TheChek News Flow

Frasers—which has a 27% stake in Boohoo—requested Ashley’s appointment last week

Boohoo named Dan Finley as its next chief executive officer, spurning major shareholder Frasers’ attempts to install its owner Mike Ashley at the helm.

Last week, FTSE 100-listed sports and fashion retailer Frasers—which has a 27% stake in Boohoo—issued a request to appoint Ashley as CEO of Boohoo and Mike Lennon as a director, urging shareholders to vote for the move.

The proposal followed Boohoo’s announcement on Oct. 18 that CEO John Lyttle was planning to step down and that its board was starting a strategic business review in a bid boost shareholder value.

Boohoo said later that it had received the proposals from Frasers and was reviewing them, while asking shareholders to take no action.

The London-listed group—which includes brands such as department stores Debenhams and Karen Millen in its portfolio—said Friday that current Lyttle will remain available to ensure continuity through the change of leadership and a smooth transition.

Finley joined Boohoo as CEO of Debenhams in January 2022, following the 55 million-pound ($70.9 million) acquisition of the brand from administration.

Frasers didn’t immediately comment when approached by Dow Jones Newswires.

In morning trading, London-listed shares were in Boohoo were up 4.6% at 30.98 pence. Year-to-date, shares have fallen 25%.

Arnaud de Puyfontaine will remain as CEO of Vivendi

Vivendi VIV -0.56%decrease; red down pointing triangle named the management teams and board lineups of the four units into which it plans to split ahead of a shareholders’ vote on the breakup in December.

The French media group steered by the Bollore family is closing in on a major overhaul that would result in its Canal+ broadcasting unit, Havas advertising business and publishing assets—housed by a new company called Louis Hachette Group—being spun off and listed separately. Vivendi would keep investments in the entertainment and content industries.

With the split, Vivendi aims to give the units greater autonomy to pursue their own goals, such as making acquisitions, and narrow the gap between the value of the assets it owns and the group’s market capitalization. Vivendi said the so-called conglomerate discount has been high since it listed Universal Music Group in 2021.

Yannick Bollore, currently Vivendi’s supervisory-board chairman, will keep that role after the split and be chair and chief executive of Havas, the group said Tuesday. He will also chair Canal+’s supervisory board, Vivendi added.

Maxime Saada will be CEO at Canal+, while Jean-Christophe Thiery will be chair and CEO of Louis Hachette, Vivendi said.

Arnaud de Puyfontaine will remain CEO of Vivendi, the company said.

Vivendi said it will propose a direct allocation of shares in Canal+ and Louis Hachette Group to its shareholders. At a shareholders’ meeting scheduled for Dec. 9, resolutions on the allocation of Canal+ and Louis Hachette shares will require approval by a majority of two-third of the votes cast, it said.

For Havas, Vivendi plans a distribution in kind of shares in the holding company, a proposal that will require approval by a simple majority of votes, it said.

The shares in the spinoffs will be allotted on a one-to-one basis, meaning that each Vivendi shareholder entitled to participate in the spinoff will receive one share in each of Canal+, Havas and Louis Hachette for each Vivendi share held, while retaining their stock in the parent company.

After the split, Havas will have virtually zero net debt and Louis Hachette will have no debt of its own, while Canal+’s debt will stand at 400 million euros ($432.5 million), Vivendi said. Vivendi said its debt will be 1.9 billion euros.

The company has been working on the split since it floated the idea in December last year. Vivendi had previously said its units would start trading as standalone companies on Dec. 16, subject to approval from shareholders, with Canal+ listed in London, Havas in Amsterdam and Louis Hachette in Paris.

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Agency chief Chance Saltzman says Washington must co-operate with allies to counter threats from China and Russia

The chief of the US Space Force has warned that China is putting military capabilities into space at a “mind-boggling” pace, significantly increasing the risk of warfare in orbit.

“The number of different categories of space weapons that [China has] created and . . . the speed with which they’re doing it is very threatening,” said General Chance Saltzman, head of space operations at the US military’s recently created force tasked with protecting American interests in space.

Saltzman spoke during a tour of Europe to raise awareness about the potential for conflict in space with powers including China and Russia and the need to co-operate with European allies to improve deterrence capabilities.

“One of the reasons you have a space force in the US now is in recognition of the last 20 years, [Russia and China] have developed and demonstrated the ability to conduct war fighting in space,” he said. The Space Force was established in 2019 by then-president Donald Trump, who is vying for re-election next week.

The US military has long been using space-based assets for communications and missile targeting. For China, space has become an increasingly crucial domain in its quest to put one of the US military’s traditional strengths at risk. 

Beijing has dismissed US claims its increasingly sophisticated space programme poses any danger to other countries. The foreign ministry accused Washington this year of “repeatedly hyping up China” as a threat as “an excuse for the US to expand its forces in outer space and maintain military hegemony”.

As part of large-scale military reforms started in 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping combined space, information and cyber warfare operations under the Strategic Support Force, a new arm of the People’s Liberation Army.

In April, Xi launched another restructuring that in effect dissolved the SSF and puts its functions under direct control of the military leadership, in a sign that he seeks to enhance space, cyber and information operations.

Both Russia and China have tested satellites with capabilities that include grappling hooks to pull other satellites out of orbit and “kinetic kill vehicles” that can target satellites and long-range ballistic missiles in space.

In May, a senior US defence department official told a House Armed Services Committee hearing that Russia was developing an “indiscriminate” nuclear weapon designed to be sent into space, while in September China made a third secretive test of an unmanned space plane that could be used to disrupt satellites.

The US is far ahead of its European allies in developing military space capabilities but it wanted to “lay the foundations” for the continent’s space forces, Saltzman said. Last year UK Air Marshal Paul Godfrey was appointed to oversee allied partnerships with Nato with the US Space Force — one of the first times that a high-ranking allied pilot has joined the US military.

