Europe Movers: Essentra, Kontron, Lanxess, Premier Foods, PostNL

Inga Muller
21 Jan, 2025
Frankfurt

European markets struggled to advance amid cautious trading ahead of rate decisions by the European Central Bank and looming trade tensions with China and the U.S. 

Passenger car sales were flat in the European Union in 2024. 

The DAX index edged lower by 0.02% to 20,958.25; the CAC-40 index rose 0.04% to 7,736.64; and the FTSE 100 index edged higher by 0.1% to 8,529.39. 

The yield on 10-year German bonds decreased to 2.49%, French bonds eased to 3.29%, the UK gilts declined to 4.66%, and Italian bonds edged lower to 3.61%.

Essentra Plc dropped 0.3% to 122 pence after the global supplier of essential components and solutions purchased 11,500 ordinary shares at 25 pence each from broker Peel Hunt LLP.

After cancellation of these purchased shares, the company will have 286,625,244 ordinary shares at the same price, excluding 3,627,057 shares held in treasury.

The company estimated flat sales and reiterated its previous operating earnings outlook. 

Kontron AG surged 5% to €19.37 after the Austrian technology group guided strong growth by 2025.

The IoT solutions provider expects revenue to increase more than 40% to between €1.9 billion and €2.0 billion.

In addition, EBITDA are expected to grow by over 50% on an annual basis to at least €220 million, exceeding the previous forecast of €190 million.

The company plans to publish the final results for fiscal year 2024 on March 27.

Premier Foods Plc jumped 3.8% to 185.73 pence after the U.K. food producer said third-quarter group sales rose 3.1% from a year ago.

Quarterly branded sales were up 4.6% from a year earlier, with a strong Christmas season.

Sales in the company’s sweet treats segment increased by 8.9%, as Mr Kipling sold 20% more mince pies, delivering its biggest ever quarter.

PostNL NV dropped 5.9% to €0.98 after the Dutch postal services company guided operating earnings in 2024 to range  between €53 million or $54.64 million, well below its earlier forecast of around €80 million.

The company, which delivers parcels and letters across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, estimated its annual free cash flow at about €12 million, above the previous estimate of break-even.

Traditional postal services in Europe are struggling to keep up with competition from other parcel locker operators such as Poland's InPost SA and the U.S.-based Amazon.com Inc.

PostNL will report its annual results in February.

Lanxess AG surged 5.1% to €25.78 after the German specialty-chemicals company saw strong pre-buying and guided fourth-quarter operating earnings of around €159 million or $163.4 million. 

For the full-year 2024, the company’s adjusted operating earnings rose about 20% from the previous year to €614 million or $638.13 million.

Lanxess said it pans to release its full-year 2024 results on March 20.