Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 24th February 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks began the week mixed after last Friday's sell-off on Wall St and amid holiday-quietened trade with Japanese markets closed for the Emperor's Birthday, while participants also reflected on the results from Sunday's German election. ASX 200 traded little changed as gains in financials and the defensives were counterbalanced by losses in tech and the commodity-related sectors, while there was also another deluge of earnings updates. KOSPI underperformed amid ongoing economic concerns and ahead of tomorrow's BoK rate decision. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were choppy but were ultimately pressured amid ongoing trade-related frictions, with the US said to be pushing Mexico towards tariffs on Chinese imports. Nonetheless, there were some encouraging reports with Chinese state-backed developers beginning to buy land at a premium again, while agricultural stocks were supported after China pledged to deepen rural reforms as part of efforts to revitalise the agricultural sector and bolster food security in the State Council's annual rural policy blueprint.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.12% at 22,288, FTSE 100: -0.04% at 8,659, CAC 40: +0.39% at 8,155, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.32% at 5,476, AEX: -0.11% at 938, IBEX 35: -0.12% at 12,952, FTSE MIB: +0.45% at 38,421, SMI: +1.00% at 12,937, PSI: +0.38% at 6,711.

SECTORS: Healthcare 1.56%, Consumer Stpl 1.45%, Materials 0.96%, Telecoms 0.87%, Financials 0.64%, Utilities 0.62%, Consumer Disc 0.24%, IT -0.04%, Industrials -0.29%, Energy -1.18%

FTSE 100

HSBC (HSBA LN) - Aims to raise USD 1bln in perpetual additional Tier 1 bond issuance, via Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

Just Eat Takeaway (JET LN) - FY24 (EUR): Adj. EBITDA 460mln (prev. 339mln Y/Y), Revenue 5.08bln (prev. 5.15bln Y/Y). Guides initial FY25 Adj. EBITDA 360-380mln. Non-cash impairment losses of EUR 1bln related to Grubhub. To be acquired by Prosus (PRX NA) for EUR 20.30/shr in all-cash deal (representing a 49% premium over the 3-month VWAP); offer supported by the Board. (Newswires) Delivery Hero +3.3% in pre-market trade

Shell (SHEL LN) - Co. to grow working interest in the Ursa Platform in Gulf of America. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Shein IPO - Shein's profits fell by nearly 40% in 2024, reducing its valuation from USD 66bln to around USD 30bln, FT reports, as it Chinese retailer struggles with competition from Temu and higher costs. This has delayed its planned London IPO, initially expected in April, FT says. Changes in US tariffs have also added some uncertainty, pushing the listing to mid-2025. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

DAX

German Election - German conservatives CDU/CSU won with around 29% of votes followed in second place by the far-right AfD at around 21% of votes and with German Chancellor Scholz's SPD in third place with over 16% of the votes. Nonetheless, the preliminary result was in line with what polls had suggested ahead of the election and CDU leader Friedrich Merz hopes they will have formed a government by Easter. As it stands, CDU will need to form a coalition to govern. The most likely option is a Grand coalition with the SPD, though a three-way coalition remains possible but is somewhat dependent on the final results for the smaller parties. Shares in Rheinmetall (RHM GY) +5%

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Baywa (BYW6 GY) - Co. transfers majority stake in Baywa to EIP; adj. of restructuring concept requires. Restructuring phase exp. to be extended to until end-2028. (Newswires)

Stabilus (STM GY) - CFO Bauerreis is to leave the Co. at their own request; Buchsner will assume responsibilities on an interim basis. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Eutelsat (ETL FP) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

PAN EUROPE

Trump Tariffs - US President Trump says he will soon impose reciprocal tariffs, says tariff thing will be very interesting. US President Trump says pretty close to striking minerals deal with Ukraine. US President Trump reiterates 25% tariffs on cars April 2nd. Elsewhere, the EU has estimated that the first wave of US President Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs will impact up to EUR 28bln of its exports, Bloomberg reports. (Newswires / Bloomberg)

Almirall (ALM SM) - FY (EUR): Sales 985.7mln (exp. 978.2mln). 2025: Sees Total EBITDA between 220-240mln. (Newswires)

BBVA (BBVA SM) - Raises its mid-term FY25-29 target for sustainable business to EUR 700bln (prev. FY18-25 EUR 300bln). (Newswires)

PostNL (PNL NA) - Q4 (EUR): Normalised EBIT 62mln (prev. 77mln Y/Y), Revenue 937mln (prev. 889mln Y/Y). Guides initial FY25 normalised EBIT "in-line" with prior year. Says div/shr of EUR 0.07 to be proposed. (Newswires)

Saipem (SPM IM) / Subsea7 (SUBC NO) - Co's reach agreement on a possible merger. Shareholders to receive 6.668 Saipem shares per Subsea7 share. Expected annual synergies of EUR 300mln in third year after completion. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CaixaBank (CABK SM) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette

Santander (SAN MC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Elekta (EKTAB SS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Nordea

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.71% at 6,013, NDX -2.06% at 21,614, DJI -1.69% at 43,428, RUT -2.94% at 2,195

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary -2.77%, Technology -2.45%, Industrials -2.23%, Energy -1.95%, Materials -1.80%, Communication Services -1.78%, Financials -1.18%, Real Estate -0.80%, Health -0.47%, Utilities -0.02%, Consumer Staples +1.00%.

AMD (AMD) Co. is said to discuss server plant sale with Taiwan suitors, server plants may reportedly be valued at up to USD 4bln, according to Bloomberg; Pegatron (4938 TT) and Wistron (6285 TT) are said to be interested in the plants

Apple (AAPL) - US President Trump says Apple CEO Cook does not want to pay tariffs, he wants to build; says Apple will spend a lot of money in the US. (Newswires)

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) - Warren Buffett increased Berkshire Hathaway’s cash reserves to a record USD 334bln (vs 325bln Q/Q), and sold over USD 134bln of stocks, but gave no clear reason in his annual letter. He reaffirmed a preference for equities, endorsed successor Greg Abel, and hinted at increasing investments in Japanese trading houses. Berkshire's operating earnings rose +71% in Q4 to USD 14.5bln (or USD 10,102/shr vs exp. 6,932), driven by a 48% increase in insurance investment income amid higher interest rates. Berkshire reported Q4 EPS of USD 13,695 (vs 26,043 Y/Y). Buffett said that 53% of Berkshire’s 189 businesses saw earnings decline in FY24, though overall results exceeded expectations. Gains came from higher Treasury yields and strong insurance earnings, notably at GEICO; he also noted rising property-casualty insurance pricing due to storm damage and warned of potential future catastrophic insurance losses.

Tesla (TSLA) - Uber (UBER) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Friday said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk intends to launch Tesla’s robotaxis independently, excluding them from Uber’s platform. As a result, Uber and Waymo (GOOG) will compete with Tesla in Austin. Khosrowshahi expressed openness to future collaboration despite Tesla’s current stance.

OpenAI - OpenAI is beginning to shift its alliances from Microsoft (MSFT) to Softbank (SFTBY); it also boosts growth expectations as it raises more cash from investors, according to The Information. (The Information)

24 Feb 2025 - 06:38- EquitiesResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk