Novo Nordisk tops clean capitalism list

Nordic companies are clearly overrepresented in Corporate Knights 8th annual ranking of the most sustainable companies in the world. Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk (OMX: NOVO B) was chosen as the most sustainable company by a wide margin. Last year Novo was down in 16th place. It scored particularly well in this study in energy productivity and in CEO vs. average employee compensation.

The idea of the list is to find companies who not only act in the interests of the business but also for the entire planet in doing so. That means that companies fully take social, economic and ecological costs and benefits into account. A situation where a company’s private optimum level of production differs from the social optimum due to externalities is one type of market failure, which is not normally addressed on the corporate level.

Other Nordic companies close to the top are oil producer Statoil ASA (OSE:STL) at number 3 and Danish biotech company Novozymes A/S (OMX: NZYM B) at number four. Aluminium producer Norsk Hydro ASA (OSE: NHY) and Swedish industrial group Atlas Copco (OMX: ATCO A, ATCO B)) round up the top ten.

Below the top ten one can also find Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera (OMX: TLSN, OMXH: TLS1V) at 13, oft-maligned oil refining and marketing company Neste Oil Oyj (OMX: NES1V) from Finland at 19, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX: VWS) at number 31, Swedish heavy trucks and buses manufacturer Scania AB (OMX: SCV B) at 36, Reverse vending machines firm Tomra Systems ASA (OSE: TOM) at number 39, Finnish retailing conglomerate Kesko Oyj (OMX: KESB) at 43, Norwegian financial services company StoreBrand ASA (OSE: STB) at 54, Swedish retail-clothing giant H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (STO:HM B) at 67 and Danish medical devices firm Coloplast A/S (OMX: COLO B) on 84th place.

Tomra divests California beverage can handling

Reverse vending machines firm Tomra Systems (OSE: TOM) has sold assets of Tomra Pacific Inc to rePlanet LLC for approximately 25 million US Dollars, valuing the enterprise at around 29 million. Tomra Pacific Inc is the largest integrated recycler of used beverage containers in California and the recycling centres were already branded rePLANET Recycling Centers.

Tomra is focusing on moving away from physical handling of the containers into providing sensor-based solutions for optimizing vending machine operations. The matter also concerns Latour Investment AB (STO: LATO B), which recently bought a 15.5% stake in Tomra.

Nordic Stocks news in brief from 05.12.2011

Financial Times says that S&P is about to have all AAA-rated Euro countries on negative creditwatch. Finland is among those precious few countries still enjoying low borrowing costs in the eurozone.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Hennes & Mauritz is planning to forge ahead aggressively in China. H&M plans to move onto second tier and even smaller cities as the purchasing power of the rising middle cls in China increases. The article also talks about important nuances concerning H%M’s dealings in China.

Orkla ASA (OSE: ORK) notified in the after the trading session that it has sold its entire holding of 23 million shares in reverse vending machines firm Tomra Systems (OSE: TOM), representing 15.5% of the total share capital of Tomra, to Latour Investment AB (STO: LATO B). The price per share was 38.5 NOK. Tomra Systems closed at 40 NOK per share on Monday.

Financially troubled home decoration retailer Tiimari (HEL: TII1V)warned its Gallerix businesses’ revenue in Sweden was lower than forecasted in November and subsequently lowered Tiimari segments full-year EBITDA guidance from lower than last year to significantly lower than last year (and still obviously negative). Gallerix business unit has been the lone unit of the group posting positive results since Tiimari acquired it in 2007. Now it may post a loss for the year.

Swedish internet publication DagensHandel.se interviewed Gallerix’s CEO on Monday and he said that Tiimari has been gauging interest for the sale of the company. The CEO Dan Crewe said that synerge benefits in between the companies have proven smaller than expected. Selling right after the company posts a loss on the cheap would certainly be a logical continuation in Tiimari’s continued destruction of shareholder value.

Pandora (CPH: PNDORA) and D/S Norden (CPH:DNORD) will be replaced by AP Moller-Maersk A/S A-shares (CPH:MAERSK A) and Nordea ((OMX: NDA SEK) (OMXH: NDA1V) (OMX: NDA DKK)) in OMX Copenhagen 20 index (20 most traded companies in Copenhagen exchange) as a part of the semi-annual review on 19th of December. After that the index will be consisted of the following stocks: Carlsberg B, Chr. Hansen, Coloplast B, Danske Bank, DSV, FLSmidth, GN Store Nord, Lundbeck, Mærsk A, Mærsk B, NKT, Nordea, Novo Nordisk, Novozymes, Sydbank, TDC, Topdanmark, Tryg, Vestas and William Demant.

AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN, OMXS: AZN, NYSE: AZN) and UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC) have struck an agreement granting UK academics access to 22 compounds developed by AstraZeneca.

Tomra Systems shows rapid growth in Q2

Tomra Systems ASA (OSE: TOM), which produces and operates reverse vending machines for beverage container recycling, has gained nearly 5% after reporting quarterly results this morning. The company showed fast revenue and profit growth, managing 188 million NOK EBITA on 1059 million revenues.

All segments are showing improvement. Collection Technology segment revenues were 500 million. The company foresees higher activity in 2011 compared to 2010 as two large orders gained earlier will generate revenue from Q3 onward.

Industrial Processing Technology revenue was up markedly and order backlog is now at 297 million. The company sees continued good momentum with large quarterly swings in the segment. Material Handling will see growth from the new unit in Maine and West Coast operations should benefit from higher aluminium prices and efficiency gains