Europe Movers: Braemar, Credit Agricole, Indus Holdings, Johnson Matthey, Prudential, Stellantis

Inga Muller
20 Mar, 2024
Frankfurt

European stock market indexes rested ahead of the monetary policy decisions from the central banks in the U.S. and U.K. 

Germany's producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, eased for the eighth month in a row in February after prices of energy and intermediate goods continued to decline from a year ago. 

The UK's consumer price inflation slowed in February after food, restaurant, and hotel inflation eased in the month from a year ago.  

The DAX index increased by 0.02% to 17,988.44, the CAC-40 index fell by 0.9% to 8,128.83, and the FTSE 100 index inched lower by 0.2% to 7,720.48.

The yield on 10-year German bonds edged down to 2.41%; French bonds inched lower to 2.85%; the UK gilts edged lower to 4.04%; and Italian bonds inched lower to 3.67%.

Prudential Plc decreased 6.5% to 738.60 pence despite the UK-based financial services reporting strong financial results for 2023. 

Stellantis NV declined 0.05% to €26.63, and the Italian-American automaker acquired a stake in optical radar start-up SteerLIght. 

Braemar NV gained 1.4% to 256.44 pence after the shipbroking and chartering company reiterated its 2024 revenue and profit outlook. 

Johnson Matthey PLC soared 7.7% to 1,839.0 pence after the UK-based specialty chemical company agreed to sell its medical device business for $700 million to the private equity firm Montagu Private Equity. 

Credit Agricole SA increased 0.06% and Worldline SA fell 0.8% to €9.88 after the two companies agreed to form a joint venture to provide digital payment services to merchants in France. 

Indus Holding AG increased 3.5% to €25.65 after the engineering and infrastructure company swung to a pre-tax profit of €56.1 million from a loss of €41.4 million a year ago. 

Lonza Group increased 5.4% to CHF 508.20 after the Swiss pharmaceutical company agreed to acquire Genentech's manufacturing facility for $1.2 billion in cash.

Roche acquired full-control of Genentech for $46.8 billion in March 2009.  

Valneva dropped 3.8% to €3.63 after the French biotech company reported weak financial results in 2023. 

Revenue in 2023 declined to €153.7 million from €361.3 million, and the company suffered a loss of €101.4 million.