Nordic markets retreated as a number of companies reporting today missed expectations. Global markets recovered somewhat after CNBC reports that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is possibly stepping down surfaced. Since he later denied that in a speech and only made some minor concessions, markets will be affected by that tomorrow.
Just a few days ago different hypothetical scenarios of bank failures in the Nordic countries, which would be large enough to shake the entire Europe included Nordea and Danske Bank. At that time it was suggested that Danske Bank should seek to improve capitalization. Today Danske Bank announced that it plans to raise approximately 20 billion DKK of new share capital through a fully underwritten discounted rights issue. While this can be seen as a positive move long term, and the fact that the bank gave a positive outlook for 2011 and 2012, obviously the stock sold of in the aftermath. This was compounded by some disappointments associated with the Q4 result. A near 11% decline weighed heavily on the entire index.
Uponor building solutions was strong in the Nordic countries but had trouble everywhere else. The demand has stagnated in the United States. Infrastructure business is facing declining demand. The company sees plenty of risks in the global economy although confidence has clearly returned. Uponor's internal development programs are mostly complete and the company will focus on external opportunities including potential partnerships. Uponor is also expanding the new geographical areas in Asia. The guidance for 2011 is rather carefull 'accelerating organic growth and improved operating profit compared to 2010. The weakness in the US. also kept Skanska from picking more steam. Skanska will pay a large extra dividend conditional on the Autopista Central divestiture having been completed in full.
Bergen group's net profit was negative for a second quarter in a row. This time though the company was completely certain in its wording that the higher order intake and still increasing tender activity leading into more orders give rise to a positive outlook in near and longer term. Currently the time from a tender to contract award is longer than at the peak of the cycle. Some of the divisions did not have acceptable margins and traders punished the company's stock for that early on.
Xano Industri had a predictably strong quarter.The sales have returned to 2008 levels at acceptable margins. The activitiy is still increasing and the company sees continued profit improvement. The stock tends to be forgotten in the middle of reports and gained strongly after the numbers were chewed on for a bit.
DnB NOR beat expectations handily and thus managed to go against the flow as financial stocks were mostly down today. Orkla promises stable development in Nordic grocery market. The report was solid but unspectacular. Galderma raised its bid for Q-Med. Tieto's earnings disappointed and the stock retreated by 8%. Lindab was down by a comparable amount for similar reason.
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