News Pulse

Athens: the message of the Communists. Five days of Greek elections of 6 May, several thousand people (18,000 according to police), especially communists showed around Athens and Thessaloniki, the second largest city, struck by a particularly harsh austerity policy. This statutory holiday, traditionally celebrated as the "day of general strike" in the private and the public gathered including more than 8,000 activists of Workers Struggle Front, close to the Communist Party, a suburb of Athens, in support of workers a steel plant on strike for several months in protest against wage cuts. In Salonika 7,000 people demonstrated, mostly militants Pame.

Madrid against the new reform travail.Sous the slogan "Work, dignity, rights. They want to destroy everything ", some 100,000 protesters marched in 80 cities in Spain. In Focus events: budget cuts and labor reform adopted in February by the Conservative government. "New labor reform: towards a world of slaves," proclaimed a huge banner displayed to the start of the parade. Introduced to boost labor market since the explosion damaged the housing bubble in 2008, the reform is far from proven: Spain has broken a new record Friday of unemployment in industrialized countries, with assets of four (24.4%) unemployed.

Jakarta against loss of activity due to outsourcing. In Indonesia, about 9000 people, supervised by 16,000 police and soldiers, marched in the capital Jakarta to demand wage increases and denounce the loss of activity due to outsourcing. With its 240 million inhabitants, Indonesia is one of the highest growth rates in the world (over 6% per year) thanks to its vast natural resources. But half the population is still below the international poverty line while the average monthly salary, which is just over one hundred euros, just to follow the continually rising cost of living.

Hong Kong: a minimum wage increase. This area of ​​7 million people is home to many millionaires, but also hundreds of thousands of working poor. Of these, 5,000 demonstrators called for an improvement of pensions, supervision of weekly working hours and a minimum hourly wage hike of 28 Hong Kong dollars (2.7 euros) to $ 33.

Manila: fighting for purchasing power. In the Philippines, they were walking toward a 3000 presidential palace in Manila, waving portraits of President Benigno Aquino. Workers in this country plagued by corruption where a quarter of the 95 million population live on $ 1 a day their leader in dog caricature orders of foreign capitalists.

Moscow: 150,000 pro-Kremlin protesters. Less than a week of his inauguration, President-elect Vladimir Putin and the outgoing head of state Dmitry Medvedev joined a large pro-Kremlin protest organized for Labor Day in downtown Moscow. Some 150,000 demonstrators attended the rally, police said. The two leaders headed the procession, in a friendly atmosphere, on the bottom of a sign "We're strong!" The last appearance of a Russian head of state in a parade of May 1 was in 1996 when Boris Yeltsin was very unpopular protesters joined a few weeks before the presidential election.

New York: a test to Occupy Wall Street. The Wall Street Occupy movement that attracted international attention with its protests last September wishes to maintain its waning influence in connection with the May 1. Of gathering are planned, including New York and San Francisco. Public participation in these events will determine the future of a movement undermined by the lack of financial and internal dissent.

A Marshall Plan. So that El Pais described the investment plan of 200 billion euros that would be preparing the European Commission. Of "European sources" have told the Spanish newspaper that the program, which aims to revive growth in Europe, concern several sectors including infrastructure, renewable energy and advanced technologies.

To finance this project, the EU would use a "financial arrangement" that would build on the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Financial Stability Mechanism (SPM). Brussels would use the 12 billion euros of unused TSS to attract private funds that would replenish the EIB and serve as a "guarantee to launch infrastructure projects of public-private". The assembly would rely on "sophisticated financial instruments and obligations guaranteed by the EU," the newspaper said. The alternative would be to push member states to inject 10 billion euros in capital from the EIB. But this option seems the least likely due to "suffocation" of their public accounts.

A reinforced EIB

The terms of this investment plan should be discussed at the meeting of Heads of State and Government of the EU which is added to the agenda in mid-May, before the summit scheduled long 28 and 29 June A European official, told AFP, had indicated he was still "too early" to give numerical estimates.

An initiative to revive economic activity in Europe at half-mast was still well in the program. In an interview with a German newspaper yesterday, Angela Merkel announced the establishment of a growth agenda for the EU summit in late June. She also spoke of his desire to "further strengthen the capacity of the EIB." His comments were immediately greeted by Francois Hollande. The candidate for the French presidential election has placed in its European priorities the need to strengthen the EIB into supporting stronger SMEs. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, also ruled last week in favor of strengthening EUR 10 billion of capital from the EIB. A measure that would increase the lending capacity of the EIB to EUR 60 billion and increase their investment capacity in Europe to 160 billion euros.

