Europe Movers: ABB Ltd., Deutsche Bank, Electrolux, H&M, Nokia, Shell plc, SThree Micro, Wizz Air

Inga Muller
30 Jan, 2025
Frankfurt

Stock market indexes in Europe extended a three-day rally ahead of the widely anticipated rate cut decisions. 

The eurozone economy unexpectedly stalled in the fourth quarter, following a weakness in France and Germany. Spain's inflation accelerated to a seven-month high in January. 

The DAX index moved higher by 0.3% to 21,694.57; the CAC-40 index climbed 0.5% to 7,909.78; and the FTSE 100 index advanced by 0.2% to 8,574.94.

The yield on 10-year German bonds inched lower to 2.53%, French bonds declined to 3.27%, the UK gilts moved up to 4.60%, and Italian bonds edged lower to 3.62%.

Nokia gained 2.3% to €4.40 after the mobile technology company posted strong fourth-quarter results ending in December.

Net sales surged 10% to €5.98 billion from €5.42 billion; operating profit jumped 72% to €917 million from €534 million, and earnings per diluted share swung to profit of 15 euro cents from a loss of 0.01 euro cents a year ago.

Comparable sales increased 10%, and gross margin expanded to 47.2% from 44.7% a year earlier.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2025, Nokia estimates comparable operating profit between €1.9 billion and €2.4 billion, and free cash flow conversion between 50% and 80%.

The company proposed to pay a dividend of 14 euro cents on February 13 to shareholders on record as of February 4.

Nokia plans to return up to €600 million of cash to shareholders in tranches over a period of two years, according to its share buyback program started on March 20, 2024.

ABB Ltd. increased 1.3% to CHF 52.28 after the Swiss engineering company reported an increase in revenue, profit, and orders in the fourth quarter.

The company's board also proposed to increase an ordinary dividend to 0.90 Swiss franc compared to 0.84 Swiss franc in the previous year.

The company also proposed a new $1.5 billion stock repurchase plan, ending on January 28, 2026.

Deutsche Bank decreased 3.5% to €18.85, and Germany's largest bank announced a larger-than-expected provision decline in earnings in the fourth quarter and 2024 as a result of a higher provision for legal expenses and restructuring costs.

Electrolux AB dropped 6% to 103.45 krona after the Swedish home appliance maker swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, but the company signaled market uncertainty in North America.

The appliance maker skipped a dividend for the third year in a row.

Net sales increased 7% to 37.97 billion krona from 35.64 billion krona, income swung to profit of 150 million krona from a loss of 4.11 billion, and earnings per diluted share swung to profit of 56 krona cents from a loss of 15.23 krona a year ago.

Operating cash flow after investments declined to 2.66 billion krona from 3.87 billion krona a year earlier.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2025 the company estimates reduced product costs and therefore earnings of 3.5 billion krona to 4.0 billion krona.

Wizz Air plunged 13% to 1,192 pence after the deep discount airline posted weak results for the fiscal third quarter 2025 ending in December.

Revenue declined 10.5% to €1.18 billion from €1.06 billion, and net loss widened to €241.1 million from a loss of €105.4 million a year ago.

Net debt climbed 7.3% to €5.14 billion from €4.79 billion a year earlier, despite a 0.7% increase of total cash.

H&M declined 5.1% to €12.81 after the Swedish apparel retailer reported weaker-than-expected sales in the fourth quarter.

Net sales fell to 62.19 billion krona from 62.65 billion; profit surged to 3.08 billion krona from 1.57 billion krona, and earnings per diluted share rose to 1.92 krona from 0.97 krona a year ago.

Cash and cash equivalents declined to 17.34 billion krona from 26.4 billion a year earlier, impacted by the later occurrence of Black Friday.

However, sales geared up in December and January, in a positive start to the new fiscal year, as online sales remain strong and customers welcome the women’s fashion collections and the company’s bargain prices.

Shell Plc gained 1.5% to 2,633 pence after the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company posted strong results for the fourth quarter ending in December.

Income attributable to shareholders increased to $928 million from $474 million, and earnings per share rose to 15 cents from 0.07 cents a year ago.

Cash flow from operations jumped to $13.16 billion from $12.58 billion a year earlier, driven by lower debts and expenses.

Shell proposed a 4% increase in dividends to 36 cents per share and launched another share buyback program of $3.5 billion, which is expected to be completed over the next three months.

STMicroelectronics NV slumped 5.5% to €22.47 after the semiconductor company posted mixed results for its fourth quarter ending in December.

Revenue declined 22.4% to $3.32 billion from $4.28 billion; net income slumped 68.3% to $321 million from $1.08 billion, and earnings per diluted share fell 67.5% to 37 cents from $1.14 a year ago.

Free cash flow decreased to $128 million from $1.48 billion a year earlier.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2025 the company estimates net revenue of $2.51 billion, a decrease of 24.4% sequentially, and gross margin of 33.8%.