Frankfurt (AFP)

Partial unemployment, savings plans, results warnings: companies are struggling to cope with the epidemic of new coronavirus which will permanently affect their activity, even threaten the survival of some of them.

- Suspend production

Several industrial behemoths, especially in the automotive industry, have taken measures to limit or suspend their production.

Volkswagen said on Tuesday that it will close "most" of its factories in Europe this week for "two to three weeks".

Operational profit in the first quarter will be "at least halved," according to chief financial officer Frank Witter.

Ford suspends its production in continental Europe from March 19 for a "number of weeks" which will be specified according to the evolution of the pandemic.

In Spain, "all (the factories) stopped their activity temporarily, at least for this week", according to the association of manufacturers Anfac. Nissan and Seat are present in the country.

PSA, which employs 51,000 people in France, closes all of its production sites in Europe.

Renault is leaving its four Spanish factories and its sites in France on Monday and Tuesday until further notice.

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) closes "the majority of its European manufacturing plants" in Italy, Serbia and Poland, ie a third of the production capacity, until March 27.

Airbus will also suspend production for four days in France (48,000 employees) and Spain (2,700 employees).

Hermes will close all of its French sites until the end of March, i.e. around forty factories and tanneries employing 9,500 people.

Gucci (Kering group) closed all its production sites until March 20, Ferrari did the same until March 27 with its factories in Maranello and Modena (Emilia-Romagna, north), like the Fincantieri shipyards on all its Italian sites, until March 29.

Michelin has decided to stop production at its factories for "at least a week" in Spain, France and Italy. This concerns more than 20,000 employees at 21 sites.

- Partial unemployment and early leave

Michelin said on Monday "looking at the compensation process" for employees, "depending on the arrangements in each country".

Like Fincantieri, which asked its employees to use summer holidays in advance, the Russian company Aeroflot asked its employees who had vacation in stock to take advantage of it.

Low-cost airline Ryanair will freeze hiring and offer "voluntary departures", "temporary contract suspensions and significant reductions in working hours".

Freezing of hires also on the Lufthansa side, which could reduce its long-haul capacities by up to 90%.

Air France-KLM will "consult employee representative bodies" on measures "taking into account the impact of the drop in activity, including the implementation of partial activity".

Delta Air Lines, American and United have frozen hiring, announced unpaid leaves, voluntary layoffs and cut wages.

- Savings plans

The Air France-KLM group, which plans "a severely degraded financial trajectory" for 2020, is struggling to "secure its cash" by providing 200 million euros in savings for 2020 or a reduction of 350 million euros in its 2020 investment plan.

To preserve liquidity, Lufthansa plans not to pay a dividend for its 2019 financial year while the turbine manufacturer MTU is studying the payment freeze.

The German group TUI, the world number one in tourism with 70,000 employees, also announced "drastic" measures to reduce costs and suspended "most" of its tour operator activities.

- Call to States and banks

Italy intends to nationalize Alitalia.

In France, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, does not rule out nationalizing "if necessary" certain large companies at risk.

Boeing has asked for help from the White House while U.S. airlines are seeking a $ 50 billion bailout.

The German government has promised an "unlimited" envelope of loans distributed by a public bank, KfW, which will have to start with a reserve of 550 billion euros.

Lufthansa could apply for state aid in the European countries where it operates.

burs-ys-lo / cj

© 2020 AFP