Car sales in Japan, excluding mini-vehicles of 660 cm3 at most, increased by 15.0% in July compared to last year, to 333,403 vehicles, announced the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
In the first seven months of the year, sales are up 28.9% to 2,054,094 units.
Michelin announced a net profit in the first half, when it was lost a year earlier and said he expected a continued rebound in demand for tires in the second half of the year.
The group, world leader with Japan's Bridgestone, has reached the first six months of 2010 net income group share of 503 million euros, while it was running a year earlier, at the height of the crisis Auto, a loss of 122 million.
Its net sales have rebounded 17% to 8.35 billion euros, an increase of 15.3% by volume.
"The environment in the second half will be marked by continued strong rebound of the tire market, although the intensity of the economic recovery varies from one region to another," Michelin said in a statement.
The group has confirmed its target of growth in sales volumes in excess of 10% in 2010 and said the operating margin target can approach 9% before non-recurring items, after a historically high rate of 9.8% in the first half against 4 , 0% a year earlier.
Michelin has also maintained its goal of positive free cash flow over the year, although that cash flow was negative 30 million euros in the first half – against 575 million a year earlier – a trend "due in particular to increased working capital needs resulting from the resumption of activity of the group ", the company said.
The stock, up 669 million euros over the six months, have also experienced rising raw material prices, including rubber and oil. The effect of this increase, estimated at between 600 and 650 million euros for 2010, will materialize in the second half accounts.
Against this background, Michelin announced it would raise its rates by 3% for replacement tires for cars and trucks beginning in September.
The shares closed Thursday at 59.35 euros, giving a market capitalization of nearly nine billion euros. Since the beginning of the year, the title took approximately 10%, after rising more than 40% throughout 2009.
AstraZeneca announced the doubling of its program of share buybacks in 2010, encouraged by the publication of strong results and after the green light given by an expert panel of the U.S. Food Brilinta its anticoagulant, a blockbuster potential.
The title earned more than 4% on the London Stock Exchange in early trading, the best performance of the pan-European Stoxx sector, which would then take 0.9%.
The announcement of the recommendation by the members of a committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has partly overshadowed the release of better-than-expected second quarter, an increase of 9% in earnings per share (EPS) .
The Brilinta, whose annual sales could exceed one billion dollars, is one of the keys to future growth of the group, facing the threat of declining sales of older drugs because of the expiry of certain patents.
The gross operating income of the group, which excludes certain restructuring costs and certain charges, rose 5% in the second quarter to 3.53 billion dollars (2.70 billion euros), or $ 1.79 per share for a turnover up 3% to 8.18 billion.
The Thomson Reuters consensus forecast of I / B / E / S projected a $ 1.53 EPS and revenues of 8.1 billion dollars.
Based on these results, the group has raised its forecast of 30 cents of EPS for all of 2010, against 6.32 dollars to 6.65 dollars in 2009.
The second half of the year could be more difficult for the group because of growing competition from generics. But confirmation by the U.S. court last month's patent for its cholesterol-lowering Crestor has obviously given him the confidence to strengthen its program of share repurchases.
The group plans to spend two billion dollars this year, against one billion originally planned.
Nexans Account return to profit on its overall performance, with a rebound expected sales in the second half after posting another loss during the first six months of the year.
The group now expects an operating margin of 4.5% over the whole year after reaching its target of 4% in the first half.
The world's leading manufacturer of cables reported Wednesday a first half sales were down 5.3% on an organic, to 2,100 million euros, down more than its target down 4% to 5% announced after the first quarter.
Its operating profit margin of 4% in the first half, as announced at the publication of annual sales in the first quarter.The net loss after minority interests amounted to 17 million euros, compared with a loss of 57 million euros a year earlier.
"After a difficult first quarter, which affected the profitability of the semester, the sales volume has increased over the last three months, particularly in industries characterized as the beginning of the cycle, such as automotive or local data networks" , comments the CEO of Nexans in a statement.
At the end of June 2010, consolidated net debt amounted to 277 million euros, against 141 million at December 31, 2009.
The title Nexans closed Tuesday down 0.2% at 56.01 euros, a market capitalization of around 1.56 billion euros.Since the beginning of the year, the title remained close to balance (0.34%).
FedEx raised its earnings forecast for the current quarter and the full year, citing higher than expected growth in volumes from its two main divisions, Express and Ground.
The U.S. company now expects annual earnings per share from 4.60 to 5.20 dollars, against 4.40 to 5.00 dollars allocated so far.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ends Aug. 31, FedEx expects earnings per share $ 1.05 $ 1.25 against 85 cents to $ 1.05 previously.
The action FedEx earned more than 5% to $ 83 in early trading on the NYSE while the Dow Jones has risen by 0.1%. In its wake, its major competitor UPS has risen by 1.27% to 64.48 dollars.
The truck manufacturer Scania said on Friday quarterly profit before tax greater than expected and provides sustained delivery of vehicles over the next three months.
The group resumed and after a difficult period, marked by falling demand due to global economic recession.
Scania has released its results after its Swedish rival Volvo, which also beat the consensus in the second quarter.
The company said demand in Europe was resumed after hitting an especially low, while adding that it remained limited due to an overcapacity of motor carriers.
The pretax income group, majority owned by Volkswagen, amounted to 3.4 billion kronor (360 million euros), exceed the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters at SEK 2.5 billion.The previous year, the group made a loss of 181 million kronor in the second quarter of 2009.