ALSO READ:

"The EIB has lent 61 billion in 2011, mainly to EU

"Growth is entering the European agenda

This time it is. The news is not really a surprise as the trends of recent months to leave the sense, but Samsung is now the world leader in mobile and smartphones. Korean has sold 93.5 million mobile phones in the first quarter, Nokia before, to 82.7 million, according to the firm Strategy Analytics. Because, unlike its competitors, Samsung is careful to publish the retail sales volume. Korean is also heavily ironed before Apple, selling 44.5 million smartphones worldwide, driven in particular by the success of the Galaxy, against 35.1 million iPhone. Samsung and holds 30.6% of the smartphone market and Apple's 24.1%.

Samsung said, however, that the average selling price of its phones has increased over the first quarter of 2011. This means that, for once, the giant consumer electronics did not purchase additional market share by slashing prices. This is also one of the major changes expected in this industry this year. The big brands seem determined to maintain their margins and not to yield to pressure from Chinese competitors determined to give itself a bigger slice of the pie unsecured personal loans.

Financial results at the level

On the TV market as well, Samsung said he wanted back on track after a major contribution to slash prices. In the first quarter, the group stresses have increased sales of its premium products. It continues its shift to "all LED", this technology represents around 65% of sales against 60% a year earlier. The balance goes to télévisuers-CCFL LCD (flat panel displays of the first generation) and plasma screens.  

The strong sales of Samsung logically translate into financial results. Samsung has achieved a record net profit of 5.05 trillion won (3.37 billion euros), for a turnover of 45,000 billion won (30.04 billion euros), up 22% on a year.

ALSO READ:

"Nokia shows a loss of 929 million in the first quarter

"Sony TV and sacrifice is all about the mobile

"Sales of tablets will double in France this year

"Apple takes off after its quarterly results

Watson surged ahead in the market for generic drugs. The U.S. laboratory Watson announced Wednesday evening the redemption, to 4.25 billion euros (more than ten times the gross operating surplus), its Swiss competitor, Actavis, as Figaro had said yesterday. Payment will be made primarily in cash. The new group deviend the third player in the global generics market. It is close to two industry giants, the Israeli Teva and Sandoz, the generics business of Novartis laboratory, reported revenues in 2011 reached respectively 10.2 and $ 8.6 billion. On all its markets, the new champion in 2012 is expected to generate a combined turnover of $ 8 billion, nearly 6 of the only drugs génériques.L operation offers Watson, present mainly in North America , full access to the European market. The U.S. had made its first steps in Europe in 2009 by purchasing $ 1.75 billion for Britain's Arrow. Thanks to Actavis, it deviend leader generics in Norway and number two in Britain. This development could lead to closures in the U.S., say industry experts. The operation will also affect Deutsche Bank. The institution had indeed funded in 2007 by the acquisition of Actavis leveraged by Icelandic billionaire Thor Bjorgolfur Bjorgolfsson. The sale of the Watson lab should allow Deutsche Bank to recover part of the loan funds, for now, at a loss. It will also force the switch to a loss in its accounts to reflect the new valuation of the company. According to Bloomberg, this exceptional loss could be between 300 and 400 million euros.

LE FIGARO. – Your father sends you to a company's image. In what mood are you?

Alessandro Benetton. -When writing the new chapter of a book, you must have read the previous calmly. Know that the first line of your chapter begins with the last chapter before. But only you write. The context is difficult. Like when I was given the Benetton Formula 1. I was 25. This may be my destiny to accept difficult missions.

What are your plans to correct the sales of a company that ran out of steam?

It is true that in markets where we are most present, there is more growth. I have both consolidate our presence in Europe since the brand is Italian, but at the same time, go to Korea, Russia, India and Turkey. Grow internationally will be expensive. To achieve this, I need to change the organization, with new people. Among the areas for improvement, we will focus on products and sales. We must enhance the shopping experience. We had done enough. Partly because of the lack of lines, on one side, and an excess of references in each range, on the other. We will strengthen our collections and return to the colors and sweaters that have made us successful. For United Colors of Benetton, You Nguyen, Levi's former home, oversees product design and merchandising, which reinforces the coherence of the store, handing it to the heart of our strategy.

