Ήπιες διακυμάνσεις στα ευρωπαϊκά χρηματιστήρια

Smurfit Kappa Group and WestRock Co. have formally signed a merger agreement as first outlined last week, creating a global paper and packaging powerhouse worth some $20 billion. As announced on Sept. 7 a new company–Smurfit WestRock–will be created with a main listing on the New York Stock Exchange and a standard listing in London. Smurfit WestRock will be led by Tony Smurfit as chief executive and Irial Finan as chair, the companies said. Under the deal accepting WestRock shareholders will get one new Smurfit WestRock share and $5.00 in cash, equivalent to $43.51 a share. Upon completion Smurfit Kappa shareholders will own 50.4% of the combined business with WestRock owning the rest. “Smurfit WestRock will be the ‘Go-To’ packaging partner of choice for customers, employees and shareholders. We will have the leading assets, a unique global footprint in both paper and corrugated, a superb consumer and specialty packaging business, significant synergies, and enhanced scale to deliver value in the short, medium and long term,” Smurfit Kappa Chief Executive Tony Smurfit said.

Smart Metering Systems backed its full-year view after pretax profit and revenue rose in the first half of the year on higher rental figures. The energy infrastructure company said Tuesday that pretax profit rose to 8.0 million pounds ($10 million) in the half-year, from GBP6.1 million in the prior-year period. Revenue climbed to GBP79.3 million from GBP62.7 million, while index-linked annualized recurring revenue rose 18% to GBP110.0 million, boosted by higher rental per smart meter. “Our index-linked revenues provide a natural hedge against increased interest rates in the short term whilst significantly benefiting long-term cash flows,” Chief Executive Tim Mortlock said. The company expects to install at least 500,000 meters in 2023 with a higher average rental per meter than previous expectations. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased to GBP34.1 million from GBP25.8 million. The company declared an interim dividend of 22.689 pence a share, in line with its policy. Smart Metering Systems backed its 2023 expectations for pre-exceptional Ebitda and underlying pretax profit, while slightly raising 2024 guidance for pre-exceptional Ebitda to around 20% on-year growth.

Cornerstone FS said it is on track to report results for 2023 significantly ahead of views as it posted a swing to pretax profit for the first half of the year. The cloud-based software-services provider on Tuesday reported pretax profit at 23,000 pounds ($28,768), compared with a pretax loss of GBP3.0 million in the same period the previous year. Revenue was GBP3.6 million, as expected, up from GBP1.9 million, it said. The London-listed group said strong momentum from the first half has continued into the second. It expects to report its first full year of positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, it said. “When combined with a large and supportive market backdrop, as global digital payment transaction values expand and the on-going shift of payment transactions away from banks to specialist firms continues, the board has great confidence in the future of the group,” Chief Executive James Hickman said.

Wickes Group backed its full-year guidance after pretax profit fell in the first half of the year on higher IT costs. The home-improvement retailer said Tuesday that its pretax profit fell to 21.1 million pounds ($26.4 million) from GBP33.5 million in the prior-year period mainly due to higher IT costs. Adjusted pretax profit–which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–also fell to GBP31.1 million from GBP41.3 million. However, revenue edged slightly higher to GBP827.7 million from GBP822.3 million in the period driven by sales rise in its kitchen and bathroom showroom business. “This was another positive period for the business, underpinned by the strength of our balanced business model and outstanding customer service delivered by our colleagues,” Chief Executive David Wood said. “We are well on track for the remainder of the year and we have the right strategy in place to make further market share gains within the large home improvement sector,” he added. The board declared a stable interim dividend of 3.6 pence a share. For the full year, the company reaffirmed its guidance of adjusted pretax profit of GBP45 million to GBP48 million after the impact of software-as-a-service IT investment costs.

Associated British Foods on Tuesday raised its fiscal 2023 guidance on the back of improved sales growth across its categories. The U.K. conglomerate, which owns clothing retailer Primark, expects adjusted operating profit–the company’s preferred metric, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–for the year ending Sept. 16 to be slightly better than previous expectations, which saw profit moderately ahead of last year’s 1.435 billion pounds ($1.79 billion). The FTSE 100 listed company said Primark revenue is anticipated to be GBP9.0 billion, compared with GBP7.70 billion a year ago. Like-for-like sales growth is expected to be 9%. Primark sales growth has been driven by selective price increases, well received ranges and strongly performing new stores, it said. Looking ahead, Primark is expected to see a substantial recovery in its adjusted operating profit margin for fiscal 2024 on the back of lower material costs, the weakening of the U.S. dollar against sterling and the euro and lower freight costs, it added. In its food segment, it expects the sugar category to make a substantial improvement in profitability in fiscal 2024, supported by an improvement in the performance of British sugar. The group added that it continues to manage inflation and drive sales despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

JTC PLC expects to deliver 2023 results ahead of current market views after it posted a fall in pretax profit for the first half partly due to costs from its SDTC acquisition and foreign exchange losses. The London-listed provider of fund, corporate and private-client services on Tuesday posted a pretax profit of 11.9 million pounds ($14.9 million) for the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP21.0 million for the same period a year prior. Revenue rose to GBP121.5 million from GBP93.0 million on organic growth driven by new business wins, it said. Its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin came in at 33.1%, against 33.0% a year prior. JTC declared an interim dividend of 3.5 pence per share, up from 3.1 pence the previous year. In the medium-term, the company continues to see net organic revenue growth between 8% and 10% per year. It backed its guidance for an underlying Ebitda margin in the 33% to 38% range, adding that in the short-term, the metric will continue to come in toward the lower end of the range during periods of heightened revenue growth.

Melrose Industries said that although it sees a hit to cash of around 200 million pounds ($250.2 million) stemming from the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine recalls, it backed its previous guidance and said its buyback program was going ahead as planned. The FTSE 100-listed turnaround specialist said Tuesday its GKN Aerospace division had a 4% program share on the GTF PW1100G engine variant. On Monday engine maker RTX said it will book a roughly $3 billion pretax charge amid a recall for hundreds of Pratt & Whitney jet engines relating to the powder metal used to make certain parts. RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, said about 600 to 700 engines will have to be removed for inspection. Melrose Industries said that financial assumptions for all its risk and revenue sharing partner programs are conservative and recognize that most of its work is done on the delivery of GKN parts which typically last the life of the engine. This also allows for risks to arise over a program’s full duration. “RTX indicated to us and the market yesterday that the GTF rare parts issue is within the scope they outlined previously and the cash impact is now assumed to be spread over a longer-term. We confirm our confidence in achieving the previous profit and balance sheet guidance and look forward to commencing our share buyback program in October,” Chief Executive Simon Peckham said.