Lufthansa scraps Germanwings as cost cuts go deeper

Europe’s biggest airline Lufthansa is taking the knife to its business
as it continues its cost-cutting drive.

With the bottom line hard-hit by an ongoing pay and pensions dispute and deliberate crashing of the subsidiary Germanwings plane by a rogue pilot, Lufthansa made a first-quarter loss.

The cuts include Germanwings, which will disappear to be replaced by the established Eurowings brand.

All Europe’s major carriers are struggling to cut costs as they face cutthroat competition from the budget carriers and new rivals based in the Arabian Gulf.

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Areva to cut 6000 jobs and slash pay and bonuses

Areva looks set for a rough ride with the unions after announcing job cuts and an end to bonus pay and other perks in a bid to end abyssal losses.

While everyone agrees France’s state-owned nuclear utility has severe problems, no-one is sure of the solution.

“We’re facing job losses and the loss of rights and collective agreements; bonuses and overtime are threatened. The bosses want us to be more productive, but we’re offered no guarantees,” said the CFDT’s Jean-Pierre Bachmann.

“We don’t know if half the group’s going to be sold off, we don’t know what EDF is going to do, what our policies are towards China, we know nothing. The only thing we do know is the workforce has to be slimmed down,” was the opinion of the FO’s Josè Montès.

Areva has been struggling with cost overruns and delays with new technology and new reactors it is building, and has a huge debt that grew bigger last year by over four billion euros as the company lost money hand over fist.

The nuclear operator is unlikely to be privatised but the government has been looking at ways to hive off and sell parts of the company without compromising on safety.

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Charlotte a commercial hit for Britain's Royals

Just a few days old but Britain’s Princess Charlotte is already proving to be a welcome addition to Brand Windsor, getting the cash tills ringing for royal memorabilia.

The royal feel-good factor has yet to wear off, but before it does plenty are trying to cash in on the occasion, from commemorative mug makers to model village owners.

“The’ve created a seven centimetre tall double buggy for the new royal and she’s made up of just three tiny Lego bricks. We have welcomed the new royal baby in miniature into our Lego royal family in our world-famous mini land attraction”, said Legoland Windsor PR manager Lauren Moss.

It is not just tourists but many Britons who lap this up and go and buy mementos of all descriptions, and the media will ensure Charlotte will benefit from an extensive, and free, public relations campaign cementing her in the public eye as the fourth in line to the throne.
The profits from her entry into the world will ensure she pays her way right from the start.

“At the time of the birth of Prince George two years ago, the Centre for Retail Research estimated that birth would give us something like a 243-million-pound boost the the UK economy. I think we can expect a similar sort of figure this time around,” says economist at BGC Partners Michael Ingram.

It is estimated the royal household costs UK taxpayers 48.8 million euros a year, mostly spent on building maintenance, employee wages, and travel.

However through her land holdings worth 12.7 billion euros the Crown Estates makes a profit for the Queen; 362 million euros last year, all of which was given to the treasury.

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Greece makes IMF payment but reverses reforms

Greece’s left-wing Syriza government has paid 200 million euros back to the IMF but has also reversed a number of reforms demanded by its international creditors.

They include the rehiring of 13,000 civil servants, and scraps their annual reviews and promotion-on-merit schemes.

Municipal police forces will be revived and several thousand school caretakers will return to work.

Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis may be unpopular in the eurogroup for insisting on getting a better deal for Greece, but his cleaning staff will love him. Almost 600 women cleaners sacked by the finance ministry as a cost-cutting measure get their jobs back next month after protesting in front of the ministry for most of the last year.

Eurogroup meetings come and go yet there’s no sign a deal is in sight on Greece’s debt, as the repayment deadlines keep on coming.

“On May 12 Greece must pay a further 750 million euros to the IMF. But as cash-strapped Athens is quickly running out of money, the Greek government is resting its hopes on a deal with its creditors at next Monday’s Eurogroup meeting. But, this is in spite of the fact that the messages coming from Brussels are for now at least, not very encouraging,” says euronews’ Stamatis Giannisis.

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London market slips back on hung parliament fears

Fears of an indecisive result in Britain’s general election and a weak government hurt shares in London and helped the European markets down.

A late poll after voting began suggested a late Labour surge with them neck and neck with the Conservatives, but Britain’s worries had no effect on the euro, which rose to a two-month high against the dollar since its 12-year low in March.

Businesses have expressed concern that Britain may be about to leave the EU and lose Scotland, leaving the world’s fifth-largest economy in unknown territory. The FTSE index is now more than 300 points shy of its all-time April high.

Sterling ticked a little lower and the currency is stable, but the wrong result could send the foreign exchange market into a tizzy.

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Record April fall for Spanish unemployment

April saw the sharpest fall for the month on record in Spain’s crippling unemployment, by 2.7% , with nearly 119,000 people finding jobs.

Services took nearly two thirds of the growth, while the construction and industry sectors were also hiring.

However the unemployment rate still stood at 23.8% for the first quarter.

The number of people paying into the social security system also rose by its highest monthly figure, to a shade under 17 million.

The figures appear to confirm Spain’s strengthening growth, the fastest in the EU, which the government claims will create two million jobs by 2018.

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