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BUSINESS

CEO of French hi-tech group considers tax exile

Bernard Charles, chief executive of the French hi-tech group Dassault Systemes, revealed on Monday that he is considering leaving his native France for tax reasons.

CEO of French hi-tech group considers tax exile
File photo

In an interview published in centre-left daily Le Monde, Charles said that although he was considering "in all its aspects" whether or not to go into tax exile, no decision had yet been taken.

"My concern is the heavy taxing on capital, stock options and free shares",  he was quoted as saying.

The comments come as several of Charles' compatriots, such as actor Gerard Depardieu, have left or are threatening to leave France owing to a proposed 75-percent tax rate on earnings of more than €1 million.

Charles said that several Dassault Systemes directors had already left the country, but emphasized that the proposed tax rate would not be the deciding factor in his case.

The business executive explained that he had been forced to sell Dassault Systemes shares in December to pay taxes stemming from other shareholdings, and said: "That illustrates well the weight of fiscal charges, which will increase further."

He said that if the situation reached the point where he could not distribute "plots of land," or packages of shares in the company as compensation, "then I'll leave."

Charles warned that government officials were not aware of the consequences their decisions could have on hi-tech French companies that compete for talent with foreign competitors.

"You must realise that in Munich, Germany is boosting start-ups, not to mention the United States or (South) Korea," he said.

In 2012, Dassault Systemes recorded a net profit of €334.8 million on sales of €2.02 billion. It employs more than 10,000 staff.

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ENVIRONMENT

Sweden’s SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

The Swedish steel giant SSAB has announced plans to build a new steel plant in Luleå for 52 billion kronor (€4.5 billion), with the new plant expected to produce 2.5 million tons of steel a year from 2028.

Sweden's SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

“The transformation of Luleå is a major step on our journey to fossil-free steel production,” the company’s chief executive, Martin Lindqvist, said in a press release. “We will remove seven percent of Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen our competitiveness and secure jobs with the most cost-effective and sustainable sheet metal production in Europe.”

The new mini-mill, which is expected to start production at the end of 2028 and to hit full capacity in 2029, will include two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSABs specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to develop premium products for the transport industry.

It will be fed partly from hydrogen reduced iron ore produced at the HYBRIT joint venture in Gälliväre and partly with scrap steel. The company hopes to receive its environemntal permits by the end of 2024.

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The announcement comes just one week after SSAB revealed that it was seeking $500m in funding from the US government to develop a second HYBRIT manufacturing facility, using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to produce direct reduced iron and steel.

The company said it also hoped to expand capacity at SSAB’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. 

The two new investment announcements strengthen the company’s claim to be the global pioneer in fossil-free steel.

It produced the world’s first sponge iron made with hydrogen instead of coke at its Hybrit pilot plant in Luleå in 2021. Gälliväre was chosen that same year as the site for the world’s first industrial scale plant using the technology. 

In 2023, SSAB announced it would transform its steel mill in Oxelösund to fossil-free production.

The company’s Raahe mill in Finland, which currently has new most advanced equipment, will be the last of the company’s big plants to shift away from blast furnaces. 

The steel industry currently produces 7 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and shifting to hydrogen reduced steel and closing blast furnaces will reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 per cent and Finland’s by 7 per cent.

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