(Boursier.com) — THE TREND
The CAC40 is ready to rebound. In the wake of Wall Street, the Parisian market is expected to open quite sharply and erase some of its losses on Thursday as the Russian military offensive in Ukraine continues. The CAC 40 fell 3.83% on Thursday and the Stoxx 600 3.28%, both entering a correction phase – a drop of more than 10% from their last high. The major Western powers have stepped up sanctions against Moscow in recent hours, but operators still consider them fairly measured, in particular because they do not include the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT interbank network. Despite this expected surge, volatility should remain high for this last session of the week as concerns about the situation in Eastern Europe remain strong.
On the economic level, investors will closely follow the evolution of consumer prices in France (8:45 a.m.) and the United States (2:30 p.m.). The surge in energy prices after the Russian attack puts the theme of inflation back in the foreground as the major central banks prepare to tighten their monetary policy to contain this surge in prices.
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 also be unveiled.
Corporate publications are also continuing at a good pace, Casino, Valeo, Saint-Gobain and Vallourec having presented their 2021 accounts in the last few hours.
BROKERS
– GreenSome Finance adjusts its target on Miliboo from 8.01 to 7.79 euros (‘buy’).
– GreenSome Finance adjusts its target on Adux from 3.46 to 3.27 euros (‘buy’).
VALUES TO FOLLOW
* Casino has just unveiled results broadly in line with market expectations and hopes to complete its €4.5 billion asset disposal program (including €1.3 billion still to be completed) by the end of 2023. The distributor has 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 on 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.
* Saint Gobain. 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.
* Vallourec is aiming for a further increase in its gross operating income (GOP) in 2022 after an increase in the latter of 79% over the last three months of 2021. The first quarter will however be impacted by the incident at the iron mine and certain inflationary pressures and Vallourec expects a rebound in the second quarter. Over the last financial year, gross operating income reached 492 million euros, up 234 ME over one year, materializing a margin of 14.3%. Net income, Group share, amounted to 40 million euros, compared to -1,206 million euros in 2020.
* Technicolor wants to IPO its special effects division Technicolor Creative Studios. 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.
* Direct Stock Exchange. 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.
* Prodways. 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.
* Aures Technologies. In 2021, the company’s turnover reached 99.7 million euros, up 14.2% (+15.2% at constant exchange rates). As expected, the group’s activity during the last quarter of 2021 was strongly affected by the shortage of electronic components and the transport crisis. However, despite this troubled context, the Group posted an increase in its turnover in line with its forecasts. For the time being, Aures Technologies considers that the international economic and political situation makes any forecast impossible.
* LDLC made a point of activity “in relation to a highly disturbed market context”, and a sharp decline in activity in February. The LDLC Group observed a significant drop in its activity in February 2022. This decline 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. by the end of the financial 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 announces 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.