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Lafarge announced Friday an increase in its turnover and its operating income in the first quarter thanks to emerging markets and improved pricing, allowing the world's leading cement to reduce its debt.

The group, which now generates 60% of its sales in emerging economies, achieved the first three months of the year sales up 5% to € 3.35 billion, slightly above the consensus reached by the editor of Reuters estimates from eight analysts who gave $ 3.3 billion.

Ebitda rose to its share of 8% to 516 million euros while operating profit rose 28% to 267 million. 

However, net income, group share, shows a loss of 44 million euros, against -29,000,000 a year earlier, reflecting restructuring charges corresponding in particular to the 500 job cuts engaged around the world as part of the reorganization of the group. Excluding these charges, Lafarge has emerged over the period with net income of 18 million euros.

"The group continues to anticipate an increased demand for cement, and maintains its estimate of market growth between 1% and 4% in 2012 compared to 2011," the group said in a statement .

"Emerging markets remain the main driver of demand growth (…) The prices should be up on the year 2012, and cost inflation more moderate e in 2011. "

CONTINUATION OF ASSET TRANSFERS

In the first quarter, net debt of Lafarge fell 13% year on year to 12.4 billion euros. One quarter to another, it is clear, however, up 3%, a trend linked "to normal seasonal variations in working capital (working capital needs)," said Lafarge.

The group's debt, inherited largely from the acquisition of Orascom in 2008, is still expected to decline "significantly" this year, without elaborating.

As part of its debt, Lafarge intends to limit to 800 million euros investment and reduce by at least 400 million euros in 2012 its costs. The group also maintained its target of over one billion euros of asset sales over the year, of which 71 million were made during the quarter.

Both activities are the subject of rumors of transfers, the plaster in North America, last active group in a trade which it is almost released last year, and cement in South Africa . The group must also achieve significant asset sales in Britain required by the Competition Authority to give its green light to the proposed joint venture between Lafarge and Anglo American.

"It is not impossible that these divestitures can be made in 2012," said the CEO of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont, during a teleconference.

The stock closed Thursday at 29.97 euros. Since the beginning of the year, the title took about 10%, after -42% in 2011.

In most cases, fast cash loans are credited to the borrower's account within 24 hours. Sometimes the time taken may be even less, depending on the amount of loan as well as the company which processes your application.

Pierre Mariani denied Wednesday a decision on his replacement as head of Dexia, the Franco-Belgian bank being dismantled, and tried to defuse a polemical ; economic initiated in Belgium he would receive a golden parachute when he left.

Several Belgian newspapers reported that the Belgian government would like to replace Karel De Boeck, former CEO of Fortis. They add that Pierre Mariani was ready to leave his position as Group CEO on condition of receiving severance pay of EUR 1.2 million provided in the contract .

Reacting to the press articles, Pierre Mariani has denied having set conditions for his eventual departure.

"The Group CEO has made no request to the Belgian and French about the conditions of his eventual departure contrary to news reports published so far," he Pierre Mariani informed in an email to Reuters.

"No decision on the replacement of the CEO and President (Jean-Luc Dehaene, Ed) Board has been taken to date" he continues. 

"NO GOLDEN PARACHUTE!"

In Belgium, the assumption of payment of severance pay as described by the press was greeted coldly by the government and by politicians.

"Certainly, this should be discussed with the French authorities, as (with) shareholders. But my position is clear: no golden parachute! "Said Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo on his twitter account

." 1.2 million euros of golden parachute for Pierre Mariani is unacceptable as incomprehensible! ", were on their side exclaimed MPs environmentalists in a statement …… Dexia

… already saved from bankruptcy in 2008 by Belgium, France and Luxembourg, was cornered in the fall due to the dismantling of the crisis of sovereign debt

. Luc Coene, the Governor of the Central Bank of Belgium, said Monday Dexia, which enjoys state guarantees for its refinancing needs, would probably need to be recapitalized again

……. .. Since the crisis, the banking group has seen its market capitalization collapse. It is no longer valued on the stock market than about 370 million with a share price below 20 cents.

"CONFIDENCE TO PETER MARIANI"

Asked by Reuters, Michel Bouvard, president of the supervisory board of the Caisse des Depots (CDC), Dexia's largest shareholder with 17.7% stake, has in turn brought ; support for Pierre Mariani.

