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French private sector growth hits six-year high: survey

France's private sector growth accelerated in May to its fastest level in six years, a key survey showed on Monday.

French private sector growth hits six-year high: survey
Photo: lorakss/Depositphotos
Services were the main driver behind the expansion, according to the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) compiled by Markit, a financial services firm.
 
 
The PMI rose to 56.9 points in May, its highest level since May 2011, from 56.6 points in April, Markit said in a statement.
 
Any reading above the boom-bust 50 points line indicates the economy is expanding while a reading below suggests it contracting.
 
The sub-index for the services sector alone rose to 57.2 points above 56.7 in April, Markit said, citing a strong rise in new business which had a positive knock-on effect on jobs.
 
IHS Markit economist Alex Gill said the trend suggested that France could see the data impact favourably on its double-digit unemployment by as much as 0.4 percentage points, with business confidence at a six-year high given current “strong optimism.”
 

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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