Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 20th February 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks mostly declined with sentiment dampened by ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and after US President Trump's latest comments in which he repeated criticism against Ukrainian President Zelensky and said he will announce tariffs on cars, semiconductors, chips, pharma and probably lumber over the next month or sooner. ASX 200 was pressured with mining, materials and financials among the worst performing sectors, while participants digested a slew of earnings releases including from the likes of Rio Tinto and Fortescue. Nikkei 225 suffered from the ill effects of a firmer currency and slipped beneath the 39,000 level as Japan's 10yr yield initially climbed to its highest since November 2009. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the downbeat mood amid trade frictions and US tariff threats, while China unsurprisingly maintained the Loan Prime Rates. However, the mainland index eventually returned to flat territory and there were recent reports that US President Trump is eying a bigger and better trade deal with China that would include substantial investment and commitments for China to buy more US products.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -1.31% at 5,462, DAX -1.80% at 22,434, CAC 40 -1.17% at 8,111, FTSE 100 -0.62% at 8,713, SMI -0.79% at 12,792, FTSE MIB -0.53% at 38,348, IBEX 35 -1.63% at 12,929, PSI -0.19% at 6,675, AEX -0.50% at 942.

SECTORS: Utilities 0.70%, Energy 0.05%, Healthcare -0.02%, Consumer Stpl -0.05%, IT -0.25%, Telecoms -0.52%, Financials -1.24%, Industrials -1.49%, Consumer Disc -1.67%, Materials -2.51%

FTSE 100

Anglo American (AAL LN) - Codelco and Anglo American are set to announce a deal to jointly operate Codelco's Andina division and Anglo American's Los Bronces mine. (Newswires)

BAE Systems (BA/ LN) - BAE Systems is expanding its Endicott, New York operations with a 150k square foot facility dedicated to high-voltage energy storage systems.

Ex-dividends - easyJet (EZJ LN), Land Securities (LAND LN), GSK (GSK LN), AstraZeneca (AZN LN), BP (BP/ LN), will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (dividenddata)

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Says FY25 production guidance is consistent with investor seminar; in 2025, expect share of capital investment to be USD 11bln; FY adj. EPS 6.70 (exp. 6.78), FY Revenue 53.66bln (exp. 53.81bln). Sam Laidlaw will step down as a director. FY underlying EBITDA USD 23.3bln (exp. 23.78bln). FY net income USD 11.55bln (exp. 10.97bln). FY total iron ore revenue USD 29.34bln. FY underlying profit USD 10.9bln (exp. 11bln). FY adj. EPS 6.70 (exp. 6.78). FY Revenue 53.66bln (exp. 53.81bln). Co. recommends London shareholders vote against dual-listing review, while CEO said to decide mid-year on future of Australia’s Tomago aluminium smelter. (Newswires). CEO says they have back up plans if US tariffs hit aluminium imports, according to WSJ. "Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said Rio Tinto hasn’t rerouted any of its aluminum sales yet as the company waits to see if Trump walks back the threat to impose the duties from next month as he did with previous tariffs on Canada and Mexico." (WSJ)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Mercedes-Benz (MBG GY) - FY (EUR): Revenue 145.59bln (exp. 145.85bln). Net Income 752mln (exp. 1.72bln). FY25 Group Revenue seen slightly lower Y/Y, EBIT seen significantly lower Y/Y. Announced a EUR 5bln share buyback over 24 months. Adj. EBIT 8.68bln (exp. 14.25bln). (Newswires)

Siemens (SIE GY) - Co. sells a portion of its stake in Siemens Healthineers (SHL GY); sells 22mln shares, about 2% of share capital. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Hypoport (HYQ GY) – FY24 (EUR): Revenue 560mln, +15%, EBIT 17mln, +23% Y/Y. Guides initial FY25 Revenue 640mln, EBIT 30-36mln. (Newswires) Shares +6% in pre-market trade

Gerresheimer (GXI GY) – Co. said to draw interest from Phillips-Medisize and Bain, for parts or all of the co., according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Kontron (KTN GY) – Secures contract with leading supplier to the automotive industry; USD 250mln contract. (Newswires)

Knorr Bremse (KBX GY) – FY (EUR): Revenue 7.88bln (exp. 7.92bln). 2025 Outlook: Revenue 8.1-8.4bln (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - Q4 (EUR): Revenue 24.72bln (exp. 24.14bln). Adj. EBIT 2.56bln (exp. 2.61bln). FY adj. EBIT guidance ~7bln (exp. 7.32bln). FY deliveries guidance 820 planes (exp. 823). To propose a dividend of EUR 2/shr, with special dividend of EUR 1/shr. (Newswires) Separately, President Donald Trump expressed frustration over Boeing’s delays in delivering new Air Force One aircraft, suggesting he might seek alternatives, but said he would not consider buying a plane from Airbus. Trump criticised Boeing's prolonged timeline, despite the US Air Force committing USD 3.5bln to the project. (Newswires)

