(Boursier.com) — THE TREND
After a downward start to the year, the CAC 40, which recovered a little yesterday, is already falling back into a cautious atmosphere this Friday in pre-session (-0.4% forecast), while awaiting inflation figures in Europe and those of employment in the United States this Friday. Wall Street continues to hesitate during this time, confirming a sluggish start to the year… The markets are also still worried about the risks of armed escalation in the Middle East. Enough to keep Brent oil at $78 per barrel…
WALL STREET
The S&P 500 lost 0.34% to 4,688 pts, while the Dow Jones gained 0.03% to 37,440 pts. The Nasdaq lost another 0.56% to 14,510 pts, still weighed down by Apple, victim of a new degradation of analyst. US markets had previously corrected on Tuesday and Wednesday with the ‘Magnificent Seven’, in particular Apple Tuesday and You’re here Wednesday… The trend is therefore not really improving, especially since the latest American employment figures came out… solid, leaving little room for maneuver for the US central bank in terms of interest rates. interest.
However, the Fed’s FOMC Minutes on Wednesday evening were somewhat reassuring, signaling the probable end of the rate hike, without specifying the timing of possible easing. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the probability of a new monetary status quo from the Fed on January 31, at the end of the next meeting, reaches more than 93%. The first easing could take place on March 20, with the probability being 62% that rates will return to a range of 5 to 5.25% on this date…
The latest ADP report on American private employment therefore showed 164,000 job creations for the month of December, against a FactSet consensus of 125,000 and a revised reading of 101,000 for the previous month… “We are returning to a labor market closely aligned with pre-pandemic hiring levels. Even if wages were not the cause of the recent surge in inflation, now that wage growth has declined, any risk of “a wage-price spiral has practically disappeared,” judges Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. Job creation increased for the fourth consecutive month, thanks to strong growth in hiring in the leisure and hospitality sectors. Construction held up despite high interest rates, but the manufacturing industry continued to struggle, posting another month of losses.
Small businesses with 1 to 49 employees created 74,000 jobs in December, while businesses with 50 to 249 employees created 58,000 positions. Companies with 500 people or more or generated 40,000 jobs.
The Challenger, Gray & Christmas study for the month of December revealed announcements of layoffs affecting 34,817 jobs, compared to 44,510 a month earlier…
Unemployment claims fell more than expected last week in the United States… The US Department of Labor announced unemployment claims for the week ending December 30 at 202,000, down 18,000 compared to the previous week. previous week. The consensus was positioned at 216,000. The four-week average stands at 207,750, down 4,750. Finally, the number of unemployed people receiving compensation for the week ended December 23 stood at 1.855 million, down 31,000 over seven days (1.883 million consensus).
On the Nymex, a barrel of WTI crude consolidated at $72.75 after its recent surge following the situation in the Middle East. The dollar index fell 0.2% against a basket of reference currencies. On the bond markets, the yield on the 2-year T-Bond is 4.37%, compared to 3.98% on the 10-year and 4.13% on the 30-year…
INDICATORS TO MONITOR
This Friday, operators will follow American industrial orders (consensus +1.8%), the ISM for services (consensus 52.6), and especially the monthly government report on the employment situation for the month of December (consensus 3.8% unemployment, 160,000 non-agricultural job creations – including 130,000 in the private sector -, +0.3% for the average hourly wage compared to the previous month).
Elsewhere in the world, the French consumer price index for December was rather reassuring, showing a less significant increase than expected in harmonized European data. The European price index expected at 11 a.m. should not bring bad news either…
To be continued in Europe:
– German construction PMI. (09:30)
– UK CIPS Construction PMI. (10:30 a.m.)
– Flash consumer price index in the euro zone. (11:00)
– Producer price index in the euro zone. (11:00)
– Italian preliminary consumer price index. (11:00)
VALUES TO FOLLOW
The turnover of Sodexo (excluding Pluxee) for the first quarter of the 2024 financial year reached 6.3 billion euros, up +3.1% compared to the previous financial year, including a negative currency effect of -4.8% and a contribution from acquisitions net of disposals of -0.3%.
Internal growth stood at +8.2%.
The negative exchange rate effect, resulting from the appreciation of the euro against most currencies since the start of the 2023 calendar year, is expected to gradually reduce over the course of the financial year, assuming maintaining current rates until the end of the financial year.
Internal revenue growth benefits from a strong contribution from the Rugby World Cup and is negatively impacted by accounting changes on certain Energy & Resources projects in the Rest of the World, these two effects offsetting each other. The price increase linked to inflation gradually slows down, representing around +4.5% over the quarter.
The ramp-up of new contracts, sales of additional on-site services and continued growth in volumes increased by almost +4%.
Internal growth for the quarter was driven by Catering services, at +10%, while that of Facilities Management Services reached +4.7%.
