By Maria Sheahan, Toby Sterling and Alvise Armellini

BERLIN/AMSTERDAM/MILAN (Reuters) -Europeans snapped up smartphones, Christmas decorations, sweaters and jewellery during a surge in shopping over the Black Friday weekend, though prospects for the festive season remained gloomy, retailers said.

A survey of 400 businesses by Germany’s HDE retailers’ association showed just over half of merchants said they were still dissatisfied with sales last week, versus some 30% who were satisfied.

Retailers across Europe fear the overall Christmas trading season could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut back, hit by double-digit inflation and soaring energy bills.

However, early indications suggest Black Friday has provided some relief.

“Business clearly picked up at the weekend,” HDE’s General Manager Stefan Genth said in a statement.

In the Netherlands, data from credit card transactions and online shops showed strong year-on-year growth for the Black Friday week, though Dutch price inflation of 15% played a role.

Data from International Card Services showed transaction numbers in Holland up 12% and spending up 30% for the week.

Large purchases such as electronics and furniture were rare. Spending was highest at department stores, for shoes and clothing and for food and drinks, ICS said.

Italian retailers offered a mixed picture.

Giulio Felloni, chairman of Federazione Moda Italia Confcommercio, a trade body for Italian fashion retailers, told Reuters that sales across the sector were down by 10-15% compared to last year.

“Black Friday has lost some of its meaning for fashion retailers as it’s no longer on a single day but spread out over a week or even a month. It still works for domestic appliances, electronics, online sales,” Felloni said.

In contrast, Gabriel Meghnagi of the Milan section of Italian retailers’ association Confcommercio said sales over the past weekend were up by “more than 10%” year-on-year, with shoppers spending on average 150-160 euros each, rising to more than 200 euros for clothing.

HDE expects German retail sales to total more than 120 billion euros ($125 billion) in November and December, down 4% in real terms from the year-earlier period.

Only 20% of respondents to the HDE survey said they were optimistic about sales between now and the end of the year.

“The Christmas business is marked by the energy crisis. Retailers are feeling the uncertainty of consumers,” Genth said, with inner-city retailers still feeling the impact of COVID-19.

In Britain, the volume of payments made on Cyber Monday was up 5.0% compared to the same day in 2021, data from Barclaycard Payments showed.

Barclaycard Payments, which says it processes nearly 1 pound ($1.20) of every 3 pounds spent on credit and debit cards in the UK, said Black Friday payment transactions were up 3.59% year-on-year.

Black Friday shopper numbers across Britain rose 9.3% year-on-year, according to data from researcher Springboard, but was still down 17.5% versus 2019. It said footfall on Saturday and Sunday was up 14.8% and 8.5% year-on-year respectively.

Separately on Monday, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said retail sales slid in November and stores are braced for a difficult December as the cost-of-living crisis chips away at consumers’ spending power.

($1 = 0.9598 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Toby Sterling; additional reporting by James Davey; writing by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Alexander Smith, Jan Harvey and Bernadette Baum)

By Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh

BERLIN (Reuters) – Building a lithium-ion battery factory in Germany, Europe’s top car producer, had seemed like a no-brainer for Northvolt. But a new U.S. law offering hefty subsidies to local manufacturers of green technology has given the company pause for thought. 

    Chief Executive Peter Carlsson said that under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Swedish-based Northvolt could get up to 800 million euros ($836 million) in U.S. state aid to build a factory making the batteries used in electric vehicles.

    That is roughly four times what the German government is offering, he said, with cheaper energy prices in the United States on top. As a result, the company is considering delaying its plans to build a factory in Heide, northern Germany.

    “We are now at a point where we may prioritise expansion in the U.S. over Europe first,” said Carlsson.

    Other company executives have echoed that sentiment in recent weeks, adding to signs that the $430 billion IRA, signed into U.S. law in August, is starting to lure investments in green technology away from Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse.

The act introduces tax credits related to investment in green technology, plus tax breaks for consumers buying an electric vehicle or other green product made in North America.

German carmakers and suppliers, for which the United States is a main export market, are among its biggest victims.

    An October survey by the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) showed 39% of companies wanted to increase investment in the United States compared with 32% for Europe.

    And DIHK’s trade chief Volker Treier told Reuters the U.S.-German Chambers of Commerce had seen increased German investment in the United States, especially in the auto sector. 

    “If we don’t do anything, a lot will emerge in the United States,” said Siemens Energy Chief Executive Christian Bruch. “The risk of migration is there.”

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, of the Greens party, told Handelsblatt newspaper there was a danger “the next wave of technological innovation does not take place in Europe” – innovation key to helping Europe exit its energy crisis.  

