LE FIGARO. – What is the meaning of your investment in Bulgaria?
Bernard Arnault. – It's a company that we follow for a long time, ten years maybe. We were already shareholders up to a few percent. We join today with a family that we know well and who shares the values of LVMH: a respect for, excellence in quality, creativity and innovation. Bulgari is one of the largest global brands, and one of the last of this size to be independent again. So it was an opportunity that could interest us and that we could not let go …
Why have you chosen to make the Bulgari family shareholder of LVMH?
The family has the desire to stay involved. And it was attracted by the prospect, rather unusual, to be associated with the success of LVMH.They are entrepreneurs, who will remain at the helm and will be the guarantors of development here, Bulgari. In addition, Francesco Trapani, who was the architect for twenty years of success Bulgari, will oversee our watches and jewelery, crafts he knows intimately.
What Bulgari brings to LVMH?
Bulgari is an iconic brand in the universe, that jewelry and watches. With its acquisition, LVMH double its size in these areas and became a world leader as he is already in leather or champagne. Respecting its creativity, spirit of "Roman" culture, as we do with our other brands, LVMH will accelerate its development. Our group will be able to bring him his strike force in procurement and distribution capabilities. LVMH will now offer something even more unique, with, in each sector, the most iconic brands.This will allow Bulgaria to develop much more on emerging markets and particularly the United States, where its potential is significant. In terms of watchmaking and crafts within our manufacturing watches in Switzerland, we can play together.
Should we change the position of Bulgari, who has diversified into fragrances and cosmetics, in particular?
LVMH may provide advice to Bulgari in its diversification. That said, a priori, the objective is first to focus on its strengths, namely the high-end jewelry, the creativity of its workshops and watches.
Faced with such Richemont, the division of LVMH watch and jewelry he is now of sufficient size? Or do you still in this job or other, new acquisitions?
Only Bulgari was already a rival to the largest of its businesses.We'll let alone with a size twice as large. As for our growth strategy, I note that with the exception of Hublot, what we now have our first major acquisition since a decade. We are in fact highly selective in acquisitions, and much more committed to internal growth.Bulgari was in any way may be the last opportunity to complete the acquisition of a brand that is on top of his universe.
With Hermes maybe … The transaction with Bulgari can it serve as a model for your ambitions vis-à-vis this group that you have 20.2% of capital? Your position with regard to any change?
I hope, anyway, that this association will show everyone that some families who have built through several generations an iconic brand of the highest quality craftsmanship, can understand the interest of a merger with LVMH.Hermes on, I can only repeat that we are a shareholder and peaceful that we will support the shareholders and the strategy they lead, whatever comments are made here and there.
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After pressing, the balance sheet. It's late March, Xavier Bertrand, Minister of Labour, before the Council policy of working conditions (Coct) the contents of the 230 agreements signed by the psychosocial risks of over 1,300 companies with 1,000 employees unions; plus 230 action plans for prevention. A year ago, in full case France Telecom, the Ministry of Labour required these companies to act quickly on stress prevention. "Otherwise, they risked punishment unprecedented media coverage in France of the results of negotiation, says Philippe Douillet, project leader psychosocial risks to the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (NAALC). But it did not last long …. "
230 agreements
At that time, the list of good and bad students was remained on the website of the Department that the time for a short day, Feb. 18 … As to the 230 agreements, 90% of them the 'were in the 1 st half of 2010, under pressure from the ministry. "That said, this action resulted in a genuine process of negotiation," said Philippe Douillet.
Cited as an example, the agreement with Danone assumes that "any proposed change of organization must assess human impacts, which involves asking the questions upstream," says Muriel Penicaud, CEO of the giant HR food. Signed in March 2010 with five unions, after two and a half years of work, it includes a strong preventive approach. This c omprend a training component of the local management, "a key element" for Muriel Penicaud.Co-author of the report "Well-being and efficiency", delivered in February 2010 the Prime Minister, she observes that things have since changed business cards. "Many companies recognize that managerial decisions have an impact on stress, which was rarely the case a year ago." However, few are still those who registered stress in their "single document". Compulsory since 2005, this document is to identify and prevent such risks. "A complex approach on the part of psychosocial risks," says Valerie Decaux, HRD Saur (network management of drinking water, 10,000 employees in France) is currently finalizing the document."The challenge is to address the risks identified: lack of information, the ergonomic conditions, but also recognition of the work, a subjective element. "
Founder of the firm Artelle Council, specializing in the prevention of psychosocial risks, Haubold Bénédicte (1) estimates that companies are now clearly the link between psychosocial risk and economic performance: "We see where a shareholder, who sees his participation depreciate , appealed to us. "Microsoft France, has started negotiations with unions, has understood. For six months the company has embarked on a process well-being and performance ". "A fundamental approach to talent retention and attractiveness of the business," says HRD, Yves Grandmontagne, citing "employees happy and productive".Latest action: the establishment of an observatory of health from the 1400 group employees in France.