The title gained 3.99% to 135.60 crowns at 10h00 GMT, outperforming the Swedish index down 0.51%.
"In the third quarter, shipments of vehicles should be almost similar to those of the second quarter of 2010, despite the holiday period in Europe," the company said in a statement.
Orders for trucks and buses rose by 154% in the second quarter versus the same period the previous year.
"Due to strong demand in Brazil, an improvement in Europe, and the recovery in Asia, Scania has come to increase its production over the period," the group.
European shares ended sharply higher, thanks to good corporate results and the publication of U.S. statistics reassuring.
In Paris the CAC 40 index finished up sharply from 3.05% or 106.65 points to 3600.57 points.
Prices were supported by bank stocks, sector index ended with a gain of 3.16%, Standard Chartered, Barclays and Societe Generale ended the session up 4.13% respectively 4.62% and 5 , 08%.
Analysts believe however that this good performance should not emerge as a sustainable trend.
Nokia ended up 2.58% at 7.17 euros after reporting a sharp drop in earnings in the second quarter, increasing a little more pressure on the ailing Chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
"The issue of change management is more important for the course of action that results in this moment," said Thomas Langer, an analyst at WestLB.
Accor announced Wednesday the creation of a hotel investment fund in India with InterGlobe to accelerate its development in the country.
The fourth global hotel group has made India and China its main axes of development in Asia.
The French group said in a statement that the agreement for seven hotels under construction that will be managed by the Accor brands, totaling 1,750 rooms valued at 325 million dollars (254 million euros) on completion.
Accor and InterGlobe each hold 32% of the fund balance of 36% returning to Pacifica Partners, an asset manager of the hotel investment company founded by GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, and Host Hotels & Resorts.
InterGlobe, transport specialist based in India, seeks to develop in tourism.
The seven hotels, which is scheduled to open between 2011 and 2013, include a Pullman at the Delhi airport, four and two Novotel Ibis.
Accor announced in September 2009 that it intended to open 44 hotels in India by the end of 2012, bringing its capacity to 10,400 rooms on site.
The Accor share wins 5.05% to 12.355 euros at 1:25 p.m., also after the publication of a turnover up substantially just confirmed the recovery of its business hotels.
Oil closed up for the first time in four sessions on Monday on the New York market, thanks to gains on Wall Street and tightness in the refining world following the closure of a major Chinese port.
The contract on August U.S. light crude ended on an increase of 53 cents, or 0.7%, to 76.54 dollars a barrel. At the same time, Brent took 23 cents (+0.31%) to 75.60 dollars.
Black gold has also benefited from the good performance of the euro against the dollar, the euro still moving around a two-month high against the greenback.
Bank of America and Citigroup reported earnings above expectations, due to a drop in credit losses, but prospects are uncertain declines in their share price.
As at JPMorgan Chase, which published its accounts on Thursday the results of Citi and BofA in the investment bank emerged down, which does not bode well for the quarterly Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will provide the next week .
The U.S. banking industry is now trying to measure the impact on its results the reform of the functioning of the financial sector hard-won by President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers.
The leaders of BofA and Citi said they did not yet know how their activities could be affected by the text.
"The question is: how will they generate profits outside the resumption of supplies?" asks Keith Davis, a financial analyst at Farr, Miller.
DIVING TO WALL STREET
The action BofA plunged 8.06 dollars to 14.15% at 15.25 GMT while that of Citi fell by 3.85% to 43.10 dollars.
BofA, Citi and JPMorgan, the three largest U.S. banks, have all benefited from lower losses on credit-card business and real estate loans, which allowed them to resume are provisioned in anticipation of higher losses.
At BofA and Citi, loans emerged down from the second quarter of 2009. Analysts have voiced their concerns after hearing about the leaders of the two banks on the fragility of the credit application.
"Everybody shows wait," admitted the chief financial officer of Citi, John Gerspacher, referring to the activities of credit. "I do not anticipate much demand, at least while there is much uncertainty."
BofA, JPMorgan and Citi have all seen their net banking income to decline from last year.
COST OF CREDIT
BofA, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said its credit costs had declined for the fourth consecutive quarter and that it had reduced its provision for credit losses.Citi has done so.
"Both publications reflect an improvement in credit quality, but they do not reveal much about how they intend to use these elements to advance their net banking," said Marshall Front of Front Barnett Associates.
In recent quarters, banks have relied on their investment banking subsidiaries to perform, while their retail operations suffered from a rise in losses.Now, these losses are no longer a cause for concern while on the contrary, trading activities have been affected by a context become more unfavorable.
Net banking division BFI BofA declined to six billion dollars in the second quarter against 9.8 billion in the first quarter. At Citi, also, revenues from investment activities and trading fell 26% compared to six billion dollars generated in the first quarter.
BofA's net income stood at 3.1 billion dollars, 27 cents per share, against $ 3.2 billion, 33 cents per share, a year earlier.Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S had forecast 22 cents.
As for Citi, the bank reported a second consecutive quarter in the green, with a net profit of 2.7 billion, 9 cents per share, against $ 4.3 billion, or 49 cents per share, the same period of 2009. Analysts had expected 5 cents per share.
JPMorgan announced Thursday a profit above expectations at 4.8 billion, up 76% over the same quarter last year.