THE TREND
(Boursier.com) — Slight drop in the Paris stock market at the start of the week. The CAC40 has lost some ground since the opening but remains well above 6,600 points, down 0.2% currently around 6,630 points. The good news comes from Germany where producer prices recorded an unexpected drop in October, mainly due to a decline in electricity and natural gas prices. This is the first one-month drop since May 2020 and it gives hope of seeing a slightly more moderate rise in key rates at the next ECB meeting in mid-December.
The news is less favorable in China where several large cities have recorded a new increase in COVID-19 cases, leading local authorities to introduce new health restrictions, particularly in Beijing where the inhabitants of the most populated district no longer have the right to leave their homes. This information is undermining hopes for a rapid easing of the government’s anti-COVID strategy and fueling fears of a global recession. On that front, Wednesday’s release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting may shed additional light on the level to which officials plan to raise interest rates.
RISING VALUES
* Ipsen gains 4% to 108 euros. JP Morgan raised its target price to 115 euros against 91 euros previously.
* TFF Group (+3% to 36.3 euros) announced the conclusion of a partnership agreement resulting in the acquisition of a 51% stake in the capital of Goulard & Fils. This family company established in Charente Maritime since 1988 carries out logging, sawmill and stave milling activities. This partnership with Goulard & Fils, historical and exclusive supplier of French oak to Stavin, a subsidiary of TFF Group, enables Stavin to secure its supplies. Goulard & Fils generates revenue of around €2 million, nearly two-thirds of which with TFF Group.
* Sopra Steria (+0.2%) signed an acquisition agreement to acquire all the shares CS Group held by Mr. Yazid Sabeg, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mr. Eric Blanc-Garin, Chief Executive Officer, and their joint holding company Duna & Cie representing approximately 29.73% of the capital of CS Group, for a price of 11.50 euro per share. This agreement is concluded following the entry into exclusive negotiations announced on July 28, 2022 and the information-consultation procedures of the respective employee representative bodies of Sopra Steria and CS Group. It supplements the sale agreements already granted on July 27, 2022 by Cira Holding and the founders of Novidy’s to Sopra Steria relating respectively to approximately 29.15% and 6.38% of the company’s capital, for a price per share equal to that of the main block. Following the acquisition of the main block and the other blocks and taking into account the 9.80% already held, Sopra Steria will hold 75.06% of the capital of CS.
FALLING VALUES
* Vallourec fell nearly 8% to 10.6 euros after the accounts for the third quarter. The financial outlook for 2022 is confirmed: EBITDA is expected between 650 and 750 million euros. Free cash flow in the second half of 2022 will be positive, thanks to the strong performance expected in the fourth quarter and capital expenditure should amount to around 200 million euros.
* Atos (-2.5% to 10.2 euros) signed a new contract qualified as major with the German Siemens. Atos will ensure the provision of SIAM services and accelerate the digital transformation of Siemens. The Frenchman will work closely with Siemens and a multi-source ecosystem to deliver next-generation integration and orchestration services through its Atos SIO Bridge solution.
* Alstom yields 0.3% to 24.4 euros. JP Morgan is ‘overweight’ on Alstom with an adjusted target of 30 to 35 euros.
* Lysogen (-21% to 0.6 euro) announced the main results of its phase 2/3 AAVance study evaluating LYS-SAF302, an experimental gene therapy for the treatment of MPS IIIA, a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disease which affects approximately 1 in 100,000 newborns. The study did not reach its primary efficacy endpoint in the main cohort (12 patients recruited at age greater than 30 months) aimed at demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in cognitive DQ 24 months post-treatment, as assessed by BSID-III, compared to the NH cohort.