(Boursier.com) — THE TREND
The CAC40 rebounded at the start of the session, on a gain of 0.57% to 6,576 points. The burst is intended to be timid after the violent dropout the day before following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The atmosphere remains indeed heavy in the trading rooms while the Russian army continues its offensive. Although operators make a few bargain purchases, risk-taking remains limited in a very anxiety-provoking environment.
Several dozen people have reportedly been killed since the start of the attack, while around 100,000 people have fled, as explosions and firefights rocked major Ukrainian cities.
The major Western powers have multiplied the sanctions aimed at Moscow in recent hours, but the operators consider the latter still quite measured, in particular because they do not include the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT interbank network.
Another point of concern for investors is the new surge in inflation, which should hardly abate over the next few weeks given the surge in energy prices since the Russian offensive (a barrel of Brent is trading at above $101 this morning after crossing $105 on Thursday). Consumer prices would thus have increased by 3.6% in February in France, after +2.9% the previous month. Over one month, consumer prices would increase by 0.7%, after +0.3% in January, showed the initial data from INSEE. Harmonized with European standards, annual inflation should come out at 4.1%, after +3.3% in January.
Across the Atlantic, the macro program is still busy since durable goods orders (2:30 p.m.), household income and expenditure (2:30 p.m.), the final index of consumer sentiment measured by the University of Michigan (4:00 p.m.) and promises of housing sales (4:00 p.m.) will be unveiled.
On the business front, the latest results are received to varying degrees with strong penalties for Casino and Valeo and good surprises on the side of Vallourec and Saint Gobain.
RISING VALUES
* Vallourec soared 15% to 7.76 euros at the start of the session, operators welcoming the better than expected results of the specialist in seamless tubes in the fourth quarter. Vallourec had not experienced such an increase for over a year. Over the last three months of the financial year, the group saw its Ebitda soar by 79% to 136 million euros for revenues of 1.06 billion euros (+28%). The net result came out positive at 89 ME against a loss of 570 ME a year ago. Management is aiming for a further improvement in its EBITDA for the 2022 financial year compared to 2021. The first quarter will however be impacted by the incident at the iron mine and certain inflationary pressures, but Vallourec expects a rebound in the second quarter.
* Direct Stock Exchange (+5.2% to 3 euros). In a context of normalization of activity compared to the exceptional level of volumes observed in 2020, the group’s activity remained sustained with individual customers active on the markets. Bourse Direct thus recorded more than 6.1 million orders executed in 2021 for its direct customers (6.6 million in 2020). Net banking income for 2021 increased by +2.9% and stood at 39.8 ME (38.7 ME in 2020). Operating income was 10 ME, up 3.5%, representing an operating margin on banking operating income of 21.5%, like the previous year. Bourse Direct will propose a dividend up 32% compared to the previous year, at 7 centimes per share at the next General Meeting on May 12.
* Saint Gobain (+3.6% to 56.6 euros). The building materials group reported record operating income in 2021 (€4.51 billion) thanks in particular to higher prices. The operating margin stands at 10.2%, up 250 bp in 3 years of transformation. The dividend is €1.63, up +23% and the group will launch a share buyback program of at least €400 million in 2022… In a context of structurally buoyant markets, Saint-Gobain is aiming for a new increase in operating income in 2022 compared to 2021 at comparable exchange rates.
* Prodways (+0.9% to 2.4 euros). Michaël Ohana (52) joins the company as Chief Executive Officer, replacing Raphaël Gorgé who held the position since the departure of the previous Chief Executive Officer. He will bring to Prodways Group his 28 years of experience in digital transformation.
* Technicolor (+0.4% to 2.7 euros) wants to IPO its Technicolor Creative Studios special effects division. The distribution of the 65% capital of Technicolor Creative Studios (TCS) will be made through a contribution in kind to the shareholders of Technicolor. Technicolor will remain a listed entity on Euronext Paris and will retain a maximum stake of 35% in TCS after distribution. The group has also confirmed its financial objectives for this year after having generated an adjusted Ebita of 95 million euros in 2021 against a loss of 59 ME a year earlier.
FALLING VALUES
Casino plunged 11% to 16.4 euros. The presentation of the distributor’s annual accounts is struggling to convince investors when its debt has increased further in 2021 and the company is still struggling in its domestic market. The distributor recorded in 2021 an EBITDA of 2.527 billion euros (-4.7%) for a turnover of 30.5 billion euros, down 0.8%, including a change of -5.4% in France Retail linked to the effect of the health crisis on the Paris region and tourist areas, a stable figure for Cdiscount, and an increase of +2.7% in Latam. Ebitda France reached 1.281 MdE (-1.7% vs 2020). The ‘Bloomberg’ consensus was counting on an Ebitda of 2.51 billion euros for revenues of 30.46 billion euros. Finally, the net result remains in the red at 530 ME against -890 ME in 2020. In order to prioritize debt reduction, the Board of Directors will propose to the 2022 General Meeting not to pay a dividend in 2022 in respect of the 2021 financial year.
* LDLC fell 8.6% to 32.4 euros after a profit warning. The Group observed a significant drop in its activity in February 2022. This downturn impacts both the Group’s BtoC and BtoB activities. It is estimated at 20% of revenue compared to at least February 2021. The Group does not anticipate any significant change in these wait-and-see behaviors before July 2022 and will therefore not be able to offset this unexpected decline in revenue. end of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022. In this context, the LDLC Group is now targeting revenue of around €680 million for the 2021-2022 financial year (€724 million in 2020-2021 and €493 million in 2019-2020). The gross operating surplus should reach approximately 55 ME (70 ME in 2020-2021 and 16 ME in 2019-2020).
* Valeo (-4.5% to 22.6 euros). The automotive supplier has unveiled 2021 annual results “in line with the preliminary data published on January 26”. The group achieved a turnover of 17.26 billion euros, up 5% compared to 2020 but down 11% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Gross margin increased by 41% to 3.04 billion euros. The group share of net income reached 175 ME, compared to a loss of 1.09 MdE a year before and a net profit of 313 ME in 2019. Free cash flow was 292 million euros.