But Saltzman warned against a rush to build up space forces across the continent. 

“It is resource-intensive to separate out and stand up a new service. Even . . . in America where we think we have more resources, we underestimated what it was going to take,” he said.

The US Space Force, which monitors more than 46,000 objects in orbit, has about 10,000 personnel but is the smallest department of the US military. Its officers are known as “guardians”.

The costs of building up space defence capabilities mean the US is heavily reliant on private companies, raising concerns about the power of billionaires in a sector where regulation remains minimal.

SpaceX, led by prominent Trump backer Elon Musk, is increasingly working with US military and intelligence through its Starshield arm, which is developing low Earth orbit satellites that track missiles and support intelligence gathering.

This month, SpaceX was awarded a $734mn contract to provide space launch services for US defence and intelligence agencies.

Despite concerns about Musk’s erratic behaviour and reports that the billionaire has had regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Saltzman said he had no concerns about US government collaboration with SpaceX. 

“I’m very comfortable that they’ll execute those [contracts] exactly the way they’re designed. All of the dealings I’ve had with SpaceX have been very professional,” he said.

Malgré son rejet par l’Assemblée nationale dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi, le projet de loi de l’exécutif peut encore faire son retour et modifier la taxation des très grandes entreprises pour les deux prochains exercices.

L’examen à l’Assemblée nationale du budget 2025 ne manque pas de péripéties. Dans le projet initial du gouvernement, il est question d’une taxe exceptionnelle sur les entreprises qui réalisent un chiffre d’affaires de plus d’un milliard d’euros par an. Selon les articles 11 et 12 de ce projet de loi, ces grandes entreprises paieraient un taux exceptionnel majoré de 20,6 % sur leurs bénéfices réalisés en France pour l’exercice 2025 et de 10,6 % sur ceux de 2026. Pour celles avec un chiffre d’affaires d’au moins trois milliards d’euros, il est prévu, toujours dans le texte du gouvernement, une majoration de l’impôt sur les sociétés de 41,2 % pour le prochain exercice comptable et de 20,6 % pour le suivant. Cela signifie que leur taux d’imposition sur les bénéfices passerait à 30 % et 36 % en 2025 et à 28 % et 30 % en 2026, selon les calculs de Bercy.

Sur le papier, rien ne semblait pouvoir empêcher cette contribution exceptionnelle qui rapporterait huit milliards d’euros en 2025 et quatre en 2026, selon les calculs de l’exécutif. Sauf que La France Insoumise (et le Nouveau Front populaire avec) a souhaité aller beaucoup plus loin. Un taux de 40 % pour les entreprises qui réalisent au moins un milliard d’euros de chiffre d’affaires et un taux de 55 % pour celles au-dessus de trois milliards est désormais sur la table.

L’article 11 a finalement été rejeté dans la nuit du 25 au 26 octobre, mais il pourrait revenir dans sa version initiale à l’issue de la navette parlementaire. Dans ce cas de figure, quelques entreprises – parmi les 440 concernées selon Bercy – ont déjà fait savoir la somme qu’elles seraient amenées à mettre sur la table.

Le numéro un mondial du luxe (actionnaire de Challenges) s’est notamment exprimé il y a plusieurs jours sur l’effort exceptionnel tel qu’annoncé par le gouvernement dans son projet de loi. Avec un chiffre d’affaires de 86 milliards d’euros en 2023, le groupe dirigé par Bernard Arnault contribuerait entre « 700 et 800 millions d’euros » pour l’année prochaine, en fonction de ses résultats récents.

« La France représente 7 % du chiffre d’affaires, un tiers du revenu avant impôt et 40 % des impôts » du groupe, a tenu à préciser son directeur financier Jean-Jacques Guiony, le 16 octobre dernier, en marge de la publication du chiffre d’affaires du groupe.

Le géant français du BTP a aussi fait les calculs, alors qu’il a fait état au troisième trimestre d’un chiffre d’affaires de 18,5 milliards d’euros, en hausse de 1,4 %. Une évolution qui traduit le ralentissement de l’inflation dans les pays d’implantation du groupe.

« En première approche, si ce PLF était voté en l’état, une charge supplémentaire de l’ordre de 400 millions d’euros serait reconnue sur l’exercice 2024 (son décaissement interviendrait en 2025) », a fait savoir le groupe dans le communiqué de ses résultats financiers arrêtés au 30 septembre.

L’autre mastodonte du luxe français, Hermès, a pour sa part annoncé qu’il allait payer moins que son rival. Le sellier maroquinier, connu pour ses sacs comme le Birkin ou le Kelly, a réalisé en 2023 un chiffre d’affaires de 13,4 milliards d’euros. « Sur la base des dernières informations disponibles, on évalue à environ 300 millions d’euros de complément d’impôt, l’impact au titre de 2024 », a ainsi déclaré Éric du Halgouët, le directeur général finance de l’entreprise, le 24 octobre à des journalistes.

En 2024, le groupe ne semble pas affecté par le ralentissement du marché du luxe, en particulier en Chine, puisque au troisième trimestre, contrairement à ses concurrents, ses ventes ont continué de progresser, grimpant de 10 %.

L’industrie du luxe est bien représentée parmi les contributeurs de cet impôt exceptionnel. L’Oréal, qui possède les marques Garnier, Maybelline, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani ou encore La Roche-Posay, a réalisé en 2023 un chiffre d’affaires de 41 milliards d’euros. L’entreprise a déclaré le 22 octobre dernier estimer à « un peu plus de 250 millions d’euros » son imposition dans le cadre de cette contribution exceptionnelle.