"Personally, I have every confidence in Pierre Mariani," said Michel Bouvard. "When you are in managing a complex issue, which is the case, it is better that he who began managing the file management ends until one goes to the next step. "

"I did not speak on matters of internal governance of Dexia," he nonetheless added.

Since the decision late last year to dismantle Dexia, the Belgian authorities have carried out the nationalization of retail banking activities in Belgium while France has decided to return via the CDC and the Postal Bank, the activities of local government financing.

The European Commission must still approve the plan and set the price that Dexia will have to pay in exchange for 90 billion euros of state guarantees provided. 

Dexia posted a net loss of 11.6 billion euros in 2011, and some analysts said the bank could continue to generate losses in the coming years.

Although in sharp decline, the size of the stock of Dexia is considered by some analysts as systemic because a failure to pay the bank would have incalculable consequences for the entire sys European Banking me.

European shares fro up slightly at mid-session Friday, good earnings reports of companies that are somewhat forgotten the downgrade of Spain by S & P the day before.

Caution is especially appropriate that investors expect this afternoon the publication of the first estimate of U.S. GDP in the first quarter and the confidence index of Michigan on consumer sentiment.

In Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.29% to 3238.62 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.08% and London, the FTSE is 0.31%. The pan-European index Stoxx 50 was stable (0.04%).

The construction industry supports the European equity markets, the index Stoxx600 of construction and materials climbing 1.7%. The fund is boosted by the good results of Vinci, whose title climbed 3.7%.

The cost of insuring against a default of Spain was up after a deterioration of the country's rating by S & P. CDS (credit default swaps) and five years on Spain took 12 basis points to 480.

Sign of tensions in the bond market of the peripheral countries of the euro area, the Italian Treasury has had to endure, during a broadcast of € 6 billion of sovereign debt, the expensive ts funding for bonds to five and 10 years at the highest since January.

Down against the dollar after the announcement of the degradation of Spain, the euro resumed in mid-day, to 1.3179 dollar.

The yen, it weakened against the dollar and the euro after the decision of the Bank of Japan to increase its program of asset purchases to support the economy.

American Diversified industrial manufacturer United Technologies on Tuesday released a quarterly profit above consensus citing better than expected demand of heating and cooling market ; North America.

Carrier and its subsidiary shows a 19% increase in orders for residential air conditioning systems with a sharp improvement in demand in late March. And this demand has remained strong since the beginning of April, said chief financial officer, Greg Hayes.

"The warm weather in March helped but it is also due to low inventory on the market", which has forced distributors to increase their orders, he said during a teleconference ; reference.

Excluding the accounts of three subsidiaries that were sold by the group, quarterly earnings totaled $ 1.26 billion, or $ 1.31 per share, up 19% year on year. It thus clearly exceeds the Thomson Reuters consensus I / B / E / S, which gave a profit of $ 1.19 per share.

After consideration of past depreciations on affiliates to sell and other special items, net income was down 67.4% to 330 million dollars.

The quarterly revenue fell 2% to 12.42 billion against $ 12.71 billion expected.

Outside the U.S., the economic situation is more mixed, said Greg Hayes.

"Europe is horrible, I think it's the simplest way of saying things. Construction contracts have been really anemic and there they remain, so we do not see many signs of recovery in Europe. "

.. In emerging ……, sales remained strong in the first quarter, except in China, where the decline of commercial real estate construction has weighed on demand for elevators, has continued CFO

. United Technologies, the world of elevators and air conditioners, has confirmed its forecast for the entire 2012 , ie an EPS of 5.30 to 5.50 dollars for a turnover from 61 to 62 billion, up about 10%

A

. the New York Stock Exchange, under the United Technologies gained 1.12% to 80.64 dollars around 1300 GMT while the Dow Jones took 0.83%. 

The group will finalize in the coming months its largest acquisition with the purchase of Goodrich aerospace equipment for $ 16.5 billion.

It seeks to give three parallel activities in the smaller sector of capital goods-Rocketdyne, Hamilton Sundstrand and Clipper Windpower.

Carrefour, whose performance deteriorated further in France and Southern Europe in the first quarter, is preparing to face another difficult year as the worsening economic climate in Europe continues to weigh on spending for non-food products.

