Inmarsat Rejects Revise Bid, Assa Abloy Writes Down China Assets

Sarla Buch
06 Jul, 2018
New York City

Assa Abloy booked $700 million impairment charges related to China operations. Altice is in talk with China-based Huawei for the development 5G networks in Netherland. HELLA is selling its Demark and Poland-based businesses. Inmarsat rejected second improved takeover bid.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Assa Abloy booked $700 million impairment charges related to China operations. Altice is in talk with China-based Huawei for the development 5G networks in Netherland. HELLA is selling its Demark and Poland-based businesses. Inmarsat rejected second improved takeover bid.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index edged down 0.04 to 7,600.41 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 8.37 to 12,458.23.

In Paris, CAC 40 index edged up 6.56 to 5,359.47.

The Assa Abloy Group tumbled 7.6% to 171.20 Swedish kronor after Sweden-based lock manufacturer reported preliminary sales in the second quarter ending in June jumped 9% from a year ago to 21.4 billion kronor and operating profit of about 3.3 billion kronor and operating margin growth of about 15.7%.

The Assa Abloy also booked one-time non-cash charge in the second quarter of 6 billion kronor or $686 million related to its Chinese operations.

The lock maker said one-off costs of 5.6 billion kronor are attributable to impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, while 400 million kronor is related to write-downs of operating assets.

Altice N.V soared 4.7% to €3.31 after the Netherlands-based telecom services provider said it is in preliminary talk with China-based Huawei to develop and roll-out the next-generation 5G networks.

""I believe that the Portuguese market will be one of the first globally to be able to use this (5G) technology,"" said chief executive officer of Altice Portugal Alexandre Fonseca.

HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA slipped 0.4% to €48.32 after Germany-based automobile parts supplier today said that the company has agreed to sell its Demark and Poland-based wholesale business FTZ Autodele & Verktoj A/S and Inter-Team Sp zoo to Sweden-based rival wholesaler Mekonomen AB for about €395 million.

The transaction is expected to close in the third-quarter 2018.

Inmarsat Plc declined 5% to 499.60 pence after the U.K.-based satellite mobile and fixed line services provider rejected improved second takeover bid of £3.2 billion or €2.5 billion from EchoStar Corporation.

Inmarsat said that offer “significantly undervalued” the company’s prospects.

However, Inmarsat said its board “remains highly confident in the independent strategy and prospects” while EchoStar said the deal is “strategically compelling” and the revised offer was equivalent to 532 pence per share.