplementary budget for reconstruction in the affected areas was passed in July, and the two other texts, on the issuance of bonds to complete the budget and the development and use of renewable energy were adopted Friday.

"Today, important laws were passed. On June 2, I thought I'd pass the baton to a younger generation. The conditions are all met," he said. Referring to his record, Naoto Kan has acknowledged that there had been "very hard times." "I think I did what I had to do in very difficult circumstances," he added.

Among the favorites to succeed him include former foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, 49, the most popular with the Japanese in the polls, and the current finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, 54, a supporter of increased the consumption tax, currently set at 5%. If elected, Seiji Maehara, who is on the other hand opposed any tax increase, will become the youngest Japanese prime minister since the Second World War.

Eurazeo said Friday its successful bid for OFI Private Equity Capital, an investment fund specialized in French SMEs previously controlled by the mutual insurer Macif.

Macif and other principal shareholders of OFI Private Equity Capital have brought all their holdings, or 75% stocks and 79% of the share warrants (BSA) in exchange for new shares representing 3.7 Eurazeo % of its capital, said the investment company in a statement.

Eurazeo announced this transaction in late April of 132 million euros.The company had indicated the end of March target two billion euro of value creation by 2014 after having returned to profitability in 2010.

She will file today a proposed exchange offer simplified shares and warrants of OFI Private Equity Capital it does not already own.

The offer, which lasts two weeks, will be on the same exchange ratio, followed by a squeeze in the event of crossing the threshold of 95% of share capital and voting rights of OFI Private Equity Capital.

Wall Street opened higher Tuesday, as foreshadowed the future.

The Dow Jones gained 0.4% to 12,138.17 minutes after opening. The Nasdaq Composite Index is 0.4% to 2713.08.

The S & P-500 is 0.45% at 1291.93. The index touched the day before a low of more than two months after pushing important technical thresholds.

The S & P 500 lost 5.5% since its peak reached in early May.Some investors anticipate an increase in volatility in the market and maybe even a downward movement before the stock market stabilizes.

Peter Cardillo (Avalon Partners) said that the threshold of 1,275, but will if pressed, he expects a new wave of releases.

The Exchange expects the speech on the economic situation that has to pass the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday. Officials from the central bank felt disappointing recent statistics and one of them suggested that this could push the institution to postpone its crisis.

Values, Microsoft takes 0.4% to 24.11 dollars.The computer giant announced on Monday evening at the E3 development project of its KINECTS, the motion sensor for its Xbox video game console, which it intends to make a tool to also influence the choice of television channels, of conduct research on the internet or working on platforms like YouTube.

Sodexo announced Thursday it had bought the stake that holds the Strategic Investment Fund (ISF) for its capital to 108.5 million euros.

The world number two catering, behind Britain's Compass, said in a statement it had acquired the approximately 1.3% of the ISP at a price of 52.97 euros per share.

"The repurchased shares will be allocated to cover stock option plans established by Sodexo to the benefit of its staff," said the French group, which also emphasizes that the ownership structure will not change.

At the Paris Bourse, the Sodexo shares gained 0.79% to 53.39 euros at 10:16.

The main countries in the euro area, including consideration of rescheduling the repayment of more than half the 110 billion euros in loans to Greece a year ago. In exchange for new austerity measures. An employee of the Commission European ones readjusts the Greek flag on the occasion of the visit of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in Brussels March 17, 2010.

The euro resumed Monday morning after colors of the denials of the weekend on a possible exit from Greece to the euro. The European currency was worth 1.4374 dollars against 1.4335 dollars on Friday night.The fact remains that Greece is still very delicate position in a year after calling for international aid.

At a meeting held behind closed doors Friday evening in Luxembourg by the main actors in the monetary union, the issue of additional budgetary efforts to achieve the country to reduce its deficits has been addressed, as well as the means of help longer than expected.

The leader of the finance ministers of the monetary union, Jean-Claude Juncker, has an immediate need for a new program held in the country to redress the public accounts. "We believe that Greece needed a further adjustment program," saidJuncker after a meeting attended by finance ministers of major countries in the Eurozone (Germany, France, Italy, Spain), that of Greece, the president of the European Central Bank and a representative of the European Commission.

Greece has a plan in May 2010 loan of 110 billion euros over three years of Europe and the IMF in exchange for a strict program to reduce its deficit. An EU mission and the IMF is currently in Athens to take stock.

