Will the CAC 40 hit 7,000 points today?
TREND
The CAC 40 is still expected to be slightly higher at Thursday’s open, while the 7,000-point threshold is the focus of investors ahead of the release of the December US consumer price index later this afternoon. This should indicate a slowdown in the pace of inflation across the Atlantic…
Yesterday, the Atlanta Fed’s index of inflation expectations for January 2023 fell to 3% from 3.1% a month earlier. This indicator measures one-year inflation expectations from the perspective of firms. So just before the release of the US inflation index, one indicator heading in the right direction was that it was flat from the previous month and up 6.5% for the year (FactSet consensus), up from 7.1% a month ago. .. Excluding food and energy, the CPI is expected to increase by 0.3% compared to the previous month and by 5.7% compared to last year…
Just a “hiccup” on the stock market this morning, a new big “warning” from Ubisoft, which continues to disappoint in the video game sector!
WALL STREET
Wall Street appeared in the green on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up 1.28% to 3,969 points, the Dow Jones +0.80% to 33,973 points and the Nasdaq up 1.76% to 10,931 points. One barrel of WTI brand oil increased by 3.5% to 77.6 dollars. The dollar index lost 0.1% against a basket of benchmark currencies.
ECO AND CURRENCIES
Euro/dollar parity reached $1.0755 this morning. A barrel of Brent oil sells for $82.75. Gold is trading at $1,876 an ounce, and bitcoin at $18,113.
BROKERS
JP Morgan cuts its recommendation on Ubisoft to “overweight” and a target price of €46-24 to “neutral”.
Citigroup continues to monitor Sanofi with a “buy” recommendation and a target price of €110.
Barclays raises its price target for Schneider to €160 from €140.
RBC cuts its price target on Téléperformance to €340 from €400.
Jefferies raises its price target for Verallia from €35 to €40.
VALUES TO FOLLOW
Ubisoft has lowered its net booking target for the third quarter of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, now at around 725 ME versus the previously expected target of 830 ME. The video game publisher is addressing a more challenging environment, resulting in below-expected performances for “Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope” and “Just Dance 2023.”
Ubisoft has decided to postpone the launch of the game “Skull and Bones”, which will be released at the beginning of the 2023-2024 fiscal year. In this context, Ubisoft is reviewing its targets for the entire current financial year, and net bookings are expected to decrease by more than 10% compared to the previous year. Non-IFRS operating income is now expected at -500 million vs. 400 million previously, reflecting lower net bookings, Skull & Bones deferrals and accelerated amortization of capitalized R&D of approximately €500 million.
The group has indeed decided to amortize approximately €500 million of capitalized ‘R&D’ related to future premium and Free Games and discontinued games. This reflects increased caution, particularly regarding the current challenges of the video game market and macroeconomic environment, as well as the need to focus on fewer titles.
At the same time, Ubisoft is adapting its organization to a more challenging market, with a net reduction of more than 200 million euros expected in the non-variable cost base over the next two years. This reduction will be achieved through targeted restructuring, disposal of certain non-core assets and normal natural attrition.
For the 2023-2024 financial year, Ubisoft is targeting a non-IFRS operating profit of around 400 million euros, reflecting due caution given the current challenging environment, while forecasting strong growth in net bookings thanks to significant enrichment.
Ubisoft’s financial position is described as “solid” with around €1.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents after paying off a €500 million bond that matures at the end of the month.
Faced with the unusual movements in the share price in recent days, Orpea recalls that, according to press releases at the end of last year, the Group has started negotiations on a drastic financial restructuring of the capitalization. Orpea SA’s EUR 3.8 billion in unsecured debt and a capital increase of between EUR 1.3 and 1.5 billion to finance its Refinancing Plan and achieve a sustainable financial structure.
Orpea reminds us that the implementation of this capital increase will result in a massive dilution for existing shareholders who decide not to participate.
Discussions are still ongoing between Orpea, its financial creditors and third-party investors as part of the conciliation procedure opened by the president of the Specialized Commercial Court of Nanterre under the auspices of a conciliator. The Company cannot guarantee the results of these discussions.
Intrasense, a specialist in medical imaging software solutions, announces its acquisition of up to 39% of the capital of the Guerbet group, raising a total amount of 8.8 ME of reserve capital at an issue price of EUR 0.44 per share, i.e. the premium was 34.15% compared to Intrasense’s last share price.
Following this acquisition, Guerbet plans to launch a voluntary public tender offer for the remaining Intrasense shares at a price of €0.44 per share and for securities providing access to the company’s capital. To offer immediate liquidity to willing Intrasense shareholders and holders of securities giving access to the Company’s equity, without having to initiate a delisting of Intrasense, under the same price terms.