Will you renew your products and stores Benetton, Sisley, but Playlife?

I want to develop around Benetton other brands, each with its history. United Colors of Benetton will remain the flagship brand, but all must move forward so that we improve our results. New store concepts are deployed. For Benetton, the products will remain colorful, accessible and quality. Loyal customers already know that our products can last for years. While garments Sisley remain more sophisticated patterns and colors. In the new stores "icon-stores" of United Colors of Benetton, in major cities worldwide, including Paris, New York, Milan, space is also more segmented between collections or casual city. We installed Giant wool sculptures, titled "Lana Sutra." It amuses me, these ideas from young artists. We offer a shopping experience strong emotions that entails.

Get ready for launch?

Within United Colors of Benetton, I started the "pin-up" last year: this sweater takes the form of the body outline. I put too much on my brand sportswear for young, Playlife, mainly present in Italy. I've reintroduced two of our other brands untapped for years: Killer Loop-and-Jeans West, claw jeans and high cool, 3 horses scratched from the Italian flag. It was one of the first chains of Benetton in the 1970s for denim. Multi-brand, the store also sells gadgets, bags and other decorative objects external marks. It is staged as the loft of a young lover of travel and music. I want to export to Europe and Asia.

Will you continue to make communication campaigns "shocks"?

The Benetton brand awareness remains strong, in 120 countries. We raise large institutional campaigns time to talk about our values ​​twice a year. The next will be in October. The previous Unhate (Non-hatred), which showed political and religious leaders peacefully kissing on the mouth, was seen by 500 million people. To reach a new younger generation who knows us wrong, it was designed for the Web world. This has re-emphasized our research center in communications, La Fabrica, which create 30 young artists each year fellows. Benetton is not a seller of clothes like the others. What matters is that these campaigns have action even if the effects of sales come later.

You get inspired fashion brands like Zara and H & M, who have taken market share in recent years?

Every business has its DNA, I never believed in those who copied a competitor's model for success. But models of business organization of the "fast-fashion" (fashionable high turnover) have stimulated, encouraged to become more aggressive in collection development and in stores. We produce in Tunisia, with own plants in particular, but also in Serbia, so close to us, and this proximity allows us to be as responsive.

Why did he leave Benetton Stock Exchange, where he was present for twenty-six years?

To those who think the stock is useless, I say no! I was a young analyst when Benetton was listed for the first time in Milan. It was a company of 21 years, innovative, fresh in its approach. She wished to guard a big risk: that of being overtaken by galloping growth. The stock market gave us a rigorous management. But since 2008, the financial system is passed through an unexpected crisis. This has led to regulatory measures designed to protect investors, but that induced excessive restrictions for businesses. So far from my mission as an entrepreneur.

Heir model

"Ma, you know me?" Asked his father, Luciano, an advertisement for American Express in its simplest device. Alessandro, prefers him, unveiling … his passions, sports and art, on his blog. Before restoring color to Benetton, this lover of skiing, a graduate of Boston University and an MBA at Harvard began as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Then created, in 1992, his investment fund: 21 Investimenti. He is now head of a portfolio of over 1.3 billion euros of investments in diversified companies with high potential.

Within the family group, he also chaired between 1988 and 1998, Benetton Formula, in a difficult again. The team won two titles at the world championships for drivers, before being sold to Renault in 2000. Benetton racing cars are on display in the historic factory of the group became a museum showroom near Ponzano Veneto, a small town north of Venise.Alessandro, and amateur kite ski, lives with his wife The ski champion Deborah Compagnoni, and their three children, in a modern and discreet built by the architect Tadao Ando. Benetton is also headquartered in an equally magnificent Villa Minelli sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, restored in the state of the art. This is where Alessandro Benetton has given us an exclusive vision of the future Benetton

.

Presidential in major cities Paris | Leeds | Lyons | Toulouse | Leeds | Sheffield | Liverpool | Bordeaux | Lille

"There is no market in the world where one can say that our expansion is complete." Signed Thomas Lourenco, owner of H & M France, this assertion could be pronounced with the same assurance by his peers Zara, Gap and Uniqlo. From New York to Shanghai through Roanne and Cape Town, the four largest clothing retailers in the world are opening every year by hundreds of shops.