Industrial jobs could “disappear from Germany and Europe”, the head of the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) Lars Klingbeil told Reuters.

    EUROPE, USA WRANGLE OVER EXEMPTIONS

    Habeck and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire last week urged a strong European response to the IRA, which they said violates World Trade Organization rules.

    No country has yet officially launched a legal challenge against the IRA with the trade body, although both China and Russia raised concerns about it during an Oct. 25 WTO meeting on subsidies.

    Europe and the United States, which aim to project a united front in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine, are negotiating possibly reversing parts of the act or seeking exemptions for European companies modelled on those for Mexico and Canada.

French President Emmanuel Macron will try during a state visit to the United States this week to convince Washington it is not in its interests to weaken European companies while Western allies are facing intense competition from China.

“U.S. autos trade unions also say that one should differentiate between cars produced in China and those produced in Germany with our tariff conditions,” Klingbeil said following a trip to the United States.

    The matter is expected to be addressed at a meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council on Dec. 5.

INDUSTRIAL POLICY REVAMP NEEDED?

In Germany, criticism of European complacency and calls to introduce measures to boost competitiveness as growing.

“Quicker decisions (on projects), subsidies … other financial support for companies” are some possible solutions, Habeck said.

Europe has its own large subsidies available for investment in green technology, he said – the problem is mobilizing them in a timely manner and obtaining the necessary permits from local and national authorities.

That is one reason CMBlu Energy, a German company that has developed batteries for green energy that do not require special critical minerals, has decided to build its first factory in the United States, Chief Executive Peter Geigle told German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

    “We were going to have to change our industrial policy anyhow as we are under enormous time pressure,” Habeck said. “We cannot afford construction times of 12 years for a hydrogen plant.”

Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schaefer accused the European Union on Monday of “sticking to outdated and bureaucratic state aid rules that promote regions rather than preserving and transforming entire industrial sites”.

New strategic instruments like the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) focused on “the long-term development of new technologies rather than the short-term ramp-up, scaling and industrialisation of production”, he wrote on LinkedIn.

“The EU urgently needs new instruments to avert insidious de-industrialisation,” Schaefer said. “We have no time to lose.”

($1 = 0.9571 euros)

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh, Andreas Rinke, Rene Wagner and Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, Christoph Steitz, Patricia Weiss, Tom Kaeckenhoff in Frankfurt, Emma Farge in Geneva, Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Phil Blenksinsop in Brussels; Editing by Catherine Evans)

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Microsoft is likely to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to its $69 billion bid for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. software giant and Xbox maker announced the deal in January to help it compete better with leaders Tencent and Sony.

It has since then faced regulatory headwinds in the European Union, Britain and in the United States, with Sony criticising the deal and even calling for a regulatory veto.

The deadline for the European Commission, which is investigating the deal, to set out a formal list of competition concerns known as a statement of objection is in January. Offering remedies before such a document is issued could shorten the regulatory process.

“Ultimately, such a move could secure an early clearance with the European Commission and subsequently be used by the parties before other antitrust agencies,” said Stephane Dionnet, a partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery.

“However, it remains to be seen whether the active complainants will validate such concessions (in particular in terms of scope) and if behavioural remedies will also be accepted by the CMA and the FTC,” he said, referring to the UK and U.S. antitrust agencies.

Microsoft’s remedy would consist mainly of a 10-year licensing deal to Playstation owner Sony, another person with direct knowledge said.

Activision shares were up 2% after the Reuters story was published.

The EU competition watchdog, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by April 11, and Sony declined to comment.

Microsoft said it was working with the Commission to address valid marketplace concerns.

“Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation. We want people to have more access to games, not less,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

The deal has been cleared unconditionally in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey, Lisa Shumaker and David Evans)

(Reuters) -Polish video game maker CD Projekt’s third-quarter net profit jumped more than 500%, topping expectations, helped by sales of its flagship Cyberpunk 2077 game.

Interest in the game was spurred by the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series which premiered on Netflix in September, and the release of an update to the game, the company said.

“The popularity of the series and the positive reception of the 1.6 update to Cyberpunk 2077, released a week earlier, had a measurable impact on the game’s sales,” CD Projekt Chief Executive Adam Kicinski said in a statement.

Net profit came in 98.7 million zlotys ($21.94 million), compared to the 88 million zlotys expected by analysts.

The studio also behind The Witcher franchise reported revenue of 245.5 million zlotys, up 70% and above expectations of 239 million zlotys.

The third quarter was the best so far this year for sales of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt’s Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz said, without giving a specific number.

The company said in September it had sold 20 million copies of the game so far, compared to more than 13.7 million it earlier said it had sold in its debut year.

($1 = 4.4981 zlotys)

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Jan Harvey)