The financial restructuring of Vergnet, which began in August 2022, continues under the 3R plan and in cooperation with Negma. On January 11, Negma disbursed financing tranche #4 in the amount of 1.7 ME against the originally planned 1.5 ME, bringing the total withdrawals to 5.7 ME. This 4th tranche led to the issuance of 680 OCAs and 165,329 BSAs.
This funding will support 3 important projects in the revitalization and re-conquest of the 3R Plan. For this, Vergnet intends to offer a high performance and competitive offer in a vibrant market supported by public authorities. Details of the strategy adopted and the tools required to develop these fast margin generating activities will be announced soon…
DMS Imaging, the imaging division of the Diagnostic Medical Systems Group and French specialist in the development, design and manufacture of imaging systems, commercial and industrial partner Fujifilm Healthcare Italy, is pleased to announce that it has won the tender for 96 FDX Visionary-RF Premium remote controls. Radiology tables manufactured by DMS Imaging.
This large order is awarded as part of a national call for tenders launched by CONSIP, a public company owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. This volume of remote tables represents the largest contract in terms of revenue achieved by DMS Imaging.
Europe is the starting point for the commercial and industrial agreements signed between Fujifilm Healthcare and DMS Imaging during the RSNA (Radiology Society of North America) trade show at the end of 2019.
Ekinops, a leading provider of telecommunications solutions dedicated to telecommunications operators and businesses, has published its annual revenue for the fiscal year 2022 ending December 31, 2022. Thus, the consolidated income increased by +23% compared to the previous year and amounted to 127.6 ME. similar basis (+19% at constant exchange rate).
Turnover in Q4 2022 was +10% (+6% at constant exchange rates) to 31.5 ME, compared to 28.7 ME a year ago, despite particularly strong logistics and supply chain tensions at the end of the year. Difficulties in delivering certain orders in early 2023 without causing major problems for customers at the end of the year thus led to a cut of several million euros in terms of invoices in the 4th quarter.
Nacon, the creator of premium gaming accessories, announces the release of the new MG-X Made For iPhone controller model. Officially licensed by Xbox, the Cloud Gaming MG-X Made For iPhone controller is the perfect accessory for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate owners.
Like the critically acclaimed MG-X since its launch in September 2021, MG-X Made For iPhone allows players to enjoy all the classic controller controls for mobile gaming. Like the MG-X Pro Made for iPhone, released in December 2022, it’s compatible with a variety of iPhone models, from the 6S to the latest model, thanks to its adjustable stand and Bluetooth connectivity. The controller easily connects to your iPhone and lets you control all the games on the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer.
Worldline announces that it has completed the acquisition of a 40% stake in Online Payment Platform BV, as announced on September 29, 2022. Founded in 2011, Online Payment Platform (OPP) is a Dutch online payment service provider and payment solution provider. marketplaces and platforms, especially in the C2C segment.
With a staff of over 60, it offers its services throughout the European Union and the United Kingdom thanks to its Dutch IP license passport obtained in 2014. OPP serves more than a hundred markets and platforms.
Vente-unique.com: Vente-unique.com returned to growth (+5.1%) in the 4th quarter of the 2021-2022 financial year, after four consecutive quarters of decline related to online overconsumption by European households during the lockdown. , suitable for its purpose. This growth is purely organic, with new logistics subcontracting and market services impacting the next financial year.
Annual turnover decreased by 12.3% to 143.4 ME in 12 months, but increased by +20.7% in 2 years. The level of activity remains significantly higher than it was before the health crisis, which is proof of the inevitable continuation of the digital transformation movement of the furniture market in Europe.
Although the company was able to moderate the impact of headwinds in the first half of 2021-2022 due to anticipation (security of supply) and price policy correction, the cumulative impact of freight rate hikes and currency fluctuations was strong. impact on gross margin in the second half of the year. This represents a 53% gross margin, down 4 points year over year, and close to the level for the 2019-2020 financial year.
In this context, the company reduced current operating expenses by 6% to partially compensate for the decrease in the volume of activity. However, Vente-unique.com has built a solid organization capable of absorbing future years of growth and maintaining high service quality to support its medium-term growth plan. This results in an adjusted Ebitda of 8.4 ME during the financial year 2021-2022.
After taking into account depreciation and provisions, technology investments made (proprietary ERP upgrade, market launch) and valuation of free share plans (accounting impact of 1.5 ME) result in current operating profit of up to 2 ME. 4.8 came out in ME. Taking into account other charges and 1.4 ME tax, the annual net profit is 2.7 ME. Vente-unique.com thus achieved its 16th consecutive profitable year.
