Partial unemployment, savings plans, results warnings ... Companies are trying to cope with the coronavirus epidemic which will permanently affect their activity, even threaten the survival of some of them.
Several industrial giants, especially in the automotive sector, have taken measures to limit or suspend their production.
Tuesday, March 17, the world's largest automobile group Volkswagen said it would close "most" of its factories in Europe this week for "two to three weeks". Operating profit in the first quarter will be "at least halved," said chief financial officer Frank Witter.
Renault and PSA at a standstill
PSA, which employs 51,000 people in France, closes all of its production sites in Europe; Renault leaves its four Spanish factories and its sites in France on Monday and Tuesday until further notice; Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler (FCA) is closing "the majority of its European manufacturing plants" in Italy, Serbia and Poland, or a third of production capacity, until March 27.
# COVID19: #GroupePSA decides to close its factories in Europe. More information ➡ https://t.co/nQT7Mlx9u3 pic.twitter.com/UToUVbkm21
- PSA Group (@GroupePSA) March 16, 2020Ferrari closed its factories in Maranello and Modena in northern Italy until March 27, as did the Fincantieri shipyards at all of its Italian sites, until March 29. Fincantieri asked its employees to use summer holidays in advance.
The French tire group Michelin has decided to interrupt the production of its factories for "at least a week" in Spain, France and Italy, three countries strongly affected by the Covid-19. This concerns more than 20,000 employees at 21 sites. The group said Monday "look at the compensation process" for employees, "depending on the devices in each country".
In aeronautics, Airbus will also suspend production for four days in France (48,000 employees) and Spain (2,700 employees).
For its part, Hermès will close all its French sites until the end of March, i.e. around forty factories and tanneries employing 9,500 people, while Gucci (Kering group) has closed all its production sites until March 20.
Partial unemployment and early leave
Air France-KLM, which has announced that it will reduce its offer by 70 to 90% over the next two months, will "consult the employee representative bodies" on measures "taking into account the impacts of the drop in activity, including putting in partial activity ".
The low-cost company Ryanair, which anticipates a reduction in its offer of around 80% for April and May, will freeze hiring, in particular, and offer "voluntary departures", "temporary contract suspensions and significant reductions in working hours. "
Freezing of hires also on the side of Lufthansa, which could reduce up to 90% its long-haul capacity, while the Russian company Aeroflot asked its employees with leave in stock to take advantage of it.
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 of its 2020 investment plan.
The German group TUI, the world number one in tourism with 70,000 employees, also announced "drastic" cost reduction measures and suspended "most" of its tour operator activities.
Call to states and banks
The Italian government has announced that it intends to nationalize the company Alitalia, already in great difficulty for years.
In France, the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire does not rule out nationalizing "if necessary" certain large companies at risk.
TUI further requested "state guaranteed loans until activity could resume normally". 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.
With AFP
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