(1) "The Psychosocial, library Eyrolles, Editions d'Organisation
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Three weeks after closing its only French base, Ryanair back in Marseille. In part. The low-cost airline, which had stopped most of its routes to and arrival from Marseille, and especially his four domiciled elsewhere had previously stationed permanently on the platform low-cost MP2 has announced Tuesday it reopened eleven lines for the summer season: Agadir, Brest, Eindhoven, Fez, Gothenburg, Lille, Marrakech, Nador, Nantes, Palermo and Tangier. One to two aircraft will be parked on the tarmac of Marseilles, from April 14 to September 4.
With 13 lines that had kept the Irish airline will operate are 24 rows from the Provence platform and hopes one million total passengers in 2011, said Michael O'Leary, boss of Ryanair.
The company still continued in France for violating labor laws and was under investigation."Ryanair has closed its base in Marseille in January following the unjustified legal proceedings seeking to require crews of Irish Ryanair to pay taxes and social contributions in France, despite EU regulations that allow members 'Ryanair crew pay taxes and social contributions in Ireland where they were employed, worked and were paid, "said the officer. This has opened legal proceedings before the European courts against the French decree of November 21, 2006 submitting the flight personnel of foreign companies operating in France to French law payday advance online.
A market which has shown its potential
Not to be disturbed again, the company will change each week the crews operating the flights from Marseilles.And aircraft being positioned only temporarily can not be regarded as based in France … "Ryanair bypasses the regulation of a less flashy, but he uses a new process illegal," said Mr. Rashid Brihi however, the Counsel for the Unac, a union of flight crews who has led the legal woes of the Irish company.
The leaders of the airport, which have tailored their platform MP2 needs of low-cost, do not conceal their satisfaction on Tuesday. But the return of principal client does not compensate for the time that 75% of the shortfall. And it's not Transavia, a subsidiary of Air France, or the national company itself with its proposed regional base in Marseilles, who will fill it.
Ryanair does not clearly overlooked a market that has shown its potential and leave the field open to a potential competitor.The CEO of Ryanair provides: "If the French decree changes, we will return. Not with four but probably with six or eight aircraft based. "
The "riots" in Algeria have made their first victim, according to the daily El Khabar. A young man of 18 years was shot dead during clashes with police in the Algerian region of M'Sila, 300 km southeast of Algiers. According to the Arabic newspaper, Azzedine Lebza died instantly after being hit by a bullet.
The police tried to repel protesters who managed to enter by force inside the post office and the sub-prefecture of Ain Lahdjel near M'sila, the newspaper said. Three other protesters were injured in these violent clashes, the source said.This information has not been confirmed from official sources.
Larger Map
An interministerial council planned this Saturday
The clashes between young protesters and security forces resumed Friday in Algeria, including Algiers and Oran, and extended in the east and in Kabylia, despite appeals for calm from the authorities and several imams. In the capital, on Friday afternoon in the neighborhood of Belouizdad (Belcourt), groups of youths clashed with stones and glass bottles of police deployed en masse and heavily armed. The police clashed with protesters by making use of water cannons and tear gas.
For more than a week, small groups of young people complain around the country what they call their "bad manners", either because of employment-more than 20% of youth are unemployed or lack- housing.The authorities went out of their silence Friday: Algerian Minister of Youth and Sports Djiar Hashemi called on young protesters to "engage in a peaceful manner." Violence "never results in either Algeria or elsewhere, and that our young people know," he said during a visit to Constantine, east of Algiers.
An Inter-Ministerial Council is scheduled this Saturday to discuss ways to curb soaring prices of commodities, the source for a week of riots in the country, including violent protests Thursday.
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A new record each year. For the passage in 2011, mobile phone users were more numerous than last year to send their wishes virtually, via SMS or MMS. 400 million short messages have been exchanged on the night of New Year's Eve, and the various operators expect to deliver 611 million by the end of the day. A figure projected to increase by 24% compared to last year.
But already, SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Orange observe a double-digit growth of sent messages. SFR recorded 128 million SMS between 20 o'clock and eight o'clock in the morning (+28% increase), Orange just over one hundred million (+17%) between 21 hours and two hours of the morning, and Bouygues 57 million ( +18%) over the same time slot.The MMS data, these mini-messages containing a photo or video, however, are more fragmented and remain below the levels achieved by the SMS.