The second global retailer behind Wal-Mart has managed to stabilize its revenue through Latin America and a positive calendar effect, which masked a continuing decline in sales France, Southern Europe but also in China.

Its sales totaled 22.5 billion euros over the first three months of the year, slightly below the consensus of 22.6 billion set by Reuters. 

As reported, they sign an increase of 1.5% with a positive calendar effect and an increase in gasoline prices. But like basis and excluding fuel, they are virtually stable (-0.1%) and excluding the effect of schedule, they were down 2.1%.

"Trends are wrong in almost all markets, especially in France and Southern Europe," say the analysts of Espirito Santo Bank, evoking in particular a very sharp deterioration in the Non-food particularly affected by the crisis.

The non-food – which is affected by the crisis in Europe and competition from e-commerce as retail mix – is, according to analysts, the largest construction site in which Georges Plassat, Future Group CEO , will have to tackle.

Barclays analysts speak of a "challenging quarter" reflecting the magnitude of the task at hand. 

Unsurprisingly, Carrefour has given no indication of its expectations for the current year, while George Plassat will be appointed to head the company as of June 18

EXPECTATIONS OF LOWER INCOME

In the opinion of analysts, the upturn in Carrefour, which suffers from poor positioning of price, high exposure to Southern Europe weighed down by the crisis as well as a format – the hypermarket – in trouble in France, will take time and require investors to be patient.

According to those of Oddo Securities, "the year 2012 should be another year of sacrifices in terms of results" and the recovery could take three or four years. 

The first quarter figures only reinforce the belief of UBS: the consensus expects a stable operating profit of Carrefour in 2012 is "extremely optimistic", and analysts expect the bank a further drop of the EBIT (-18% after falling 19% in 2011).

Excluding the calendar effect, sales of Carrefour in France fell 3.1% in the first quarter.

Those of its hypermarkets, large black spot, have accentuated their fall to -5.8% after falling 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011, accusing the largest decline since 2009 , when the current CEO Lars Olofsson took the reins of the group. 

The distributor, which was launched in autumn 2011 in a strategic repositioning of its hypermarket prices in France to try to reduce the gap with its competitors, mainly Leclerc, informed by the voice of its chief financial officer Jean-Pierre Sivignon that "some improvement was under way."

"The image of Carrefour prices in the first quarter gave signs of improvement," he said. But short term, the abandonment of major promotional events for the benefit of sustained low prices weighing on sales.

In Europe, sales fell 3.8% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol, leaded by the sharp economic deterioration in the South, especially Spain, where sales fell by 6.1% (-8.1% excluding the calendar effect), Italy (-4.6% excluding the calendar effect) and Greece where the fall was 15, 9% on a comparable basis and excluding petrol.

In emerging countries, the only good news came from Latin America, particularly Brazil, where sales rose by 7.8% given in comparable (6.0% excluding the calendar effect), while in China the decline has continued (-6.9%). 

These very encouraging figures but meeting the expectations of analysts have argued the action Carrefour in the morning. Parisian traders reported a purely technical rebound for a title that had suffered a 17% decline over the last three weeks and had entered a zone of "oversold".

Earlier this afternoon, he gained 1.09% to 16.25 euros in a market down 0.3%.

Key values ​​to follow Tuesday on Wall Street.

* GOOGLE. The Android mobile operating system Google has been the most widely used in China last year, far ahead of that of Apple, according to the firm Analysys.

In late December, controlled 68.4% of the Android market in number of smartphones sold, against 33.6% at the end of first quarter 2011. The market share of Apple rose more modestly, from 4.1% to 5.7%.

* Chevron discovered a leak in the Roncador oil field, off the Brazilian coast, 500 meters from the deposit Frade, already responsible for a tidal Black in November. The leak occurs at the ocean floor and no trace is visible on the surface of the water, say the Brazilian authorities.

Leaks were detected in November and March to deposit Frade, which led to it suspend the activity and triggered lawsuits against Chevron and its contractor Transocean .

* ALCOA. The aluminum giant, often presented as a barometer of the U.S. economy, starts the earnings season after the close, with its e financial statements for the quarter January to March.

Consumer confidence signs outright acceleration in March after remaining flat in February, announced Tuesday INSEE.

The synthetic indicator of confidence was up by five points to 87 against 82 in February. It still remains well below its long-term average, keyed to 100.