The dynamic of net development has remained sustained since the start of the financial year.
Outlook
The first quarter of fiscal 2024 is in line with expectations and the strategic plan. Thus, the outlook for Sodexo (excluding Pluxee) is maintained for the 2024 and 2025 financial years:
Internal revenue growth should be between +6 and +8% per year;
The operating margin should continue to grow by +30 to +40 basis points per year, at constant rates.
The cumulative turnover of LDC over the first 9 months of the 2023-2024 financial year amounts to 4.553 billion euros, up +7.7% compared to the 2022-2023 financial year (-1.1% in volume). On an identical basis and constant exchange rate, turnover increased by +4.8% to €4.432 billion, associated with volumes sold down by 1.4%.
In an environment marked by persistent tensions on purchasing power, LDC has, in accordance with its commitments, continued to reduce prices in the poultry division in relation to the drop in the price of raw materials and relaunched its promotional efforts.
In the 3rd quarter of 2023-2024, turnover increased by +2.6% to €1.531 billion with volumes up by +0.4% compared to the 3rd quarter of 2022-2023. On an identical basis and constant exchange rate, the change is -0.8% in value for stable volumes.
Despite the persistent inflationary context, the Group has good visibility for the second half of its financial year. Considering that the end of year celebrations were generally in line with expectations, the poultry group confirms its ambition to exceed 6 billion euros in turnover associated with a current operating profit of more than 350 million euros.
In the medium term, LDC also confirms all the objectives set as part of its strategic plan: reaching the milestone of 7 billion euros in turnover within 5 years. This new dimension must be accompanied by an increase in profitability with a target of nearly 560 ME in Ebitda for the 2026-2027 financial year, an increase of 40% compared to 2021-2022.
Following obtaining the necessary regulatory authorizations, Wendel announces that it has finalized the sale of Constantia Flexibles to a subsidiary of One Rock Capital Partners, LLC (One Rock). This transaction generated net proceeds of €1.094 billion for Wendel. Furthermore, additional proceeds of 27 million euros resulting from the sale of the company’s assets bring the net proceeds from the sale for Wendel to €1.121 billion, representing a total valuation more than 10% higher than the previous year. ANR of March 31, 2023, last ANR published before the announcement of the transaction.
In total, this transaction represents approximately 2.0x Wendel’s total net investment in Constantia Flexibles since 2015, and is one of the largest in size on the European Private Equity market in 2023.
Ludwig de Mot is appointed as Deputy Managing Director in charge of business transformation Euroapi. Its roadmap will be focused on accelerating the group’s transformation, and in particular on the finalization and execution of the strategic review initiated by the Euroapi Board of Directors in the 4th quarter of 2023. This review covers all aspects of Europapi as a business, including the assessment of its product portfolio, cost structure and balance sheet.
With more than 30 years of experience within several industrial groups, Ludwig de Mot has held various management positions in international companies, notably at Lhoist, the global producer of ore and lime solutions and products, as as President and Managing Director of its operations in Germany, North America, then Europe and Asia, between 2006 and 2017. More recently, Ludwig de Mot held the position of Managing Director in companies undergoing transformation.
Implanet launches a capital increase in cash with maintenance of shareholders’ preferential subscription rights (DPS) in the amount of 6,384,842.536 euros through the issue of 97,478,512 new shares at a unit price of 0.0655 euros corresponding to the share price closing date of January 3, 2024 (0.0655 euros), preceding the setting of the price of the issue by the Board of Directors of Implanet.
The amount of the issue may be increased to a maximum amount of 7,342,568.864 euros, corresponding to the issue of a maximum of 14,621,776 additional New Shares, in the event of exercise of the extension clause up to 15% of the initial amount.
DLSI continues its national development with the acquisition of the temp companies ML Intérim and Prestim. Created in 1994 and 2007, ML Intérim and Prestim operate with 3 agencies located in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, 68), Saint-Avold and Sarreguemines (Moselle, 57). These acquisitions offer an attractive opportunity in terms of geographical establishment with a strengthening of the Group’s network in the Grand Est, as well as a diversification of customers and professions.
For the financial year ending December 31, 2023, the two companies, with increased activity benefiting from a post-covid context, achieved a turnover of around 19 million euros distributed mainly in industry with more than 70% of sales, logistics (17%) and medical (10%). The operating profitability observed in 2021 and 2022 is between 8 and 9% of turnover and is expected at comparable levels as of December 31, 2023.
ML Intérim and Prestim thus consolidate the positioning of the DLSI brand in the region and confirm the Group’s ambitions to become a major player in temporary employment and recruitment in the Grand Est market.
“We are continuing to study development opportunities in France and internationally,” indicates Groupe DLSI.