Renault Announces Green Factory in Morocco

"CO2 emissions will be reduced by 98 percent, which is about 135,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided each year. No water used in the industrial process will be released into the natural environment," Renault president for the Euro-Mediterranean region Jacques Chauvet said.

Renault has been working with Veolia Environnement to cut the site’s consumption with Renault revising its painting process, especially in the baking phases. Substantial energy savings have been made by combining innovative technologies and best practices for the recovery of energy in the paintshop, which accounts for 70% of the plant’s thermal energy consumption.



The thermal energy requirements of the Tangier plant will be cut by 35% (more than 40 GWh PCI per year), compared with a plant with an equivalent production capacity.

The factory will be electrically powered by renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, as well as hydroelectricity.

Renault’s Tangier plant, which will produce vehicles based on the B0 platform (Logan), will start up in early 2012 with one production line and an annual output capacity of 170,000 vehicles. Ultimately, capacity will be increased to 400,000 vehicles per year.

Morocco: Business Opportunities Attract British Companies

Morocco (Rabat) - Morocco is brimming with business opportunities in different fields, notably ICT, education, agriculture, financial services, building and renewable energies, important sectors in which British companies are interested, Deputy Chief Executive of the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), Susan Haird said.

"Morocco is a very good trading partner for the United Kingdom," Haird told the Moroccan News Agency MAP at the end of a four-day visit to Morocco (June 1-4), during which she met with Moroccan and British businessmen and visited several British businesses operating in Morocco, such as Shell, Uniliver, Scott Wilson, G4S…etc.

She underlined that "there is a lot of goodwill from both sides" to further promote their trade relations, adding that trade between the two countries reached 3 billion pounds last year. "There is always scope to do more, and we are hoping to do more."

The British official added that there are many opportunities for British companies to do their business in Morocco as "Casablanca seeks to make itself a regional hub for finance.”

“I’m here to see what the opportunities are for strengthening trade between our countries,” Haird said, adding that the two countries have “good” trade relations.

The UKTI Deputy Chief Executive said the UK is a “very important investor” in Morocco, adding that there are many Britain-based companies investing in Morocco and there is a very active British chamber of commerce for Morocco.

The British official commended Morocco’s large-scale anti-poverty programme, “the National Initiative for Human development (INDH)”, saying that it “is extremely important” to fight poverty and develop human capital.

The country is “doing great things to eradicate poverty,” She said.

In this respect, she underlined that the “British investors will be interested to take part in this initiative, as part of their cooperative social responsibilities programs.”

Morocco’s Economy Resisted the Crisis Extremely Well
“Morocco’s economy has resisted the crisis extremely well,” Haird said, adding that “your banks were not hurt as some western banks were.”

She recalled that Morocco’s economy grew by 5% last year and is expected to grow by about 3% this year. “It’s a very high growth rate in this troubled time,” she stressed.

She noted, however, that some of Morocco’s export markets suffered from the economic downturn, stressing the need to find other means to achieve growth, such as encouraging domestic consumption and looking to new growing markets and traditional partners which are also growing.

Britain Has Emerged From Recession
“Likewise many countries, Britain has suffered from the global recession,” Haird said, adding that “now, we have emerged from recession: we had two consecutive quarters of growth, many of the economic indicators are very strong and people are feeling very optimistic.”

“I’m confident that Britain’s economy has returned to growth and will continue to grow”, Haird noted, stressing that the country “has very good foundations for economy, very competitive companies and lots of very strong sectors.”

Talking about the ways out of recession, she said that “the UK government is placing a lot of emphasis on the import/export-led growth because a number of our traditional trading partners, including some of our EU partners, have indeed been in recession.”

“I do believe that export is key to recovery,” she said, adding that the UK companies “have been looking for less traditional export markets and see if they can export their exports there.” (MAP)

2ND MOROCCO PROPERTY EXPO IN MONTREAL

Washington / Morocco Board News Service - The second edition of Morocco Property Expo will be held in Montreal’s Convention Center June 26th & 27th 2010. This real estate exhibition is seeking to facilitate the acquisition of properties for Moroccans living abroad who want to acquire a home in the old country.
The first edition, Last year, attracted more than 4,000 visitors. The exhibition lasted 2 days and featured the largest real estate groups in Morocco. Visitors who decided to acquire a property in Morocco were able to close the deal on the spot. The first edition was marked by the attendance of Mr. Ahmed Taoufik Hejira, minister of housing, Nouzha Chekrouni, Moroccan Ambassador to Canada.
The interest in the exhibition is fueled by the growing real estate in Morocco and also by the larger numbers of Moroccans living in North America. Montreal and other East Coast US Cities have known an important flow of Moroccans in the last years. This year the organizers are outreaching to Moroccan Immigrants in major cities such as Québec, Toronto, Boston, New York and Washington.

