28.10.2010

Another hectic earnings results day (particularly in Sweden) was also another down day in the Nordic exchanges, mainly as a result of those earnings disappointing ever so slightly in Sweden and Finland . In the rest of the Europe results and also the data gave the day a positive vibe and Oslo and Copenhagen also ended with a plus.

SEB improved result markedly. The main reason was a clear lessening of credit losses in the Baltic countries. The company said that the turnaround in the Baltic economics is even more visible. The bank sees continued uncertainty as to the timing of the pickup of corporate loan demand. Operating profit excluding German retail operations was 3.6 billion SEK. The result was a little below expectation and the stock lost 4%. Swedbank also lost around 4% on the news of major shareholder Svensk Exportkredit selling an ownership of 3.3% in the bank. DnB NOR said it has seen sound development in net interest income and other customer-related revenues and had reduced loan writedowns in Q3. Profit for the period was a little over 3 billion NOK. The company has entered an Agreement to acquire the remaining 49 per cent of the sharesin DnB NORD for 160 million Euro.

Eniro will undertake a rights issue of 2.5 billion SEK, with preferential rights to existing shareholders, at the request of its creditors. Needless to say that many owners were not thrilled about the dilution and the fact that the money they are asked to shell will be used to pay back banks but this matter certainly did not come as a suprise. The company had to write-down a lot of goodwill and Q3 was heavily on the minus.

ABB’s Q3 operating profit amounted to 1156 million USD. This bested consensus estimates handily. The stock still sold off over 4%. Trelleborg did not meet expectations and fell a percent more. SSAB had a much lower profit than presumed and so was the case with sales as well. Operating cash flow was negative. SSAB felt that the recovery has lost steam, after heavy restocking of their customers in the beginning of the year. The report was a bitter disappointment to investors. Precision measuring technology company Hexagon was also down clearly, over 6% in fact, on a decent report. Same was the case for Metso.

Raute had a positive quarter on the basis of a sell of a real estate complex but orders have been decreasing and Q4 will be negative as a result. Q3 would already have been slightly on the red without the exceptional item. The company feels the lessened demand is the new norm. Elektrobit’s report was even worse than feared. Automotive industry activity pickup was the lone positive signal. Pöyry is planning to cut some 250 emploeyys in Finland, resulting in 10-15 million Euro annual savings. The reorganization costs amount to 6-9 million Euro on Q4. Pöyry’s Q3 result was slightly below water. Kemira continues to believe in the water strategy and their CEO claims that water chemistry is the fastest growth area in the world. Q3 operating profit was 42.5 million Euro, a slight improvement. Oriola-KD disappointed the market and lost 7% after lowering guidance due to “extremely hard market conditions in Russia.

AstraZeneca missed expectations as well, even if not so pronouncedly. It was quite a surprise though and a three percent slide could have been worse. Orkla’s third-quarter operating profit turned out to be 1166 million NOK. Thewas profit improved in all business areas. Expectations were predicting even a little higher levels.

SCA Svenska Cellulosa’s profit before taxes rose 9%. Net sales were down slightly. Raw material prices had increased significantly. Hygiene and forest products business outlook is good demand, packaging expects seasonally weaker Q4. UPM Kymmene reported an EPS of 0.34 Euro for Q3 and the company’s best EBITDA result in three years. UPM expects economic recovery to slow down in Europe and weak growth to continue in the USA. The company sees risks regarding decision of EU energy package concerning the use of wood fibre and notes that it is already harder to compete for the material due to global competition. UPM maintained expectations. SCA’s stock lost over 2% and UPM’s over 5%.