Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 18th April 2024

18th April 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mostly higher after gradually shrugging off headwinds from the tech-led selling in the US. ASX 200 was led by the mining industry after BHP's encouraging quarterly production update. Nikkei 225 recovered all of its opening losses and returned to above the 38,000 level. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. conformed to the positive mood but with upside capped in the mainland by US-China trade frictions after President Biden called for an increase in tariffs on Chinese metals.

BHP (BHP AT) - Quarterly iron ore WAIO production 68.1mln tons (prev. 66.2mln tons Y/Y), nickel output 18.8k tons (prev. 19.6k tons Y/Y), copper output 465.9k tons (prev. 405.9k tons Y/Y) and metallurgical coal output 6.0mln tons (prev. 6.9mln tons Y/Y)

TSMC (2330 TW) - Q1 (TWD) Net 225bln (exp. 213bln). CapEx USD 5.77bln (prev. 5.24bln Q/Q). (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.12% at 17,737.64, FTSE 100: +0.35% at 7,798.57, CAC 40: +0.62% at 7,958.00, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.05% at 4,899.45, IBEX 35: +0.97% at 10,528.50, FTSE MIB: +0.72% at 33,384.23, SMI: +0.21% at 11,181.81.

SECTORS: Consumer Disc 1.12%, Financials 0.68%, Consumer Stpl 0.66%, Materials 0.52%, Telecoms 0.47%, Energy 0.28%, Utilities 0.23%, Industrials 0.01%, Healthcare -0.41%, IT -3.70%

FTSE 100

DS Smith (SMDS LN) - Moody's said International Paper's (IP) merger with DS Smith is credit positive. (Newswires)

Ex-Dividends - Antofagasta (ANTO LN), BAE Systems (BA/ LN), Unite (UTG LN), Croda (CRDA LN), LSEG (LSEG LN), Weir (WEIR LN), Fresnillo (FRES LN) will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Asos (ASC LN) - Shein is reportedly among those interested in Asos’ Topshop. (Times)

IDS (IDS LN) - Confirms on April 9th received a prelim. non-binding proposal from EP Group around a ossible deal at GBP 3.20/shr. Board concluded it significantly undervalues IDS and its future prospects. Accordingly, the Board unanimously rejected the proposal on 11th April. (IDS) IDS closed at GBP 2.59/shr

BROKER MOVES

Flutter (FLTR LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC

DAX

Sartorius (SRT GY) - Q1 (EUR): EBITDA 234mln (exp. 240mln), Revenue 819.6bln (exp. 860mln). Says demand in China remains weak. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Hypoport (HYQ GY) - Q1 Transaction volumes EUR 18.4bln (prev. 16.5bln Y/Y). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Henkel (HEN3 GY) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank

CAC

Alstom (ALO FP) - The Times reports that a contract for extra Metro Line rolling stock within the UK will be signed as soon as May. (Times) Follows similar reports earlier in the week, Times piece adds more specific timing.

Danone (BN FP) - Revenue 6.79bln (exp. 6.60bln); affirms FY24 guidance. Confident that 2024 will be another year where we deliver on our value creation mode. (Newswires)

Publicis (PUB FP) - Proposes change to its governance structure. Arthur Sadous would become Chairman and CEO of the board. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Arkema (AKE FP) - Signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake of nearly 78% in Proionic. (Newswires)

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (DIM FP) - Q1 (EUR): Adj. EBITDA 234.4mln (exp. 196mln), Revenue 819.6mln (exp. 719mln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Brunello Cucinelli (BCU IM) - Q1 2024 (EUR): Revenue 309.1mln (exp. 310mln, prev. 265.3mln Y/Y), +17.9%; expectation of a solid increase in turnover in the region of 10% in 2025 is becoming increasingly more concrete. CEO expects EBIT margin of 16.6-16.7% in 2024. (Newswires)

Chip/Tech Names - Q1 results from TSMC saw net beat exp. (details above) while the US session saw updates from Micron, Microsoft & Oralce (details below).

MediaForEurope (MEFA IM) - Preview of FY23 (EUR): Net Profit 217.5mln (exp. 332mln, prev. 184.7mln Y/Y). (Newswires)

Mining/Metal Names - BHP Quarterly Production figures (details above).

Telecom Italia (TIT IM) - Acknowledges complaints by made shareholder Bluebell Capital, and said Co. has no evidence of the complaint. (Newswires)

Viscofan (VIS SM) - Q1 (EUR): Net 31.6mln, EBITDA 61.6mln (exp. 62mln), Revenue 289.7mln (exp. 298mln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

ABB (ABBN SW) - Q1 (USD): Net Income 905mln (exp. 872mln), Revenue 7.87bln (exp. 8.13bln), EPS 0.49 (exp. 0.47). Notes 2024 has started off well with stronger-than-expected order momentum. (Newswires)

UBS (UBSG SW) - Co. is reportedly planning another round of job reductions, via Bloomberg citing sources; to impact over 100 positions. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Schindler (SCHP SW) - Q1 (CHF): Revenue 2.67bln (exp. 2.71bln). Adj. margin 11.1% (prev. 9.7% Y/Y) (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Givaudan (GIVN SW) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS

SCANDINAVIA

Forvia (FRVIA FH) - Q1 (EUR): Sales 6.53bln (exp. 6.51bln). Order intake 6.5bln (prev. 5.5bln). (Newswires)

Nokia (NOKIA FH) - Q1 (EUR) EPS 0.09 (exp. 0.07), sales 4.67bln (exp. 5.00bln). Notes that the environemnt is still challenging but order trends continue to improve. (Newswires)

Nordea Bank (NDA FH) - Q1 (EUR): Net Profit 1.36bln (exp. 1.18bln), NII 1.95bln (prev. 1.77bln Y/Y). (Newswires)

Tele2 (TEL2A SS) Q1 (EUR): Net 809mln (prev. 0.8bln Y/Y), Underlying EBITDA 2.6bln (prev. 2.5bln Y/Y), Revenue 7.2bln (prev. 7bln Y/Y). Confirms FY24 guidance. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

TopDanmark (TOP DC) upgraded to Hold from Reduce at HSBC

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.58% at 5,022, NDX -1.24% at 17,493, DJIA -0.12% at 37,753, RUT -0.99% at 1,947.

SECTORS: Technology -1.71%, Real Estate -0.80%, Consumer Discretionary -0.57%, Industrials -0.57%, Energy -0.34%, Health -0.18%, Communication Services -0.12%, Financials +0.20%, Materials +0.21%, Consumer Staples +0.46%, Utilities +2.08%.

Micron (MU) - Is reported to get over USD 6bln in Chips Act grants next week. (Newswires)

Microsoft (MSFT) - Is to reportedly avoid a formal EU probe over USD 13bln OpenAI deal, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Oracle (ORCL) - Is to invest more than USD 8bln in Japan over 10 years to expand data centres, according to Nikkei. (Nikkei)

18 Apr 2024 - 06:58- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk