French nuclear firm Areva shares to be suspended

French nuclear energy giant Areva asked that trading in its shares be suspended Monday, shortly before the opening of the Paris stock exchange, the company said. Areva, which is majority owned by the French state, was expected to reveal major losses and job cuts later in the day, along with a new strategic plan to restructure its international operations. Sources told AFP last month that Areva was planning to cut at least 2,700 jobs and slash investments by 40 percent to generate at least 750 million euros ($1 billion) in annual savings by 2015. Areva and the government have denied French jobs will be lost and the job cuts are most likely to affect the company's operations in Germany, which has announced plans to shut all of its reactors by the end of 2022.