Delivery times lengthened
Records of incessant sending SMS and MMS were partly boosted by sales of smartphones, up 138% over the first eight months of the year, according to research firm specializing Gfk. The financial issue is not very important for operators who n'engrangent little revenue from this annual influx. Text messaging is indeed free or included in a package for most users.
The challenge for SFR, Bouygues and Orange is more on the side of the technological challenge and the brand returned to their customers. While an SMS is usually less than a minute to reach its destination, the delays have been significantly lengthened by 1 January, the peak consumption.To cope with this influx of exception, for most operators had increased their workforce. Orange, no less than 24,228 SMS were sent per second to 0:02.
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The skirmish between Facebook and Google is the dispute over school yard as relations between two of the largest websites in the world. For a week, this exchange takes place, however, almost daily soap opera in Silicon Valley.
The hostilities were triggered by Google. Until then, Facebook members could communicate their Gmail address to automatically add all their contacts as friends on social networking. But a slight change in the conditions of use of Google, reported by the blog TechCrunch, has severely restricted imports machines. Now, Google requires that the system is reciprocal before opening the floodgates. Because he wants to be able to access lists of friends on Facebook in return.
Facebook has found Monday a first parade by telling its members how to manually import their contacts from Gmail business card layout.That earned him a scathing response from Google, who said he was "disappointed that Facebook did not invest his time to enable its users to export their contacts." The next day, an engineer at Facebook has Google's contradictions, recalling that he himself had blocked the export of contacts on their social network, Orkut. And stating an inviolable principle: "Each person owns their friends list, but not their information."
For Facebook, it is indeed no question of changing policy. With over 500 million members, it is in a strong position when the pressure tactics of Google is limited. The social network is indeed at the heart of the circle of friends of users (so-called "social graph"). He cashes his information at a high price to a limited number of partners, among them Microsoft and Yahoo.Apple, which did not accept his conditions, had to launch its social network music without Ping import contacts from social networking. He pays today.
A wage increase of 10% at Google
This new confrontation on the management of contacts, is symptomatic of the growing rivalry between Google and Facebook. While the first connects the disappointments in the community, the other becomes the preferred destination for Internet users grows in advertising, vehicle tracking and mobile. And it becomes threatening. "If users do research while on Facebook, if they write e-mails via Facebook, they are instant messaging with Facebook, then all this will come at the expense of Google," says Ray Valdes, Gartner analyst create business cards .
In this context, the opposition is also more personal.In recent weeks, Google has suffered several departures of executives leading to Facebook, as Lars Rasmussen, co-founder of Google Maps and Google Wave. To retain its employees, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has announced a general wage increase of 10% from 1 January. "We want to make sure you feel rewarded for your hard work, and we want to continue to attract the best talent from Google," he wrote. Today, approximately 10% of staff are former Facebook Google.
Back to basics. A few days before the G20 summit, the head of the World Bank advocates the establishment of an international monetary system based on the gold standard.
Faced with the intractable war of currencies, Robert Zoellick, speaks in an article published in the Financial Times, the need to replace the current "Bretton Woods II", the floating exchange rate system that has prevailed since the end of the Bretton Woods in 1971. The former member of the secretariat to the U.S. Treasury calls for the establishment of "an international system able to involve both the dollar, euro, yen, pound sterling and the renminbi (Chinese currency Ed). He added that this "must also be considered to rely on gold as an international reference point for assessing market expectations on inflation, deflation, and the future value of currencies".
The statements of the economist occurred when the current monetary system is under fire from critics. The latter in particular having allowed China to artificially weaken its currency, say U.S. and other countries. Moreover, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called again this weekend emerging economies to rebalance their growth and relaxing their policy changes. But the U.S. central bank has also been strongly criticized these days for a further massive injection of dollars into markets, denounced as a source of major imbalances. This gesture helped to weaken the dollar against other currencies.
Gold at record levels
The Fed's intervention also triggered a further increase of an ounce of gold has climbed in recent days to record levels at over 1393.55 dollars an ounce.The boss of the World Bank also indicates that "although textbooks may consider gold as an old currency, the markets use gold as an alternative monetary asset today."
Remains whether the expert will be heard. France, which chairs the G20 to be held Thursday and Friday in Seoul has set out to reform the international monetary system. The Elysee said he had already won support from China.
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For the sixth day of strikes and demonstrations held since September against the proposed pension reform, mobilization is not weakening, according to the CGT and CFDT. Both unions felt that 3.5 million number of people in the street in France on Tuesday, as many as 12 October. The Interior Ministry has yet identified 1.1 million people, against 1.23 last Tuesday. Mobilization is slightly down.
