French Companies Face Continuous Decline without Reform: Natixis

Natixis SA (EPA:KN) (OTCMKTS:NTXFY) believe the most worrying development in the French economy is the long-run decline in corporate profitability. An extrapolation of the trend leads fairly rapidly to an unsustainable low profitability despite the economic policies being implemented.

Decline in developments in the French economy

The various worrying developments in the French economy since the end of the 1990s are well known:

• Deterioration of cost competitiveness (Chart 1A) and foreign trade (Chart 1B);
• De-industrialization (Charts 2A and B);
• Excessive growth in government spending (Chart 3).

In the recent report Natixis SA (EPA:KN) (OTCMKTS:NTXFY) want to defend the following idea of the various negative trends appearing in the French economy. The decline in corporate profitability is probably the most worrying. It is affecting both industry...