Figaro

The Pfizer vaccine victim of its success? Deliveries to EU states of planned quantities of Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines will experience delays in the next three to four weeks due to work at the Belgian factory where they are manufactured, said Friday the German Ministry of Health. “The European Commission and, through it, EU Member States have been informed that Pfizer will not be able to fully meet the promised delivery quantities ” explains a press release from the ministry.

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Contacted by Le Figaro, the Pfizer laboratory explains “Be in the process of reviewing the planned allocations” vaccine in the various European countries, and has not yet quantified the impact that these delays could have on the vaccination campaign, especially in France. However, the laboratory announces that there will be “a small drop in deliveries in January», But an increase from the current 520,000 weekly “From the end of February”. At theAFP, a source within the executive indicated that France will have to “Adjust the rhythm of vaccinations” against the coronavirus due to this “slump” expected vaccine deliveries.

Specific regulatory authorizations

To justify these delivery delays, Pfizer explains that it wants “Deliver more doses of vaccine than initially planned, with a new target of 2 billion doses for 2021”. To achieve this, the laboratory must increase its industrial capacities. “This involves modifying our processes and our facilities, which will require specific regulatory authorizations” the lab continues.

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After this announcement, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reassured during a press conference in Lisbon. “I immediately called the CEO of Pfizer (…) He assured me that all doses guaranteed for the 1st quarter (to EU countries) will be delivered in the 1st quarter”She declared. The boss of Pfizer “is personally involved in reducing this period of delays and ensuring that these delays are made up as quickly as possible. It was essential to send him the message that we urgently need these promised doses, and this in the 1st trimester.», She added.

Ursula von der Leyen has also endeavored to allay the concerns of six Member States which in a joint letter denounced delays “unacceptable“From Pfizer, accused of mining”the credibility of the vaccination process ”. “This is not the first time that a company has announced delivery delays for a short period (…) others have had to delay the submission of their vaccine to the European Medicines Agency”, She observed.

18% decrease in Norway

These statements by the German Ministry of Health come shortly after that of the Norwegian authorities. The Pfizera laboratory in fact warned of a drop “starting next week»Deliveries of anti-Covid vaccines to Norway and Europe, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) announced. The latter also did not specify the extent of the reduction in deliveries for Europe, but the drop for Norway is expected to be close to 18% next week.

«The temporary reduction will affect all European countries“The FHI said in a statement. “It is not yet clear how long exactly it will take before Pfizer returns to maximum production capacity, which will be increased from 1.3 to 2 billion doses.Per year, he added. According to Geir Bukholm, one of its senior officials, the FHI was notified of this decline on Friday morning. The FHI now says it expects to receive next week only 36,075 doses against 43,875 previously expected, a decrease of 17.8% for the Scandinavian kingdom.

Tap into stocks

To compensate for this decrease, Norway will draw on the precautionary stock of vaccines it had built up when it received the first doses. “We (…) now have the possibility to compensate for the reduction in deliveries thanks to the emergency stock that we have in NorwayGeir Bukholm said in the statement. “This stock at our disposal will compensate for a reduction in deliveries planned for a few weeks in the future, if the need arises.“, he added.

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Although it is not a member of the European Union, the Nordic country is closely associated with it in many areas, including in the context of the purchase of anti-Covid vaccines negotiated by Brussels. Like many European countries, Oslo began the vaccination campaign with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on December 27 and injected rival Moderna’s first vaccine on Friday. As of Thursday, 42,003 people had been vaccinated against Covid in the country, or 0.78% of the population.

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Sanofi and the government are studying the possibility for the French pharmaceutical group to use its production chains to produce anti-Covid vaccines from BioNTech and Janssen laboratories, Minister Delegate for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher said on Friday.

