Air France-KLM sales are showing little sign so far of the travel recovery it still hopes to see by summer, the airline group said on Thursday, as it posted a wider first-quarter operating loss, Reuters reported. The group also confirmed its intention to raise more capital within months - a prospect that has weighed on its shares. The stock fell 1.1% to 4.51 euros at 0850 GMT -- less than half its peak of 9.81 euros early last year before the crisis.
Read more
France
Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that there is an overblown alarm about a possible wave of insolvencies engulfing the European economy as governments taper aid for firms, Bloomberg News reported. The number of insolvencies has been around 40% below normal since the pandemic struck Europe, making it difficult for courts to operate normally and prompting governments to provide blanket support to companies.
Read more
Airbus announced that it had returned to a profit in the first quarter following a 1.1 billion euro loss last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but its top executive warned that the economic toll would continue, the New York Times reported. “The first quarter shows that the crisis is not yet over for our industry, and that the market remains uncertain,” Guillaume Faury, chief executive of the world’s largest airplane maker, said.
World shares advanced Thursday ahead of the release of U.S. economic growth data and following a speech by President Joe Biden outlining ambitious plans for beefing up early education and other family oriented policies, the Associated Press reported. London’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.7% to 7,013.40. In Paris, the CAC40 climbed 0.6% to 6,344.17. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2% to 15,262.39 as a report showed weakening consumer confidence. The future for the Dow industrials rose 0.4% and that for the S&P 500 surged 0.6%. U.S.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday he would make proposals to restructure the debts of companies struggling with loans taken on during the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported. Many French companies are emerging from the pandemic with severely strained balance sheets after they borrowed massively under a state-guaranteed loan programme designed to help them through the crisis. While the programme helped depress bankruptcies last year to record low levels, economists expect a surge in filings as various state support schemes are wound down.
Read more
A significant part of the French aluminum businesses belonging to embattled British metals mogul Sanjeev Gupta has sought protection from creditors, the company said on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. Alvance Aluminium Group entered voluntarily into “conciliation proceedings” supervised by a court-appointed agent for its three downstream businesses, its spokesman said in a statement. The mediator will try to stave off insolvency by working out arrangements between the French units and their creditor, a process that could last as long as 10 months.
Read more
Air France on Tuesday said it would receive a new bailout from the French government worth 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) to help the beleaguered airline cope with mounting debts as a third wave of pandemic lockdowns around Europe prolong a slump in continental air travel, the New York Times reported. The support comes on top of €10.4 billion ($12.3 billion) in loans and guarantees that Air France and its partner, the Netherlands-based KLM, received from the French and Dutch governments last year.
Read more
France’s economy will rebound less than previously expected this year due to the latest four-week nationwide lockdown aimed at halting a surge in coronavirus cases, Bloomberg News reported. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire cut the country’s 2021 GDP growth forecast to 5% from 6%, following an 8.1% contraction last year. A Bloomberg survey in March showed economists were expecting the economy to expand 5.7%.
Read more
The French government and the European Commission have reached an agreement in principle on fresh financial support for Air France, which has been hurt by a drop in air travel since the start of the pandemic, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s very good news for Air France, it’s very good news for the whole French aviation sector,” Le Maire said in an interview on LCI television. “It was a long and difficult negotiation, but I think we’ve reached a good agreement” with EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
Read more
France and Italy are set to extend virus restrictions as Europe struggles to contain a sharp increase in infections due to new variants, Bloomberg News reported. The resurgence in the outbreak is a setback for governments, whose plans to get life back to normal and revive their economies have already been stymied by a slow vaccine rollout across the European Union. The French virus spike has been particularly bad, and Germany and Spain last week imposed border restrictions to travelers coming from the country. French President Emmanuel Macron is due to address the nation at 8 p.m.