France

Société Générale slumped to a surprise loss in the second quarter after the French bank took a hefty charge as part of an overhaul of its struggling investment bank, the Financial Times reported. The results heaped further pressure on chief executive Frédéric Oudéa, the longest serving head of a large European bank, as the share price fell to 60 per cent lower than at the start of the year. “There is a very good understanding of the challenges of the bank,” Mr Oudéa told the Financial Times on Monday.

French consumer confidence declined in July, denting hopes that the country’s economy would bounce back rapidly from the coronavirus crisis, the Financial Times reported. After an initial rebound in June, the French statistics agency’s consumer sentiment index fell by two points to 94 in July, below the average of 99 forecast by economists in a poll by Reuters. A score below 100 indicates that consumer confidence is lower than its long-term average, whereas a score above that mark suggests that sentiment is above average.

Investment firm Eurazeo has asked bidders to submit last-ditch bids in September for French car rental firm Europcar Mobility Group SA as it seeks to avert a painful restructuring, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, Reuters reported. The Paris-listed firm has attracted takeover interest from Volkswagen but a bid has yet to materialise as the German car maker remains wary of the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic on the car rental industry, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

British Steel’s Chinese owner has had its bid to acquire a factory in France rejected by a court as concerns grow in some European capitals about companies from the Asian superpower snapping up assets, the Financial Times reported. Jingye Group, which saved the UK’s second-largest steelmaker from bankruptcy earlier this year, was attempting to wrest control of a small mill in north-east France that belonged to British Steel.

French bank Natixis will merge its commodities and infrastructure operations to focus on clean energy in a restructuring sources said was accelerated by a series of loss-making loans to oil traders, Reuters reported. The move by one of the most active banks in commodities lending highlights the struggles of businesses connected to a sector grappling with an oil price collapse, rising bankruptcies and growing pressure to switch attention to greener fuels.

Chinese investors who claim to trace their lineage to a renowned fourth-century calligrapher are fighting to retain control of a 256-year-old French crystal glassmaker, following a series of defaults and a private credit deal gone wrong, the Financial Times reported. The troubles for Beijing-based Fortune Fountain Capital and its struggle to hold on to Baccarat Crystal highlight the problems Chinese investors have run into after taking on excessive leverage to buy European brands — sometimes through private credit deals at lending rates far higher than those of bank

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit France, a succession of well-known clothing retailers have shut down or collapsed into bankruptcy. But none of these closures has hit home as hard as the demise of Tati, a discount emporium that has stood at the heart of the gritty neighbourhood of Barbès in northern Paris since 1948, the Financial Times reported. A giant blue and pink sign on the outside of the sprawling store announces the promise of its founder Jules Ouaki, a Jewish transplant from Tunisia, to always offer the lowest prices — “Tati, les plus bas prix”.

At the airport of Tarbes in France, row upon row of empty jets in liveries from Asia to Africa sit nose to tail on the tarmac, waiting out the coronavirus crisis in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Reuters reported. Air travel has tumbled to a fraction of normal levels due to the pandemic, grounding about two thirds of the world’s fleet and stretching Europe’s largest aircraft storage company. “Today there’s no (travel) demand. That is why we have more than 200 aircraft on our sites,” said Patrick Lecer, chief executive of TARMAC Aerosave, headquartered at Tarbes.

Rising French corporate debt could leave firms struggling to survive and saddle banks with dud loans, the central bank said on Tuesday in its biannual financial risk report, Reuters reported. French companies went into the coronavirus crisis with debt already at record levels, topping 72% of gross domestic product at the end of last year, according to the Bank of France. A nearly two-month coronavirus lockdown left many with little choice but to tap state-guaranteed bank loans as their cashflows all but dried up, providing short-term relief by adding to their debt burdens.

France is warning flag carrier Air France-KLM against making forced job cuts, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying such a move would constitute a “red line” the carrier shouldn’t cross after receiving a state bailout, Bloomberg News reported. “We spent money to save Air France,” he said Thursday in a radio interview.