Europe Movers: Britvic, STMicroelectronics, Zealand Pharma

Inga Muller
21 Jun, 2024
Frankfurt

European markets turned lower and trimmed weekly gains after a week of tumultuous trading. 

The euro held firm, and the spread between the French and German bonds stayed elevated for the second consecutive week. 

Eurozone business activity growth slowed in May, and UK retail sales unexpectedly remained strong in May.   

The DAX index decreased by 0.6% to 18,142.95; the CAC-40 index fell by 0.7% to 7,620.26; and the FTSE 100 index fell by 0.8% to 8,208.33. 

For the week, the DAX index jumped 0.2%, the CAC-40 index rose 0.9%, and the FTSE 100 index advanced 1%. 

The yield on 10-year German bonds edged lower to 2.35%. French bonds inched lower to 3.08%; the UK gilts edged lower to 4.03%; and Italian bonds increased to 3.89%.

STMicroelectronics NV declined 2.3% to €37.55 after the Franco-Italian semiconductor company launched two stock repurchase programs for up to $1.1 billion, to be completed over the next three years. 

The first tranche of the buyback will cover the $989 million employee stock award plans, and the second tranche will cover the $111 million required to meet the convertible bond settlement obligation. 

The company plans to hold repurchased shares as treasury stock. 

The company completed the previously announced stock buyback of 24,880,267 shares on a weighted average purchase price of €38.67 per share, for a total of €962.1 million, or $1.04 billion.

Britvic rose 6.3% to 1,078.64 pence after the independent-label soft drink maker rejected a second merger offer from the Danish brewery Carlberg Group for 1,250 pence per share. 

Zealand Pharma soared 19.5% to DKK 773.0 after the Danish biotech company said a preliminary study showed a high dose of its drug lowered weight by 8.6% over 16 weeks.