ING Belgium reached a profit of one billion euros

ING Belgium, responsible for the activities of the Dutch financial group ING in Belgium furthermore in a couple of other European countries, has finished the year 2009 with a net profit of 1.02 billion euros. That means a growth of 56 percent as opposed to 2008. This year, ING is expecting a stabilization compared to 2009.

The huge profit growth is due to a combination of several factors: good commercial actions, a favourable interest and a balanced cost program. But is this cost program really so well balanced? Reducing costs by saving on your staff or by constantly reducing the loans can barely be labeled as a cost program. I think every company is able to reduce a lot of costs like that.
But of course we're living in a time of financial crisis and lots of companies have no other choice than reducing costs by saving on their staff.
Besides, this year ING has good plans because she wants to recruit 700 extra employees.

The good commercial actions were accompanied by high volumes. The customer deposits increased with four percent, while the number of mortgage loans increased with seven percent.
Insurances on the other hand, didn't score that high. They were affected by lower incomes from investments.

To conclude, I've got a double opinion about this huge profit. It's a pity that they reach such a profit by saving costs by a restructuring. On the other hand I'm glad there is finally a little ray of light in the dark side of the financial world.

http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/ondernemingen_financien/ING_Belgie_boekt_1_miljard_euro_winst.8298986-433.art

Carrefour's reorganisation

The management of Carrefour Belgium decided to reorganize some of the branches as an investment plan. He wants to invest 300 million euro into the remaining branches, obtaining better looking shops and to make them profitable again.

Because of an unknown reason, the remunerations for personnel working in Carrefour are 10 % to 15 % higher than in other similar companies. The remarkable thing about the personnel in similar companies is that they’re more productive than the personnel in Carrefour, even though their payment is higher.

Due to the high costs Carrefour had to carry, the profit was very low to nonexistent and therefore no room to invest.

Carrefour believes that with the remaining branches they will be able to expand their market share. But experts tell us that Carrefour will practically throw a part of their market share into the hands of Delhaize and Colruyt by closing several branches.

In my point of view I see this as another consequence of the economical crisis and to be honest, we have seen a lot of this during the past year. But a company this big does surprise me. My only hope for the people that have been fired is that they will be able to find another job soon. But I don’t think that will be the case..

On the other side, if Carrefour thinks this will help them become successful again, then this was a step in the right direction.

http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20100223_020

Porsche faces endangering fines from US fuel efficiency law

Perhaps you have visited The Car Salon 2010 that took place a few weeks ago in Brussels? More than ever environment friendly cars were in the spotlights. But of course also exclusive high speed cars attracted the attention at this major event, among these fast and posh cars there’s Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

These kind of cars are world famous and at the same time infamous for their barely credible performances, exclusivity and enormous fuel consumption. What a lot of people don’t know is that Porsche also pursues an environment friendly policy. Even more, in 1966 they were far ahead of their time when they had done the first officially admitted exhaust fumes test. According to the test results Porsche scored more than sufficiently with its Porsche 911. Even in 1987 they were already a step further at Porsche. From that year on they delivered 85% of all their new cars standard with a catalyst. This was very admirable at that time if you know that it took a few years before it was made obligatory by the European government.

The German sports car manufacturer, that sells this type of cars all over the world, has a lot of buyers that come from the United States too. The chances are that it will be a lot more expensive for these people to buy a Porsche. It could be so that legally bringing these cars in traffic will no longer be so effortless in the near future. Because of the environmental policy, the U.S. government most recently already worked out and approved several laws in reducing the pollution level and global warming. At the moment, there’s a law proposition that will have a huge impact on the so called fast cars. The following is mentioned in the content of the law proposition: “Starting from 2016 luxury cars can no longer have an average fuel usage of more than 5.7 litres per 100 kilometres.” When Porsche can’t live up to these high demands of the U.S. government, it will have to pay towering fines in the United States. According to Porsche this is an unfeasible task for the car make. Even with the introduction of some new hybrid car models it won’t be able to live up to the standard. At the moment Porsche is already paying fines because of the high fuel consumption of its cars. In this case, we are talking about a sum around one hundred dollars for every vehicle sold. The fine is automatically paid by the buyer when the car is bought. In case the law proposition would become a real law, Porsche would have to pay fines that go up to 37.500 dollar for every vehicle sold.