Spanish Zara, Swedish H & M, Gap and American Japanese Uniqlo are all facing the same problem: on their home market, the sales growth slows, when it is not negative. "Diversifying internationally is an emergency, insists Luca Solca, head of research at CA Cheuvreux Europe. The economic slowdown, particularly in southern Europe, is likely to be higher than expected. "

Zara and H & M are still dependent on Europe for more than half of their sales, while Gap focuses 68% of its activity in the United States. Last year, the benefits of Fast Retailing, Uniqlo's parent company, they have been sealed by its poor profitability in Japan, where the brand 80% of its sales. The Japanese group has up its sales targets for this year, but its growth (14% to EUR 9 billion) will come mainly from abroad.

Uniqlo and its three main competitors have no choice but to accelerate in emerging markets, starting with the most promising, China. In 2011, Inditex (Zara's parent company) has opened 156 stores and is 400 by the end of the year. Decided to carry more than half its sales outside Japan within four years, Fast Retailing plans to open 100 stores in Asia this year, including 80 in China, before doubling the pace in 2013. The Japanese want to pass Zara and H & M in China, where Gap has to spend 15 to 45 stores this year.

Adaptation of forms and colors of clothing

The four giant jacked and on other emerging markets. H & M has just opened in Mexico, Thailand, Latvia. Swedish now eyeing South Africa, where Zara plans to open in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The Spanish also investing Australia, Taiwan and Peru. The Gap American ventures in South America, via Chile.

Uniqlo also hunt on the land of origin of its rivals. After all, Europe is still, by value, the first in the world market for clothing. The Japanese also sees the potential in the United States. After opening two "flagships" in New York, he announced a first store in San Francisco, and an innovation center and offices to handle logistics and human resources. It plans to open hundreds of stores in the United States, seeing a market of $ 10 billion by 2020. H & M, which opened 200 stores in the U.S. since 2000, and Zara, which has 47, can not take the risk that the Japanese enjoy one of the disappointments of Gap in the U.S..

Neither group can not abandon its traditional market, the risk of yielding market share. Zara and H & M and continue their offensive in France. The Spaniard will land in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) after the summer; Swedish invests him with smaller cities like Roanne (Loire).

This conquest accelerated on every continent requires the giants of fashion to reshape their strategy and working methods. Paradoxically, refining collections is relatively simple. They remain in effect to 80% common to all countries. Zara added a size XXS for Japan, Gap smaller sizes in Shanghai, "where people are smaller," and other major Beijing … H & M has dedicated her clothes formatted in the UAE.

Brands also avoid sending too much green (color of the husband or wife cheated) and white (color of mourning) in Asia, and juggling the short or long sleeves at the option of climates. Lines of spring H & M are adorned with pastel colors, such as Uniqlo, yet partisan bright colors. Blades are apparently more seyants skinned fashionistas Chinese very well and flatter your tan Europeans. Globalization can sometimes synergies in the colors …

Higher prices by 30% in the Chinese market

For now, the Chinese conquest of clients has not changed the procurement strategies of the giants of fashion. They have responded to higher cotton and wages in China. H & M still produces most of its collections in Asia, but increasingly in Bangladesh. Uniqlo stocks up 80% in China, but part of its production is relocated to Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Zara, meanwhile, increased its production in Asia and will continue this strategy. But "we will always maintain at least 50% of our supplies in Europe," says a manager of Zara, whose production is mainly located in Spain, Morocco and Portugal. This asset can deliver within 24 hours of Europe, and in little more time in Asia, where customers are fond of European products.

Result of this procurement strategy, the giants of fashion practiced in China prices averaged 30% greater than those displayed in Europe, partly because of taxes and customs duties. So, high prices encourage Chinese purchasing power remains low, to consider Zara, H & M and Uniqlo brand as "premium". "This will force these retailers to improve their quality," says a consultant. Or, conversely, to harmonize their prices. "Especially since they are exposed to local competitors, the European-sounding names, such as Hong Kong's Giordano, much cheaper," says Anne-Laure LINGET, the Federation of knitwear and lingerie. In China, the war between Zara, H & M and Uniqlo may be more complicated than elsewhere.

Samson's strength lay in his hair. That of the American Samsonite, which owes its name, is robust to the lightness of his suitcases with wheels. The world's leading luggage saw its sales soar 28.8% last year to 1.57 billion dollars (1.196 billion euros). Its profits totaled $ 86.7 million.

