Airbus, Saint-Gobain, Total, Vinci ... Several French giants, in particular in the industry, warned on Monday that they would not be able to meet their targets for 2020 or should drastically reduce their investments. These announcements give an idea of the considerable effects of the pandemic on the French economy.
Airbus
" We have canceled our 2020 forecasts due to the volatility of the situation, " said Guillaume Faury, Executive Chairman of Airbus, in a press release. The aircraft manufacturer, which has also given up paying its shareholders a dividend for 2019, was the first major French group on Monday to announce that it was revising its forecasts in the face of the global coronavirus health crisis. In particular, it had to suspend production for several days in France and Spain.
Read also: Partial resumption of activity on Monday at Airbus in France and Spain
Vinci
In the building industry, the Vinci group has warned that it will not, as planned before, increase its revenues and profits this year. Symbol of the multiple and cascading effects of the Covid-19, the group is both affected on its construction sites, and in the airports it operates around the world. The former are essentially interrupted in France, while the latter suffer from travel bans and have seen their traffic fall by almost half since the beginning of March. Vinci will thus limit its spending at airports.
Saint Gobain
In the same vein, " situations differ greatly from one country to another " for Saint-Gobain, another industry giant to have canceled its forecasts for 2020. He had previously forecast an increase in its Operating profit. The building materials specialist sees the situation improving in China, the starting point of the pandemic, where its factories have left, but will have to more generally reduce its investments drastically. It reports " all possible projects planned for the coming months ".
Total
The energy giant Total announced on Monday a reduction of more than 20% of its investments. Total is, in addition to the coronavirus, faced with a drop in oil prices. He will reduce his investments by three billion euros and freeze most of his recruitments now.
Schneider Electric
Also in the CAC 40, another group exposed to energy, the equipment supplier Schneider Electric, also warned that its forecasts were no longer current for 2020. These objectives " are no longer relevant and are therefore suspended ", said in a statement the group, which had already reported cautious forecasts in February given its exposure to China. Schneider Electric will " continue to focus on generating cash to further strengthen its financial strength and balance sheet, " he promises.
Europcar
Europcar Mobility Group said Monday that its 2020 targets are out of date and that it is premature to assess the impact of the current health crisis on its ambitions in the short and medium term. In a press release, the French car rental group explains that after a good start to the year, its activities have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The group also says that it has initiated a plan to reduce costs and preserve its liquidity, in order to be able to get through the coming months of the crisis as well as possible.
EDF
EDF maintains its financial targets for 2020 "at this stage", despite the drop in demand for electricity and a downward revision of its hypothesis of nuclear production in France. " It is likely to be revised when the availability forecasts and the associated cost estimates have been refined, " warned the company, however, in a statement published on Monday. EDF will have to revise downwards its hypothesis of nuclear production in France for 2020.
New fall of the CAC 40
Immediate consequence of these announcements: the CAC 40, which had briefly recovered just before the weekend at the end of a catastrophic week, lost nearly 4% on Monday during the first hour of trading. In detail, Airbus fell by more than 10%, Vinci by some 5%, Saint-Gobain by 6%, Total by around 3% and Schneider by more than 7%.