26.10.2010

Nordic indexes were mostly lower for the day. Only Norway went against the tide. All of the Nordic countries placed in top 11 in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index 2010. The CPI 2010 score was quite similar to that of 2009 in all of the Nordic countries. Denmark shares top spot with Singapore and New Zealand.

Nordic Trade Ministers of have been meeting in Copenhagen. A Nordic cooperation program for innovation- and business policy 2011-2013 was agreed upon. The worry among the politicians is that even though the number of Nordic start-ups is large, they do not grow fast enough. The solutions they offer are typical; A Nordic knowledge centre, an innovation forum, a common strategy for social responsibility etc. The real bottlenecks of growth aka the inability to secure financing, the major costs and huge risk of taking on and getting rid of employees that small companies face and the overbearing regulation in absolutely everything are not dealt with (and possible even increased as per the regulation concerning potential strenuous additional social responsibility burden).

Swedish central bank Riksbank hiked Repo rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1.0 per cent. Riksbank said in its release that The Swedish economy is growing rapidly and that inflationary pressures are low although expected to increase as activity picks up.

Vestas wind reported a positive free cash flow and a third quarter profit of 126 million Euro after taxes. New order inflow during the first nine months stood at record levels. The company said that in 2011 European market will not be as strong as Vestas had been expecting and the company plans to shut down a number of factories in Denmark. The company expects fierce competition from new Asian entrants into wind-power segment. The company noted that many more banks nowadays venture into project funding and that banks are now much more critical and demand a lot more checks than before. Financially strong companies benefit from such. Market was disappointed by the future comments of Vestas and the stock came down over 10%

Holmen had a better than expected quarter as well. Before tax earnings were 329 Million SEK. Newsprint demand is still the Achilles heel but virgin fibre board market was robust. The main issues on the company’s agenda are price increases and a review of Spanish operations. Real estate firm Fabege had a strong quarter and sounded optimistic about the future. Stock went up nearly 7%.

Europe's leading Credit Management Services company (their wording of it) Intrum Justitia did well as you might expect in such times. The group’s very green presentation starts up with a fourfold table of numbers. The group was particularly satisfied with the strong cash flow. Nordic region reported improved sales growth and EBIT and revenues from the region for the quarter were 38% of the group’s total revenue.

Large cap retailer Axfood’s operating profit turned out to be 364 Million SEK in Q3. Profit after tax for the period was SEK 262 million and earnings per share were SEK 5.00. Group-owned stores turnover increased 2.7% during the quarter. All of these numbers were better than experts were gossiping. Another behemoth in Nordic standards, Kesko, increased sales by 2.8%. The company expects net sales to grow and operating profit to remain stable.

Karo Bio has secured the financing of the phase III program for eprotirome (Item 28.08.2010 mentioned that phase three program layout for the drug had been made) and its other activities through an Equity Credit Facility of approximately SEK 230 million and a fully guaranteed rights issue of approximately SEK 300 million. The stock traded around 10% lower for the entire day. Swedish Orphan Biovitrum was also down heftily on Q3 result in which the company lowered full year sales guidance.

Natural cosmetics firm Oriflame took the impairment charge from Iran (ref. 23.8.2010). Operations in Iran are still closed. The company also lowered sales guidance a notch and is set to miss its own long-term growth targets slightly for the year. The stock suffered over 10% correction. Consulting firm HiQ reported a record quarterly profit before taxes of EUR 33.5 Million; 30% above consensus. The stock advanced 7.5%. Online gaming company Betsson’s earnings were a little less than expected.

Forestry vehicle manufacturer Ponsse reported quarterly earnings. The news were completely overshadowed by the sudden death of the company founder and Chairman Einari Vidgrén last night. Mr. Vidgrén was a colourful character who was not afraid to get his hands dirty at the working site. His business fortune is considerable and he gained fame with a successful racing horse stable in recent years. He had eyes for blonds in particular and strong opinions concerning left leaning people. The company will continue in family hands. The entire town of Vieremä is mourning the loss and production has been halted at the Ponsse factory until Wednesday newspaper Savon Sanomat reports.

Uponor’s improvement continues unevenly from country to country. Growth is picking up in Eastern Europe and Germany, continues well in Nordic markets excluding Denmark and crawls in Benelux countries and USA for example. Cost cutting measures have resulted in improved profitability and expectations for 2010 were maintained. Elektrobit reacted to the news from Friday that its customer Terrestar is entering chapter 11 with a statutory provision of 8.3 million Euros due to risk of losing receivables. The entire brunt of the news was not yet priced in.

Ahlstrom showed some improvement but it was far from what the markets have been expecting. The employees have been working shorter weeks and every other week etc. for a very long time already. The operational cash flow does hint of better things to come but the EPS at 0.06 Euro per share just wasn’t enough.

Royal Caribbean cruises had a 446 Million USD operating result for Q3. The stock shot up over 12%.Oil service company Subsea’s result was slightly below expectations. Moody's Downgraded Nokia. to Negative credit rating outlook while affirming A2 Credit Rating. Sydbank announced a better than expected profit but higher than expected credit losses. Comptel fired CEO after another disappointing quarter. Lassila & Tikanoja still has problems with L&T Biowatti. Aspo’s main picture was positive. Orion’s result was very strong.