These results exceeded the bag top analysts' forecasts, after the value since its introduction to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June. Bought in 2007 by the fund CVC Capital and Royal Bank of Scotland for $ 1.7 billion, Samsonite has seen its value rise to $ 2.6 billion during its listing. Performance even more remarkable that the group has come a long: in 2009, within the scope of the crisis, sales have collapsed by 18%. Since then the group has reduced its workforce by a quarter. But has optimized its organization and was refinanced.

Design in-house

Above all, it has revised its strategy. Prior to the appointment of its new chairman, Tim Parker, in 2008, Samsonite was too upmarket, through external collaborations with Alexander McQueen, for example. It's over. Samsonite now internally designated his bags, with the primary objective of making them lighter and more resistant. And ensures remain "high end" without becoming "luxurious."

The company relies mainly on its innovations. It refines and Belgium and Hungary the work of polypropylene and, since 2008, the Curv, the same resin as that used for bulletproof vests. Curv suitcases, eight times more resistant than polypropylene, are twice as expensive at 400 euros business

The craze for "aunt", another famous name of Crédit Municipal de Paris, is growing. The specialist pawn since 1777 has indeed more and more customers: the number of daily visitors has increased from 400 to 550 before the crisis today.

Deposits in the first quarter are 37% more than last year at this time, and they show an increase in value by 73%, according to figures from the public institution within the City of Paris. The amount of loans it has "increased 53% from one year to 50 million to over 76 million euros." The former pawnshop says he no longer had displayed such figures since "1970, that is to say a time when a significant part of the French population was not yet banked."  

Nine in ten clients retrieve objects

Candiard Bernard, CEO of CMP, and deplores the dynamic alternative lending system which "reflects a further deterioration of the economic crisis." In fact, although nine out of ten customers recover the objects they have deposited, people are turning to this type of credit when they are unbanked or when they are considered insufficient to guarantee access to traditional credit. Candiard Bernard contends that "France has more and more people are poor and precarious."

The activity of "aunt" is indeed rising steadily since the crisis began. Between 2007 and 2010, the amount of loans increased from 30 million to 50 million euros. And a total institution "on deposit more than one million objects, valued at more than 215 million euros."  

This vast treasure is mostly composed of jewels: they represent almost nine out of ten objects. However, the range of objects on deposit tends to evolve. In 2008, the oldest Parisian financial institution has agreed to "hock" wine, vintage clothing, art photographs and recently comics collection.

ALSO READ:

"The promising start of a new bank

A key point of the reform of the personal data protection on the Old Continent, proposed by Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission, is lampooned by lawyers of large U.S. firms. The latter involve the "right to oblivion" on the Internet.

This concept is presented as "a breakthrough" by the European Commission. "A right to oblivion will help you better manage risks in the protection of online data. You can obtain the removal of your data if you want them to no longer be treated and if there is no legitimate reason to retain them. The rules are designed to give individuals the means to assert their rights, not to erase the past or to restrict press freedom, "said Brussels. According to this concept, information provided to Google should be deleted at the request of the service user, as well as information "posted" on Facebook.

But such reform 'interferes with certain fundamental rights including the right to freedom of expression, the right to information or freedom of enterprise ", denounce lawyers DLA Piper, Baker & McKenzie, Ernst & ; Young, Lovells and Hogan & Debouzy August. In defending the "search engines and collaborative sites", like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter, lawyers do not dare to speak openly of a "demagogic position" of Europe. But this notion is discussed in the wings.

Duplicate information

"Specifically, it is not possible to ask providers to erase all traces of personal data of an individual on the Internet payday loan. The information is duplicated without the provider having hands on the information copied, "said Fabrice Naftalski, partner at Ernst & Young. Thus, "even if the search engine removes the content of their listing, the information will always remain accessible to the extent that they are still published," note the lawyers. He added: "Because of the specificity of the Internet, information can remain freely available indefinitely."

In other words, the Internet is a place where the right to oblivion would not apply. Search engines like Google organize the memory, by making copies of Web pages at a given time and the trace is preserved. In addition, Facebook is claiming ownership of the contract information that is posted on its website. "When you use a free service is that the product is you," recalled recently during a seminar Yann Padova, secretary general of the CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique and freedoms), the protection of young people on the Internet.

Finally, "the European Commission proposal on the right to oblivion seems unrealistic. It does not add much new on existing texts that already provide, particularly in France, the right to forget, "said Fabrice Naftalski.

ALSO READ:

"The France guide the amendments on the European reform

"Google changes its rules