An Italian newspaper reported at the weekend that national carrier Alitalia is in merger talks with Air France-KLM.

"/> An Italian newspaper reported at the weekend that national carrier Alitalia is in merger talks with Air France-KLM.

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Alitalia hopes to merge with Air France: report

An Italian newspaper reported at the weekend that national carrier Alitalia is in merger talks with Air France-KLM.

Alitalia hopes to merge with Air France: report
Leandro Ciuffo

“Alitalia’s mission to Paris for a marriage with Air France,” said the headline of Il Messaggero on Saturday.

The report said senior managers had met Air France chief executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta in Paris on Friday. 

The delegation reportedly included Gaetano Micciche, head of corporate and investment banking at Intesa Sanpaolo, who led the deal that saved Alitalia from bankruptcy in 2008.

The airline has been struggling during the economic downturn and, according to Il Messaggero, will report losses of €60-70 million in 2011 ($78-91 million).

A meeting of the Alitalia board is scheduled for Tuesday. Air France-KLM already owns 25 percent of Alitalia shares.

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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