However, the picture is not very encouraging. The Greek public deficit for 2010 has been revised upwards, from 9.4% to 10.5% of GDP, tax revenues do not go because of economic recession but also of tax evasion is still widespread.

In these circumstances it seems unrealistic to think that the country may, as is normally programmed to return borrowed itself in the bond markets next year to finance part of its deficit.

That's why the possibility of supporting the country beyond 2012 is also discussed. "This is a hypothesis that needs work, obviously," said one source close to the talks, because "Greece is in a rather catastrophic."

Debt Rescheduling

To believe in the Greek press, the euro zone countries have also discussed the possibility of new measures to help the country as a rescheduling of part of its debt, amounting to 65 billion euros, and a possible deferral goal of reducing its public deficit between two and four years.

According to the daily Kathimerini, an advanced scenario would be to offer to creditors of Greece interest rates higher long-term in exchange for granting to Athens for a "grace period" of two years during which Greece not pay interest. Officially, however, EU officials have rejected any idea of ​​debt restructuring. The country has already obtained permission to repay over a longer period than expected (7 and a half years instead of three) 110 billion of loans and interest rates revised down.

The mere holding of the meeting in Luxembourg in any event sowed early affollement Friday on the markets, a sign of concern about Greece.Athens and its partners have had to deny any hint of Greece out of EMU, after a German newspaper had mentioned this possibility.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, described Saturday as "provocation" and "imaginary scenario" had been discussed at any time. The European Commission has also rejected this option, ensuring that Friday's game was "not a crisis meeting" on Greece. "

Adidas said Thursday an operating profit for the first quarter of 2011 from 313 million euros and a turnover of 3.273 billion euros, exceeding the expectations of financial analysts polled by Reuters.

They had anticipated for the German sporting goods company operating profit of 283 million euros and sales of 3.01 billion.

Ford Motor on Tuesday released its best quarterly profit in 13 years, driven by robust sales in the U.S. and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles.

These results better than expected, boosted the share of the American manufacturer, which jumped 3.5% in before-hours trading transactions.Ford had published accounts for the disappointing fourth quarter of 2010.

Net profit stood at 2.55 billion dollars over the period from January to March, or 61 cents per share, against $ 2.09 billion or 50 cents per share last year.

Excluding items, earnings per share (EPS) was 62 cents, while analysts on average expected 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Turnover has established himself to 33.1 billion dollars (22.7 billion euros), against 28.1 billion a year ago and a consensus of 29.7 billion.

Ford also said the March 11 earthquake in Japan would have only a "minimal impact" on its business.

CFO Lewis Booth said the group had seen its production reduced from 12,000 to only 14.000 in Asia, where several Ford plants have been temporarily closed.

The state sold $ 3.6 billion of real estate since 2005. Only 500 million was allocated to debt reduction. Viewed from the Ministry of Economy and Finance at Bercy.

Between 2007 and 2010, the reduction of 330 000 m² of floor space occupied by the government, or nearly 3% (the state holds about 12 million square meters of offices), a savings over a full year of about 160 million. The renegotiations of leases in 2010 has also enabled a saving of 30 million euros, Baroin detailed in the Council of Ministers of 20 April.

The budget minister indiquéque the state had conceded a total of 3.6 billion euros since 2005 through such transfers. Of this amount, 500 million have been allocated to reducing the government debt. The remainder was returned to departments to upgrade their housing stock and the streamlining."The goal of proceeds from sales is 400 million for 2011," said Baroin.

The identification of the heritage of the state's assessment has about 100 billion euros at end-2009: 68 billion for the state and $ 42 billion for the operators (museums, employment center, CNRS …). The identification of the heritage of the 41 independent administrative authorities should be finalized by next summer, an operation which should quickly begin to state property abroad.

BPCE (People's Bank – Savings Bank) has awarded its chairman Perol a bonus of one million euros for fiscal 2010, an amount equal to twice his base salary, we read in Wednesday's document the mutual bank.

According to the document, 30% bonus of 1.056 million euros will be paid in cash in 2011.The remaining 70% will be deferred over three years and paid in cash in increments of 246,400 euros.

The former deputy secretary general of the Elysee, head parachuted Banques Populaires and Caisses d'Epargne in March 2009, multiplied by more than three and his total compensation due in 2010 as chairman of the mutual insurance group, parent company of Natixis, to 1.606 million euros against 461,884 euros in 2009.

Perol had relinquished in 2009 to receive a bonus.