It’s already been proven that the stories about climate change and global warming aren’t just some fairy tale. Global warming IS damaging the world we live in today. Luckily world leaders are step by step realizing that the destiny of many people is mainly in their hands and that they must form the basis in solving this problem.

We also see that car manufacturers realize that they can have an important influence on the problem too. Governments as well as car manufacturers stimulate potential buyers to go for an environment friendly car. They try to do this by lowering prices or giving premiums to buyers. I am convinced of the fact that these two big parties can’t achieve much without the consumer participating in this key process. This is why the car buying population also needs to take it to the next step and exploit the situation in a way that stimulates the environment friendly policy.

When people want to choose for luxury and exclusivity instead of the wellbeing of this planet, I really think they should pay the costs of that decision. I would feel rather guilty if I would be buying a car like that. Not only because others are really making efforts to reduce global warming, also because I would see it as a very selfish gesture.

I must say I am convinced of the fact that the target group of Porsche won’t be very deterred by the elevated prices. In the long run I strongly believe that the U.S. Government will take measures that could cause an intolerable financial situation for Porsche if the company doesn’t undertake any important measures.

Sources: Porsche.com

Polluting Hummer being kept out of China

The article is about the sale of the Hummer brand from GM to a Chinese company. The key question for the Chinese takeover candidate is whether the Hummers will be allowed in its native country. The key issue in this matter is ofcourse the extreme fuel consumption of the car. Hummer originally is a subsidiary of General Motors. As I presume we all know, GM has had quite some financial problems. This is the reason why it started to sell some of its less profitable activities or brands. The reasons why the sales have run way back is because these cars consume an awful lot of fuel and oil prices rose significantly and because overall sales have decreased enormously. Hummer is one of those non profit making activities and that is why GM had to look for candidates who wanted to take over this part of the company.

Fortunately, a few companies had their mind set on taking over Hummer. One of those takeover candidates was the one I mentioned in the beginning of my blog message, namely Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery. Negotiations about a possible takeover started very promising but then they had to wait for an approval from the Chinese government. As we can read in the posted article, the Chinese government doesn't approve the sale from GM to STHIM for a takeover bid between 150 and 200 million dollars. The two car companies didn't get permission because - so experts claim - the Chinese government has troubles accepting the high amount of fuel consumption. This is a hot topic, because China is being criticised for its hesitating behaviour when it comes to reducing the emission of carbon dioxide. That's also because the Chinese authorities have stated that the car industry should focus on producing cars that are less polluting for the environment.

There also is some commotion about the situation of the overtaking company because that company is known as a production company for heavy industrial machinery. This can bring us to the conclusion that this company has no experience in producing cars whatsoever. The company has never even done business outside of China.

When I first read this article, it instantly got me thinking about climate change and environmental pollution. Because this is a very hot topic these days, I thought it could be interesting to write a blog message about this specific article. I could have written about the station of Antwerp welcoming Starbucks or the other big topic on the posted page or even about the short news more to the right of the page. Another reason why I really wanted to write something about this article is because Hummer has always attracted my attention. Not because I find this brand more exclusive or more posh than any other brand in the world or not because for some people it's being used as an image builder. No, just because I think these cars are typical cars for US citizins. Americans have always really been into security, power and sheer exuberance. In other words, what they really want is BIG things that are safe and powerfull. Everybody with a clear sense mind will already have either seen or experienced that. Their awkward weapon policy and the war on Iraq are just two of the never ending list of possible examples.

Maybe you're thinking: Okay... But what's your point? Well, the point is that I just don't have a clue why the humble Chinese jetset would want to purchase a Hummer or anything like it. In my opinion this a specific American product. Another possible problem that could occur is the lack of mobility and parking opportunities in big Chinese cities. It's also important to know that these 'trucks' are exempt from many DOT safety regulations.

I really find this a great example of the fact that the BRIC-countries are simply taking over the world economy. The abreviation BRIC stands for Brasil, Russia, India and China. If even an American symbol, like the Hummer, is looking to relocate from the US economy to the booming Chinese economy, I really find this an extraordinary fact in the history of national economies.


Sources: Hummer.com

EU approve Microsoft – Yahoo! search alliance

Europe has completed the discussion about the Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo!. The two giant technology companies had already announced an internet search partnership to counter Google's domination of the market.

The agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo! will run for 10 years. This is longer than expected, but it will give them the opportunity to provide advertisers to pay to have their links appear when people search for certain terms. In this way the companies make money.
Anyway, Microsoft and Yahoo! together have a share of 11 per cent of the internet search market over the whole world. That is well behind Google’s 65 per cent. (In Europe is this less than 10 per cent facing Google’s more that 90 per cent).

On the other hand, Microsoft has a better chance to reach web users because of the cooperation with Yahoo!. It will allow Microsoft to introduce ‘Bing’ (its search machine) to more people. Many web users had been using Google by force of habit, they said. But from my point of view is the internet search of Google the most user-friendly. The difference between the both internet searches engines are for example the suggestions that Google offers you when you type a keyword of your subject. Another advantage of Google is that Google helps you to find the correct information even you hadn’t spell the keywords correctly (for example, Google corrects ‘hotmeel’ in ‘hotmail’).

It is important that Microsoft and Yahoo! invest in research and development of their own innovative search engine. Certainly it will be a challenge for them to gain more users and to counter Google’s leader position!

http://www.tijd.be/nieuws/ondernemingen_technologie/EU_keurt_deal_Microsoft_en_Yahoo!_goed.8299078-436.art

Worries for euro zone as Greek plight worsens

We all heard about the Greek crisis. Greece has an enormous budget deficit and the recession is still getting worse. Moreover the inflexibility of the euro lies at the heart of the crisis. Not only Greece suffers, the troubles in Greece threaten the complete euro zone.

The alarming figures from Greece and the worrying statistics from some other European countries like Italy and Germany will undoubtedly hinder the recovery of the euro zone. The euro has already decreased strongly in value. The question is; what is Greece doing about its troubles? The government has announced austerity measures including a rise in the pension age, a net public sector pay freeze, a crackdown on tax evasion and tax rises on fuel, tobacco, alcohol and property. Anyway, the European Union doubts that the measures aren’t going far enough.

Above, critics say that the lack of discipline isn’t the main source of Europe’s troubles, not even in Greece, whose government was indeed irresponsible. The real truth behind the euro mess is Europe who thought that Europe was ready for a single currency. Long before the euro came, economists warned the reverse. But these warnings were ignored, and the crisis came.

However, a breakup of the euro is very unthinkable. So the only way out is forward. Europe must not exaggerate the problem. At global level, the Greek economy has nothing to do. Greece is only a small country with a small economy, with a gross national product (GNP) less than 3 percent of the total GDP in the European Union. Personally, I think that we have to wait patiently and have a little confidence. Whole Europe suffers from the financial crisis. So every country have to take care off its own troubles, but they also had to take care of the other European countries. The recovery will take many time, but it will getting better.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7025618.ece

Toyota's car deficiencies

In this blog I will discuss two articles. One that was published in a Belgian newspaper and the other one was published on the newspaper’s site “times online”. The articles relate to the problems Toyota has been having lately. So far the media was spreading the number 21 to be the total of deaths caused by deficiencies in their cars. The national highway traffic safety administration added another nine accidents which makes the total of deaths to 34. Toyota acknowledges that 5 of these deaths were caused by loose floor mats but investigations tell us that Toyota’s defective cars were responsible for 19 deaths and hundreds of injuries! The company of Akia Toyoda already had to recall eight million cars due to various defects. These defects are faulty accelerator pedals, loose floor mats and defective brake systems. Because of all the negative attention the CEO decided not to attend a US Congressional hearing on the carmaker’s safety lapses. The US executives will be answering questions concerning the deficiencies at the hearing on the 24^th of February.

In the search for articles concerning corporate finance I was really shocked! I don’t read newspapers that often and this was the first time I realized what a mess Toyota is in The issue I found the most concerning is that Toyota’s Corolla has possible power steering problems. You must know that the Corolla is known to be a compact family car. I can already see children sitting in that car while their mother is driving them to school and all of a sudden the steering-wheel gets blocked and the car runs into another family walking on the pavement. This is only an example of what can happen someday! In my opinion a car is a weapon on its own, you can drive YOUR car perfectly safe (unless it’s a Toyota of course), but when another driver isn’t that safe, your life can be over soon enough.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article7030090.ece

http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=QE2MBJSQ&subsection=215