Real estate groups from Morocco are aware that the growing Moroccan communities in Canada and in the U.S. represent a strong potential market. This year exhibitors include groups like groupe CGI, Al Omrane, Alliances Darna, AM immobilier, Attijariwafa Bank are investing in this event. Exhibitions of this type are usually held in Europe where attracting these exhibitors is much easier. Moroccans in North America are still not as numerous when compared to Europe and are considered to have different profiles.

Casablanca Stock Exchange stepping up to finance the Moroccan economy

Morocco - Having weathered the global financial meltdown, the Casablanca Stock Exchange (la Bourse de Casablanca) is stepping up to its central role of financing the Moroccan economy. Over the next few years, Africa's third-largest bourse seeks to double its number of listed companies and more than quadruple its number of investors.

At the end of September, CSE head Karim Haji told international press, "Our goal is to draw 75 new companies by 2015." He added that the bourse was currently eyeing 500 companies for potential listing. This target corresponds to the government's greater drive to modernise the financial market and establish Morocco as a financial hub for Africa.

Only 77 companies are currently listed on the CSE, due in part to a wave of delistings in 2008. Buyouts were responsible for a number of companies, including paper maker Le Carton and life insurer La Marocaine Vie, removing their shares from the market. Market depth also presents a challenge, with only 20 companies trading daily. Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), accounting for 95% the economy, are underrepresented on the stock market. As well, despite Morocco's strong ties to francophone Africa, no foreign companies are listed.

However, the CSE's paucity of listings belies its market value. For a brief period in 2009, Morocco's stock exchange surpassed Egypt's to become the continent's second largest, trailing South Africa's Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Many foreign investors may still see Morocco as a small market, possibly due to a substantial delisting by the regulator 10 years ago for infractions that brought the number of companies listed to 42.

The bourse's expansion strategy includes increasing its investor base. "We also aim to have 500,000 active individual investors by 2015 versus roughly 120,000 now," Haji stated. A major selling point is that the CSE has had the world's highest average annual investor gain - 15% - for the past 10 years and capitalisation has increased five times over that period.

Another gambit to attract investors to Morocco is setting up a derivatives market for swaps, futures and commodities trading. With the draft law currently being reviewed in parliament, Haji predicts that the derivatives market could be up and running within 18 months.

With limited correlation to international markets, the CSE fared better than other African stock exchanges in the financial crisis, falling less than 14% in 2008, while Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index's took a 57% dive. The primary reason for this is foreign investors account for only 5% of the market. Trading volume was more affected, retreating 32%, while capitalisation stood at €48bn at the end of July 2009, down from a March 2008 high of €63bn. However, the government expects the economy to remain resilient, with 5.4% growth expected in 2009.

Haji told international press that Morocco wants to become "a stepping stone for investors from the US, Asia, Europe and the Middle East looking for opportunities to diversify investments." One subgroup specifically being targeted is Moroccan expatriates, who have traditionally invested in real estate. However, to attract them to the stock market, the entire financial system needs to mobilise. "The stock market may set up promotion and communication incentives, but ultimately it is the investment banks that will convince entrepreneurs to list their companies and will assist them in the process," Haji told OBG. He also mentioned that the government should renew a five-year tax exemption of up to 50%, which gives companies an incentive to float shares. Another strategy being considered is allowing foreign firms to list in Casablanca and repatriate the money raised.

Following a record number of initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2007, only five took place in 2008 due to unfavourable market conditions. All were oversubscribed by individual investors betting on post-IPO rallies, though stock in four of these companies fell after they went public. No IPOs have taken place in 2009 so far and none are expected for the remainder of the year.

Hassan Ait Ali, the CEO of Upline Corporate Finance, told OBG that market participants want laws incentivising long-term investment, as well as general financial reform. "The CSE operators need to focus more on marketing its stability, transparency and technology to international actors. Morocco could become a hub for Western/sub-Saharan African investments and the bourse has developed the necessary know-how, but we need to work on extending the reach and exposure of the market," he said.