All 20 economists polled by Reuters had expected an index to 82 on average.

In March, consumer confidence about their personal financial situation rose rose three points to -28, INSEE said in a statement.

That their future personal finances back seven points to -18.

Their opinion on the advisability of making major purchases is unchanged from February (24).

Households also feel that the time is somewhat less favorable than in February to save (2 points to 22).

The Post became a limited company with public capital has eliminated nearly 12,000 jobs in 2011 according to the CGT and SU. La Poste, "office of the future"

Nearly 11,000 jobs lost by departures not replaced. This is the figure announced by the CGT and SUD for the Post last year. Became a public limited company on 1 March, the Post employs about 240,000 people.  

For unions, these job losses have a direct impact on working conditions of postal workers.

In a statement, said the CGT and the Post recording of financial results up "with increasing job losses and tragedies that are multiplying," saying that "behind the numbers, a real human catastrophe develops within the company, "marked by the suicide of a young executive in Rennes last week.

SOUTH evokes his side a "precipitous drop" job with "10,091 jobs lost, or" about a replacement for four starts "seeing" a bleeding even more disastrous for the working conditions that mail traffic has declined 3%, "a weaker pace than expected 5%. The union stresses that" the number of CSD rose by nearly 10% "in 2011 with 2,000 additional employees with this type of contract to December 31. SUD also pointed out that the number of sick days per officer does not drop, reaching 20.45 days in 2011, against 20.86 the previous year.

After the suicide of the frame of Rennes, the CEO of La Poste, Jean-Paul Bailly, is committed to rapidly start "a cycle of listening and dialogue on health and welfare at work".

A series of meetings with trade unions to take place next week. Regarding employment, the direction of the Post reported in mid-February that it undertook to recruit at least 10,000 people on permanent contracts over the period 2012-2014 as part of a management agreement of estimates of jobs and skills (GPEC) subject to the signing of trade unions.

Executive added that 7500 study contracts would be offered over the same period.

The boards of directors of Dexia and the Post have agreed in principle on the folder Dexma, the subsidiary responsible for refinance loans to communities by Dexia Credit Local, have de ; clared Reuters on Friday two sources familiar with the matter.

"This has been approved," said one of these sources.

The French state and the Deposit will each take a stake of 31.67% stake in Dexia Municipal Agency (Dexma), equivalent to that retained Dexia Credit Local, while that the Post Bank, the banking subsidiary of La Poste Group, will take the balance amounting to almost 5%.

Another source added that the Post Bank would also have the option of a further climb in the coming years with a capital of Dexma, resuming participation of DCL. 

In the initial plan of dismantling, as announced last fall, the Deposit should take only 65% ​​of Dexma. But, fearing that such an operation too mobilizes capital, several French parliamentarians have liked to see the state intervene directly in the recovery of Dexma.

The recovery of Dexma, according to two sources valued at about EUR 380 million, comes as part of the decommissioning plan for the Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, a former world leader in financing local governments.

Since the collapse of Dexia, local authorities are subjected to a drying up of funding, freezing a portion of economic activity. 

To cope with this "credit crunch", the Prime Minister

Francois Fillon said on Friday the release of an envelope of two to five billion euros in loans to be paid from the savings funds managed by the Deposit.

The recovery of the loan portfolio of Dexma, estimated at 80 billion euros, is critical to local communities face a drying up of bank loans to finance their projects investment.

Many of them are now forced to postpone or abandon some projects, many banks deserting the market because of the financial crisis and new regulatory constraints. 

Estimates of Dexia Credit Local, between 10 and 12 billion euros will miss this year to local authorities to achieve their investment programs.

It is in this context that the Post Bank and the Deposit should be launched by end of June a new joint structure dedicated to financing local government.

This structure, which will take over from Dexia, will be owned 65% as provided by the Post Bank and 35% by the CDC.

Coca-Cola, the world of soft drinks, will invest $ 2 billion (1.46 billion) in India by 2017 to develop its activities in this rapidly growing market.

This represents the total investment in India over the past 18 years by the U.S. company.

Coca-Cola India and its partners wish to invest in marketing and brand image, the extension of distribution networks and the development of production capacity, the company said in a statement.

Coca-Cola employs 25,000 people in India, whose growth is the second fastest in the developed economies, it added.