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Quarter of German firms ‘cutting jobs in 2013’

More than a quarter of German companies have said they would likely be cutting jobs in the coming year, as business confidence plummets, a report published Monday revealed.

Quarter of German firms 'cutting jobs in 2013'
Photo: DPA

The survey of about 2,300 firms pointed to a more pessimistic mood among German employers, with nearly 28 percent saying they were planning to shrink staff numbers in 2013, and just under 20 percent planning on expanding their work forces.

The Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) found out that 30 percent of businesses said their position was “worse than the previous year.” This was 18 percent at the start of 2012.

Faltering foreign business and the associated limitations on production were making companies “markedly more cautious,” concluded the IW.

For the first time since autumn 2008, more employers are expecting their production levels to fall than to rise. In the spring almost 40 percent were predicting production increases – a figure which by November had fallen below 17 percent.

In anticipation of a difficult business climate, many had curbed their investment plans. The number of companies in western Germany with planned reductions has almost doubled over the course of the year with a third planning to cut outlay.

“Export-intensive enterprises are being burdened by the sharp slowdown of the global economy, in particular by the recessionary trends in many European countries,” IW director Michael Hüther told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The country could avoid outright recession but growth figures did not appear encouraging. IW’s 2013 growth forecast of 0.75 percent falls even below this year’s figure of just under 1 percent.

A further escalation of the eurozone debt crisis could derail even these modest projections.

Hüther urged politicians to do everything possible to support businesses. “This includes doing without taxation hikes, using all available means to curtail social security expenditures, the continued development of infrastructure, and a convincing solution for Germany’s energy transition,” he told the paper.

The authors of the report noted that the German economy – despite often appearing to represent an “island of bliss” in the European debt crisis – may not be invincible after all.

DAPD/The Local/pmw

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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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