Carrefour (CA FP) - FY 24 (EUR): Sales 85.45bln (exp. 84.83bln). Adj. Net income 1.08bln (exp. 1.13bln). Recurring operating income 2.21bln (exp. 2.26bln). Proposes dividend of EUR 0.92/shr and special dividend of EUR 0.23/shr. 2025 outlook: Slight growth in EBIDA, recurring operating income, net FCF. Will continue to invest in prices. New 1.2bln cost savings plan. Q4 was disappointing in terms of consumer demand in market overall. Retailer is cautious on consumer demand in 2025. (Newswires)

Renault (RNO FP) – FY24 (EUR): Adj. Net Income 2.67bln (exp. 1.72bln), Revenue 56.2bln (exp. 54.4bln). Guides initial FY25 Op. Margin at least 7%, FCF at least 2bln. (Newswires)

Schneider Electric (SU FP) - FY (EUR): Revenue 38.15bln (exp. 37.65bln), Adj. EBITDA 7.08bln (exp. 6.91bln), net income 4.27bln (exp. 4.12bln), proposes dividend of 3.90/shr (exp. 3.75); sees organic revenue growth of 7% to 10% & organic adjusted EBITDA growth between 10-15%. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Accor (AC FP) - FY (EUR): EBITDA 1.12bln (Exp. 1.1bln), Revenue 5.61bln (exp. 55.bln). RevPAR +5.7% Y/Y. (Newswires)

ADP (ADP FP) – FY (EUR): Revenue 6.15bln (co. consensus 6.06bln). Outlook 2025: Traffic forecasts for Paris airport unchanged. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Trump Tariffs - US President Trump said he will announce tariffs on cars, semiconductors, chips, pharma and probably lumber over the next month or sooner, while he is looking at a 25% tariff on lumber and forest products. Trump also said he is speaking to China on TikTok and later commented that a new trade deal with China is possible. (Newswires) 

Aegon (AGN NA) – H2 (EUR): Op Income 776mln (exp. 871mln), Net Income 741mln. (Newswires)

BE Semiconductor (BESI NA) – Q4 (EUR): Net Income 59.3mln (exp. 46.8bln, prev. 54.9mln Y/Y), Revenue 153.4mln (exp. 163.2mln, prev. 159.6mln Y/Y). Orders 121.9mln (exp. 171mln). Notes orders for AI applications grew to represent approx. 50% of its total orders in 2024. Guides Q1 Revenue -10% to flat Q/Q. Gross margin exp. to range between 63-65%. (Newswires)

Tenaris (TEN IM) – Q4 (USD): Net Sales 2.84bln (exp. 2.9bln), Op. Income 558mln. Expects Q1 Sales and EBITDA to be in line. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Zurich Insurance (ZURN SW) – FY (USD): Net Income 6.2bln (exp. 6.30bln, prev. 4.72bln Y/Y), Insurance Revenue 59.5bln (prev. 56.1bln Y/Y). RoE 24.6% (prev. 23% Y/Y). P&C Combined ratio 94.2% (prev. 94.5% Y/Y). Guides FY25-27 core EPS growth >9%/yr, Core RoE >23%. Proposed dividend increase of 8% to CHF 28/shr. The California Wildfire event is exp. to have a pre-tax impact of USD 200mln. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

UBS (UBSG SW) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Zealand Pharma (ZEAL DC) – FY (DKK): Net Income -1.27bln (exp. -1.22bln, prev. -572mln Y/Y), Revenue 62.7mln (exp. 539mln, prev. 342.8mln Y/Y). Guides initial FY25 Net Opex 2-2.5bln. 2025: No guidance; rev. expected from existing and new license agreements. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.18% at 6,140, NDX +0.05% at 22,175, DJI +0.16% at 44,627, RUT -0.46% at 2,281.

SECTORS: Health +1.26%, Consumer Staples +0.79%, Energy +0.70%, Utilities +0.45%, Real Estate +0.16%, Technology +0.15%, Industrials +0.08%, Consumer Discretionary +0.03%, Communication Services UNCH, Financials -0.03%, Materials -1.16%.

20 Feb 2025 - 06:57- Geopolitical- Source: Newsquawk