Month: July 2018

As the summer season opens, the artist Philippe Pastor has reminded us of the fragility of our environment, especially the risk of forest fires that regularly ravage the PACA region.
Following the black sculptures of “Burnt Trees”, installed in the summer of 2017, Philippe Pastor is currently presenting a new coloured version at Château des Marres made up of red and yellow enamelled plates. Positioned at the edge of one of the busiest roads of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, the monumental sculptures call to the public for constant vigilance against forest fires.

At the same time, in Monaco, the Jonckheere gallery unveils the latest bronze version of “Burnt Trees”. The sculpture is presented alongside paintings of the series “Blue Monochrome” devoted to the theme of the sea and the environmental issues that affect it. These works are part of the exhibition “Modernity & Primitivism”, in collaboration with the Parisian gallery Lucas Ratton.

Initiated in 2003, the “Burnt Trees” project has become a symbol of the fight against deforestation. Sculpture installations have been exhibited throughout the world, including New York, Singapore and the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi.

Pastor reaffirms his commitment to nature through his participation in Plant for the Planet, the Billion Tree Campaign, launched in 2007 by the United Nations Development Programme. In 2015, the sculptures are part of the Monaco Pavilion of the Universal Exhibition in Milan whose theme “Feed the Planet, Energy for Life” focussed on environmental issues sensitive to the artist.

A note of urgency has been sounded by the political leaders of the three small states currently in talks with the European Union over their future status and trading relationships.

Last week, the head of the Government of the Principality of Andorra and Nicola Renzi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Political Affairs and Justice of the Republic of San Marino, were in Monaco to confer with Serge Telle, Minister of State, and Gilles Tonelli, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Talks that started more than five years ago are due to finish by next year, and there can be no doubt about the importance of their outcome. Monaco and the other small states are anxious to continue to have access to a common market of 500 million people for the most basic of economic reasons. However, it is vitally important that the European Union does not see fit to impose unacceptable constraints on the freedoms and specific nature of the three small states, of which Monaco is undoubtedly the smallest, Monaco’s government leaders have repeatedly said.

The three small states, while sharing their concerns and their strategies, also realise that relations with the European Union need to be settled and codifed. “Nothing can be done around isolation and thinking that it will last forever, we all agree,” Antoni Martí Petit said in Monaco in 2017.

Perhaps the major sticking point for Monaco is free movement of people and business, given the special protection afforded at present to enterprises registered in the Principality.

CREM, the Foreign Residents’ Club of Monaco, has two events in September for which there are still places available. On Thursday, September 6, the Club is organising ‘Discovery Day of the Mediterranean Lands,’ which includes a private tour of the Domaine de la Source Bellet, on the heights of Nice, with wine and olive tasting.

Lunch is on the Port of Nice, followed by a private tour of the Florian candy store and its secret recipes.

The cost is 150 euros for members and 175 euros for non-members. Departure is at 08:30, with a return to Monaco at about 17:00.

On Saturday, September 15, an exciting sea excursion on board the Narwhal will take members and guests to the Pelagos Sanctuary, a protected marine area of 87,500 kilometres, to watch the whales. Breakfast and lunch will be taken on board, with a start at 08:00 and a return at about 14:00 to the Port of Monaco. The cost is a very reasonable 120 euros for members and 150 euros for non-members. Places are limited.

For both events, please reserve through the member area at www.crem.mc, or by emailing info@crem.mc or calling +377 97 98 01 77.

While several European cities have said they have attracted significant numbers of financial sector workers as banks prepare plans for Britain after Brexit, an industry group in Paris has claimed that the French capital is the most popular destination.

Gerard Mestrallet, president of the lobby group Paris Europlace, said at the opening of the group’s annual conference that Paris expects to create about 3,500 finance and banking jobs.

The figure “is much higher than the direct job transfers to other European financial capitals,” he told The Local.

Meanwhile, US asset management giant Blackrock and Citigroup are among the companies planning to move some operations to Paris, according to British media reports.

Mestrallet claimed that transfers from London could generate an additional 20,000 indirect jobs. He credited President Emmanuel Macron, who, he said, has succeeded in making labour laws less restrictive for employers. “We’ve made more progress in the past two years in Paris than over the previous 13 years,” he said, citing the end of a wealth tax on financial assets and a new flat tax on capital income, including dividends and interest payouts.

Rivals for post-Brexit financial activities include Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin.

Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers Inc. on Monday, July 23, reported its results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018. The Board of Directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share on the company’s common stock.

For the six months ended June 30, 2018, the company’s GAAP net loss was $5.0 million or $0.07 loss per diluted share.  For the same period in 2017, the Company’s GAAP net loss was $48.0 million, or $0.67 loss per diluted share. Total vessel revenues for the first half of 2018 were $114.9 million, compared to $72.5 million for the same period in 2017. EBITDA for the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017 were $48.4 million and a loss of less than $100,000, respectively.

While the first half of 2018 included no non-GAAP adjustments to net income, the company’s first half of 2017 net income included a loss/write-off of vessels and assets held for sale of $17.7 million and the write-off of deferred financing costs on the credit facility related to those specific vessels of $0.5 million. Excluding these items, the company’s first half of 2017 adjusted net loss was $29.8 million, or $0.41 adjusted loss per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA for the first half of 2017 was $17.7 million.

On June 28, 2018, the Company took delivery of the SBI Lynx, a Kamsarmax vessel, from Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.

Visitors to Larvotto Beach will be able to enjoy a distraction from the beach itself again this year, on two days in the last week of July and the first week of August.

The pop-up Bibliomer aims to educate the younger beach-goers in the richness of the Mediterranean Sea and the coastal zone, with a focus on playfulness and entertainment. There will be games on the preservation of marine biodiversity and waste management, the Department of the Environment says.

The dates of Bibliomer’s beach visit are Wednesday, July 25 and Monday, August 6, between 16:00 and 19:00, just as the sun starts to cast a shadow over the beach itself.