(Boursier.com) — Week of profit taking on the Parisian market with a CAC40 which lost 1.44% to 7,130 points this Friday evening. A quite logical development after a start to the year with a bang. The index is still posting a gain of more than 10% since January 1st. If the previous week was focused on central banks, it is the results of companies that have given the ‘la’ in recent days. Solid accounts overall, despite, as always, some disappointments.
At the macro level, the announcement of a slowdown in inflation in Germany, to a five-month low, brought some relief as the central banks’ fight against soaring consumer prices remains the major topic of the moment in the trading rooms. Concerning inflation precisely, the next big test is scheduled for next Tuesday with the evolution of prices in the United States in January.
Investors are very divided as the latest comments from regional Fed officials showed the Federal Reserve’s determination to fight further against inflation by keeping rates at a restrictive level for an extended period. Jamie Dimon judged him that investors welcoming disinflation were perhaps going too quickly. “I just think people should take a deep breath on this before they claim victory because the one-month numbers looked good,” the JP Morgan boss said in an interview with ‘Reuters’.
On the oil market, crude rose by more than 8% over the week with a barrel of Brent fluctuating around $86.4 this Friday evening. Russia will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels a day next month in retaliation for Western sanctions. This drop, which is equivalent to about 5% of January production, had been mentioned several times by the Kremlin since the European Union and the G-7 began to discuss the price cap of Russian exports.
On the currency market, the dollar index is close to 103.5 pts while the euro slumps against the greenback, around $1.068 between banks after hitting the $1.10 mark recently. Bitcoin falls back and is trading near $21,700 on Coindesk.
VALUES
* Orpea offered a copious rebound of 31%. The retirement home operator announced that the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”) sold 7,424,188 shares on the market between February 2 and February 7. Following this operation, CPPIB (which held 14.50% of the capital and 24.16% of the voting rights of the Company) only has 1,950,000 shares left, representing 3.01% of the capital and 5. 02% of the Company’s voting rights. Furthermore AlphaValue downgraded the file to ‘reduce’ while lowering its target from 5.53 to 3.06 euros.
* CGG takes 8.85% in the wake of crude prices. In addition, the group and TGS were jointly awarded a project for the acquisition and imaging of a high-density OBN (ocean bottom node) multi-client seismic study in the Balder and Ringhorne areas of the Norwegian continental shelf ( NCS). The Heimdal Terrace OBN study, located directly north of the Utsira OBN study in the North Sea, will cover an additional 500 square kilometers under receiver (AUR) area, bringing multi-client OBN coverage contiguous in area at 3,778 square kilometers AUR.
* Ipsen climbed 6.9%, supported by a solid annual publication. The pharmaceutical group recorded last year a consolidated net income under IFRS of 647.5 ME for a turnover of 3.025 billion euros, up 8.5% at constant exchange rates (14.4% in published data) . The operating result of the activities increased by 13.5% to 1.115 MdE. “Our external innovation strategy, supported by a solid balance sheet and strong cash flow generation, has increased the number of potential drugs available to us in our three therapeutic areas, and we have the ambition to expand the product portfolio in R&D. With the Group fully focused on Specialty Care, the outlook is promising, and reflects our commitment to bringing more medicines to patients and to ensuring Ipsen’s sustainable growth,” said David Loew, CEO of Ipsen.
* GTT gained 6.4%, driven by new contracts. Elogen, a group company GTTnotably announced the signing of a contract with CrossWind, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco which is developing the Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) offshore wind project, for the design and manufacture of a proton exchange membrane electrolyser (PEM ) with a power of 2.5 MW.
* TotalEnergies gained 5.5% after the presentation of record results last year, driven by soaring oil and gas prices. Over the financial year, the group of Patrick Pouyanné achieved a total adjusted net income of 36.2 billion dollars, multiplied by two over one year, for revenues of 281 billion dollars (205.86 billion dollars a year earlier). Adjusted EBITDA came out at $71.58 billion, up 69%. The energy giant’s results came out broadly in line with analysts’ expectations. RBC, for example, views the report as ‘neutral’, saying earnings, dividend increases and the outlook are ‘largely in line’ with market expectations.
* Renault advanced by 4.1% and brought its gains since the start of the year to almost 30% after the presentation of the overhaul of the Alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. In addition, the manufacturer announced that Nissan’s contribution to its own results is estimated at 174 million euros in the fourth quarter. Nissan’s total contribution to Renault’s annual results now stands at 526 million euros. We have to go back to 2018, before the appearance of the financial difficulties of the two groups and the fall of Carlos Ghosn, to find a higher contribution.
* BNP Paribas increased by 3%. The rue d’Antin establishment has raised several financial objectives for 2025 and has announced that it is planning a five billion euro share buyback plan following the sale of the American subsidiary Bank of the West. The group also took advantage of its annual publication to deny any interest in Orange Bank. “We have already indicated on several occasions that we are not interested in the acquisition of a stake or a possible acquisition of Orange Bank”, let it be known Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, during a telephone press conference following the presentation of the bank’s 2022 accounts. The daily ‘Les Echos’ affirmed last week that BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale were all studying a possible takeover of the telecom operator’s online bank, “with a view to submitting a definitive offer around the beginning of March “.
Conversely, * Soitec drops by 11%, with Wordline (-8.6%) and OVH (-4.8%). Complicated week for tech against a backdrop of rising interest rates.
* Kering stumbles 6.5% and brings its year-to-date gains to just over 21%. The luxury giant announced last Friday the appointment of Raffaella Cornaggia as head of Kering Beauté. The creation of this division should allow the company to support Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Pomellato and Qeelin in the development of this category which constitutes a natural extension of their universe: “Kering is indeed convinced of being able to create value for the Group and for its Maisons, by taking advantage of the unique identity of each of them, fully consistent with their strategy and positioning”.
* Crossroads gives up 6.7%. The selling pressure on the distributor is to be linked to a note from Exane BNP Paribas which downgraded the file to ‘underperform’ with an adjusted target of 16.5 to 16 euros. Bryan Garnier for his part reiterated his ‘neutral’ opinion and his target of 19 euros. Following the confirmation of the discussions between Casino and Teract, the risk of M&A between Carrefour and Casino is attenuated. However, the broker continues to see risks on the return to shareholders, fueled in particular by low visibility on the peak of food inflation and the phenomenon of ‘down trading’ on the consumer side.
* Societe Generale down 5.7%. The bank published better-than-expected results in the fourth quarter and confirmed its objectives for 2025. The La Défense establishment generated net income of 1.16 billion euros in the last quarter of 2022, down 35% due to provisions for credit risk multiplied by nearly 5 in an uncertain economic environment. Over the past period, net banking income was 6.88 billion euros, up 4%. SocGen is also in the sights of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Stock Constable included the Defense Establishment in its industry investigation to find out whether its personnel used unauthorized communication channels for their work communications.
* ArcelorMittal lost 5.4% after unveiling accounts in sharp decline in the fourth quarter of 2022 with a net profit limited to $261 million against $4.045 billion a year earlier, for revenues down 19% to $16.89 billion dollars. EBITDA reached $1.26 billion versus $5.05 billion a year earlier. The consensus was for net income of $358 million, sales of $15.96 billion and EBITDA of $1.26 billion. Lower steel prices, high energy costs, driven by the war in Ukraine, and asset write-downs on its Ukrainian assets weighed on results. Quarterly steel shipments fell 6.9% to 12.6 million tonnes from the third quarter due to lower demand due to destocking. ArcelorMittal warned of the outlook for steel demand, noting that ‘woes’ in China’s property sector and tighter monetary policy could weigh on consumption this year.