At Toulouse and Rennes, participation on an upward trend, and also in Marseille, with figures ranging between 23,000 demonstrators by the police, and 240,000 according to unions. In Paris, the trend is similar to that prevailing at the national level, with 60,000 protesters identified by the Prefecture of Police, against 65,000 on October 12. For the CGT, however, the Parisian protesters numbered 330,000, as in the last movement.
"The reactions of Martine Aubry, and Segolene Royal, present in the procession in Paris:
More info on video itélé.fr
Faced with global figures advanced, Prime Minister François Fillon held on Tuesday before the UMP deputies that the movement "began to falter, but becoming more radical." He was referring to the many excesses that marked the movements of students. Of "slips" under which the President of the CFE-CGC Tuesday called for "a pause to refocus the actions of trade unions" at the start of the parade in Paris.
"The reaction of Bernard Thibault, secretary general of the CGT, the violence:
More info on video itélé.fr
"A call for calm as relayed by Francois Chereque, secretary general of the CFDT:
It did not do more to celebrate Hervé Novelli, Secretary of State for Small and Medium Businesses always quick to point out the benefits of status autoentreprenor he wore. According to a report commissioned by the Minister, unveiled on Monday in the daily La Tribune, autoentreprise would be a weapon against illegal working.
According to figures from the study, nearly one quarter (23%) of current autoentrepreneurs have indeed benefited from this new status to "formalize" an activity they were already. Only 11% of autoentrepreneurs have also created a traditional business if they had not benefited from that status. "This proves that the simplification of the devices, reducing taxes is the best weapon against illegal working," says Secretary of State in the business daily.He added that he hoped that the simplification of other articles of companies produce the same effects.
1.1 billion euros in turnover
According to the report, the unemployed represent only 22% of autoentrepreneurs, against 45% for individual entrepreneurs. The text is also reassuring success autoentreprise it finds it "not particularly fragile," compared to other structures. 12% of autoentreprise created in 2009 and ceased their activity after one year against 18% of new businesses new "traditional". Furthermore, the turnover generated in the first half of 2010 by autoentrepreneurs reached 1.1 billion euros.is more than all of 2009.
No unfair competition
Finally, other information revealed by the report, only a minority of business leaders 'classic' autoentreprise denounce as unfair competition. They are less than a quarter in total to consider that competition autoentreprise is higher than other companies. Artisans construction sectors are still the biggest critics of the status and confess "very concerned" about their development.
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Wall Street should open very cautious on Monday, before the employment figures expected later in the week. The index futures Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.08% respectively at 1064.50 points and 1791.75 points to 0.14%.The Dow should open almost at equilibrium.
Friday, already, the New York Stock Exchange had closed up, apparently reassured by the downward revision in less severe than expected U.S. growth in the second quarter U.S. GDP in fact increased by 1.6% in the second quarter against 1.4% expected recently, but against 2.4% expected in the first estimate.
Despite a speech by Ben Bernanke at Jackson Hole somewhat mixed, the U.S. stock market saw on Friday, the Dow Jones climbing 1.6% to 10,150 points and the Nasdaq 1.6% to clinch also 2153 points.
Expenditure and household income to menu
The macroeconomic agenda this week on horseback in August and September will be followed by particular investors. From this Monday, are expected before the opening of trading, will be announced at 14:30, expenditure and household income for the month of August.On Tuesday, it will house prices and economic activity in the Chicago area in August and, finally, the consumer confidence that will be published. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be dominated by such employment with, successively, the ADP employment figures, entries weekly, and finally unemployment figures and the August employment savings account payday advance.
On the corporate side, the spectacle of mergers acquisitions poursuit.3Par soared 25% to 32.5 million.As for her suitors, HP has increased its prices by 3 to 27-30 dollars, Dell has aligned its offer Friday morning on $ 27.
The German manufacturer Infineon Semiconductor announced Monday the sale of his division's wireless, which makes components for mobile phones, to Intel for U.S. $ 1.4 billion (nearly 1.1 billion euros).
The CEO of Sanofi-Aventis, which formalized Sunday his intention to acquire U.S. biotech Genzyme to $ 18.5 billion, said that "some time may elapse" by launching a offer, in an interview with Voices dated Monday.Sanofi-Aventis announced on Sunday a proposal for acquisition of U.S. biotech group Genzyme for a price of 69 dollars per share, totaling $ 18.5 billion (14.5 billion euros).
The Indian government was to meet Monday officials from the Canadian manufacturer of BlackBerry (RIM) to try to break the deadlock over access to encrypted data from the phone, on the eve of the ultimatum on the blocking of two services mail.
French insurer Axa has reduced by almost half its share in the prestigious U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, the center of criticism for his role in the Greek crisis, according to documents from the regulatory authority of the U.S. markets (SEC) .
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