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Sanofi is working on the development of two anti-Covid vaccines but will not be able to offer one before the end of 2021. Could it therefore, like French pharmaceutical subcontractors, make available by then its production lines to manufacture anti-Covid vaccines from other pharmaceutical groups? Agnès Pannier-Runacher indicated that she asked her: “We are watching with them, and they are watching with on one side BioNTech and on the other side Janssen If it’s possible“, Laboratories”with which there is the most chance to get there».

Without citing any laboratory name, Sanofi, questioned by AFP, indicated that “assesses in particular the technical feasibility of temporarily performing certain manufacturing steps to support other manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines“, Stressing that it was”at this stage “of” still very preliminary reflection».

According to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the question is first of all “technique»: «Do they have tanks and teams, manufacturing capacities that are freeAnd are not busy, for example, producing the influenza vaccine? It is also about knowing “how quickly can they develop this manufacturing“, while “technology transfers“Should be done”in three to five months for filling the doses “plus” a few more months for the active principle part“, against “12 to 18 months normally».

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Producing a vaccine within this timeframe is an “extraordinary performance”

Faced with criticism leveled against Sanofi, accused of being behind its competitors, the minister wanted “breaking an urban legend»: «Sanofi was to deliver in July (…), they are three months late, like other vaccines today“, She argued, stressing that even with this delay, producing a vaccine within these deadlines is already”an extraordinary performance».

In France, the French pharmaceutical subcontractor Delpharm announced in November that it would produce part of the Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, in its Normandy factory. The factory of its counterpart Recipharm must for its part produce the Moderna vaccine from the end of February / beginning of March, had specified Ms. Pannier-Runacher on January 8.

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Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Friday on franceinfo that these vaccines “products on French territory“Will enter”in the quota»Vaccines ordered by Europe and distributed to France according to its population. They will therefore not be added to his quota.

The French distribution giant Carrefour was approached by the Canadian food group Couche-Tard for a “rapprochementThe two companies said in separate press releases on Tuesday. “Discussions are very preliminary“, Declared Carrefour, while specifying that the approach of Couche-Tard was”friendly“. On the Paris Bourse, investors are already rejoicing: from the start of trading on Wednesday, Carrefour’s share has soared by more than 10%. By mid-afternoon, it still climbed to 17.83 euros.

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«The terms of the transaction are still under discussion“, For his part said Couche-Tard, confirming that he would like to conclude a”friendly transaction“. This language suggests that Couche-Tard would not launch, for the moment, a takeover bid (takeover bid) on Carrefour if it ever encountered opposition from the French group. “There can be no certainty at this stage that these preliminary discussions will lead to an agreement.“, Warned Couche-Tard, present in North America, Europe and Latin America through convenience stores.

In the afternoon, Couche-Tard clarified having “recently submitted to Carrefour a non-binding letter of intent with a view to a friendly rapprochement”, On the basis of a price of 20 euros per share which would value the French distributor at more than 16 billion euros excluding debt.

Merge attempt

These announcements came after information from Bloomberg. According to the press agency, citing anonymous sources, the merger that Couche-Tard wants would take the form of a merger with Carrefour, which claims a network of 12,300 stores in more than thirty countries across worldwide and employs over 320,000 people. Such a transaction would be a thunderclap in the world of distribution, where Couche-Tard still plays a minor role, while Carrefour is one of the major players alongside the American hypermarket giant Walmart.

Created in Quebec in 1980 with only one store, Couche-Tard has nevertheless become in forty years a global giant of convenience stores – named “convenience stores»In the French-speaking province – convenience stores with very extended opening hours offering a limited selection of food products, newspapers and cigarettes. By their geographic location and by the type of products sold, the activities of Carrefour and Couche-tard overlap little: 70% of the Canadian’s turnover is generated by the sale of gasoline, and it is mainly present in the States. -United. “If these discussions were successful, the positive point is that there would not be a lot of duplicate activities that could lead to job cuts.”, Estimates Sylvain Macé, national CFDT delegate at Carrefour.

A network of more than 14,000 stores

The group established itself in the United States in the early 2000s by acquiring smaller competitors, then in Northern Europe in 2012 with the acquisition of the Norwegian group Statoil, for 2.8 billion US dollars. Couche-Tard has a network of more than 14,000 of these stores operated under various brands, including Circle K, mainly in North America, but also in Northern Europe, Latin America and Asia. Most of these stores are associated with gas stations selling fuel.

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Couche-Tard, which has more than 130,000 employees worldwide, made a noticeable entry into the Asian market in November by acquiring the Hong Kong group Convenience Retail Asia for nearly $ 360 million. The price of a possible merger with Carrefour should amount to billions of dollars.

The French group achieved a turnover of 80.7 billion euros in 2019 and posted a market capitalization of 12.64 billion euros on the Paris Stock Exchange on Tuesday evening. For its part, Couche-Tard posted a profit of nearly 2.4 billion US dollars in its fiscal year postponed to 2019, on a turnover of 54 billion dollars. The group posted a capitalization of 30.3 billion euros on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday evening.

2020, a black year for Renault. After posting a net loss of 7.3 billion euros in the first half, the manufacturer unveiled Tuesday business results, relating to the number of vehicles sold last year, below the performance of its competitors.

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The Renault group (Renault, Dacia, Lada, Renault Samsung Motors, Alpine) sold less than 3 million vehicles in 2020: 2.95 million precisely. The drop is 21.3% compared to 2019, while the global auto market fell by 14.2%. In all the regions where it is present, the French manufacturer suffered a drop in sales last year that was greater than that of the market – except in Russia where Renault is the leader thanks to Lada.

By comparison, the German BMW, which also published its 2020 sales on Tuesday, posted a decline of 8.34% to 2.32 million units sold, including 192,646 BMW and Mini electrified.

The health crisis has obviously plunged the group’s sales, especially in the first half of the year (- 34.9%). “The second half shows better resilience and good performance in the electric and hybrid markets. We are starting the year 2021 with a higher level of orders than in 2019, a declining stock level and an increasing price positioning across the entire range ”, emphasizes Denis le Vot, Renault group sales director. .

C02 objectives achieved

The good performance in Europe of the ZOE and the Kangoo ZE on the electric vehicle market is undeniable: 115,888 units have been sold, which represents an increase of 101.4% compared to 2019. Renault also benefited from the launch this were hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of Clio, Captur and Mégane: 30,000 were sold in Europe. This movement to electrify the range will continue in 2021 with the deployment of the electric Twingo and the arrival of the Dacia electric Spring.

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The other good news concerns the reduction targets for CO emissions.₂ sales of cars and light commercial vehicles in Europe set by the European Commission. Thanks to the rebound in sales of electrics and plug-in hybrids, the Renault group fell below the 100 g of CO barrier₂ per km and per vehicle, which will avoid paying fines.

Renault also relies on hydrogen to electrify its utilities. The group announced Tuesday the creation of a joint venture with the American Plug Power, a pioneer of the fuel cell. A project similar to that of Michelin and Faurecia with Symbio. Together Renault and Plug Power will convert the Renault Master to hydrogen at the end of 2021, then the Renault Trafic.

Pending the financial results for 2020 published in February, all eyes are on Luca de Meo, the group’s CEO, who will detail his strategic plan called RenauLuTion on Thursday morning.

The return of the R5

The leader had drawn the broad outlines last September. A group refocused around four brands: Renault, Dacia, Alpine and Mobilize in mobility services. Savings, already announced, of 2 billion euros over three years and probably increased. And some surprises, with the almost certain comeback of the R5. In 2007, Luca de Meo took part at Fiat in the relaunch of the Fiat 500, a success. He could repeat the exercise with the Renault 5 – the five is definitely a lucky number – of which an electric version would be created.

The leader will come back on his roadmap to make the group a world champion in seven to eight years, as he had promised employees in the fall.

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