Casino Guichard to Sell Assets; Valeo and Zurich Insurance Sell Bonds

Sarla Buch
12 Jun, 2018
New York City

Casino Guichard announces

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Casino Guichard announces €1.5 billion asset disposal plan. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen reaffirmed fiscal forecast despite profit declined 31%. Valeo issued €600 million of new bonds maturing in 2025. Zurich Insurance placed 350 million francs of senior notes.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index decreased 34.96 or 0.5% to 7,703.98 and in Frankfurt the DAX index edged up 8.72 to 12,851.35.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 15.43 or 0.3% to 5,457.76.

Casino Guichard Perrachon SA gained 1.6% to €33.46 after France-based supermarket and retail outlet operator agreed to sell its non-core assets worth about €1.5 billion or $1.78 billion by first-quarter of 2019.

The retailer aimed to continue its business model transformation and accelerating deleveraging in France and also forecasted that comparable sales in second-quarter will be higher than first-quarter.

The Casino Guichard added the retailer has credit lines of €3.3 billion which remain undrawn.

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG declined 8.1% to €2.85 after Germany-based precision mechanical engineering services provider reported group revenues in the year ending in March dropped 3.9% from a year ago to €2.4 billion.

Net profit in the year declined 30.5% to €25 million from €36 million in a year ago period.

The Heidelberger reaffirmed fiscal 2018 revenue growth of about €3 billion and net income after taxes of more than €100 million.

Valeo SA slipped 1.4% to €53.32 after France-based automobile supplier announced the placement of worth of €600 million of new bonds with maturity in June 18, 2025 and interest coupon of 1.50%.

Zurich Insurance Group AG rose 0.7% to 301.70 Swiss francs after Switzerland-based insurance services provider said it completed the placement of 350 million francs of senior notes to Swiss investors only.

Yesterday, the Swiss insurer acquired a minority stake in CoverWallet, a digital business insurance agency startup.