Company news and results
Primark’s owner AB Foods released a trading update.
Primark sales for the first half (to 5 March 2022) are expected to be well over 60% ahead of last year at constant currency with an operating profit margin of some 11%.
Zalando grew revenue by +29.7% in 2021 to €10.4 billion. The adjusted EBIT margin was 4.5%. In 2022, they expect revenue to grow +12-19% and adjusted EBIT to reach €430-510 million.
Beiersdorf reported an increase in sales of +9.7% in 2021, exceeding the pre-Covid level of 2019. Outlook:
The Group anticipates sales growth in the mid single-digit range in 2022. The consolidated EBIT margin from ongoing operations (excluding special factors) is expected to be around last year’s level.
HelloFresh grew revenue by +61.5% in constant currency in 2021 and expects +20%-26% growth in 2022. Adjusted EBITDA is guided to be between €500 million and €580 million in 2022.
Symrise, the flavours and fragrances company, grew sales by +9.6 % organically in 2021. EBITDA margin expanded to 21.3 %. Outlook:
Symrise continues to target above market growth and increase average annual sales by 5 to 7 % (CAGR). This objective also applies to the current financial year 2022, in spite of increasing raw material costs.
Kuehne + Nagel, the transport and logistics company, reported a “remarkably strong performance” in 2021. Net turnover increased by 61% and EBIT by 175%. From the press release:
The Sea Logistics business experienced an exceptionally high operational workload in 2021. This was due to the difficult market environment with bottlenecks at ports and out-of-sync supply chains.
Limited global freight capacity in 2021 called for customised solutions from the Air Logistics business unit. Demand remained strong for Kuehne+Nagel’s services in areas such as pharmaceuticals, essential goods and e-commerce. This enabled the business unit to gain significant market share.
London Stock Exchange Group reported an increase in constant currency revenue of +6.1% in 2021.
Integration of Refinitiv delivering strong financial and operational benefits; confident in meeting or beating all targets
UMG grew revenue to €8.5 billion in 2021, +17% in constant currency compared to last year. Subscription and streaming revenue grew by +19.8%.
Deals and IPO
CRH announces the divestment of its Building Envelope business (link)
Maravai LifeSciences Rejects Sartorius' $11B Takeover Bid: Reuters (link)
Other news
Ukraine war sees European equities suffer record outflows - BOFA (link)
European equity funds haemorrhaged $6.7 billion while financial funds saw outflows of $3.5 billion, said BofA in its report based on EPFR data.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund to divest Russian assets (link)
Ukraine conflict: Growing numbers of firms pull back from Russia (link)
Ukraine invasion: BP to offload its 19.75% stake in state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft (link)
Equinor to exit Russia amid Ukraine invasion, warns of impairments (link)
Shell
TotalEnergies stays put in Russia, but no capital for new projects (link)
Eni plans to exit Blue Stream pipeline JV with Russia’s Gazprom (link)
Daimler Truck suspends business activities in Russia (link)
Volkswagen stops production of vehicles in Russia and suspends export (link)
A deal with Putin leaves Renault trapped in Russia (link)
Nokian shifting some production out of Russia (link)
How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is impacting the auto industry (link)
The world's leading luxury brands suspend business in Russia (link)
Russia’s Sberbank collapses 95% on London stock exchange as it exits Europe (link)
‘We can’t sell our Russian stocks’: Russian companies are being erased from stock indexes as Putin’s Ukraine invasion makes them ‘uninvestable’ (link)