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07.03.2019 – 09:28
Lars Ophüls
The flood of balance sheets also marks the start of trading on the stock market. One of the biggest losers is Axel Springer with a price drop of five percent. Analysts were disappointed above all by the outlook.
By contrast, the securities of Pro Sieben Sat 1 increased by 2.5 percent. The TV broadcaster exceeded market expectations in its quarterly operating profit and net result.
07.03.2019 – 08:45
Anis Mičijević
Automotive supplier Continental increases dividend and reinforces targets
The automotive supplier Continental is increasing its dividend despite the downward trend on the automotive markets and after an already turbulent year in 2018 with several forecast corrections. Shareholders are to receive 4.75 euros per unit certificate for the past year, 25 cents more than the year before, as the Dax Group from Hannover announced on Thursday. The board of directors affirmed its annual targets by CEO Elmar Degenhart. According to this, the supplier is aiming for an EBIT margin of between eight and nine percent, after 9.8 percent (previous year: 10.8 percent) in 2018.
The new fiscal year was expected to be subdued given the ongoing uncertainty in the markets, Conti said, reaffirming the tentative forecast from the beginning of January that auto production should decline in the first half of the year. The preparations for a partial IPO of the Powertrain division in the second half of the year went according to plan. The division will henceforth bear the name “Vitesco Technologies”.
07.03.2019 – 08:30
Anis Mičijević
Newcomer Knorr-Bremse meets operational expectations
The Munich-based brake group Knorr-Bremse has fulfilled its own expectations in the year of its stock market public offering. The conversion had grown by 7.5 percent to 6.6 billion euros, the company said on Thursday. Knorr-Bremse had targeted 6.6 to 6.7 billion. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) climbed 5.6 percent to 1.18 billion euros. The operating return on sales (Ebitda margin) was thus 17.8 percent, ie within the forecast 17.5 to 18.5 percent. “Despite an uncertain, volatile market environment, the demand for Knorr-Bremse systems for rail and commercial vehicles rose to a new high,” said CEO Klaus Deller.
This should continue in 2019. New orders reached the seven-billion threshold for the first time. Sales in the group are expected to rise to between € 6.8 billion and € 7.0 billion if the economy remains reasonably stable. The Ebitda margin improves to 18 to 19 percent. This corresponds to an operating profit of 1.22 to 1.33 billion euros.
How much profit in 2018 remained below the line, Knorr-Bremse did not say. 40 to 50 percent of this is to be distributed as a dividend.
07.03.2019 – 08:11
Anis Mičijević
Pro Seven Sat 1 after a weak year before hard conversion
Pro Sieben Sat 1 is struggling with lower revenues in advertising television and therefore wants to expand its digital business quickly. Following further declines in advertising revenues in the first quarter, the media group expects almost stable revenues in its largest business segment and further growth in the entire year with the Internet portals and in the production business. However, the profit is likely to be charged by investment in the program and for the construction of a streaming platform, Pro Sieben Sat 1 said on Thursday.
In the past year, the profit halved after high depreciation to 248 million euros. CEO Max Conze said, “2018 has not been a year we can be satisfied with, as we have not been able to sufficiently offset the weakness in the TV advertising business with growth in the digital and commerce space.” Revenue declined 2 percent 4.0 billion euros – also because the video-on-demand portal Maxdome and the online fitness provider 7NXT no longer went into the group figures. The operating result decreased by 4 percent to 1.0 billion euros.
Instead of a good 80 percent, the shareholders are now to receive only half of the profits as a dividend – the other half Conze needs for the corporate restructuring. He plans to invest 120 million euros this year in a better television program with more local content, in digital platforms and in more precisely adressable advertising. A further 100 million euros will be needed by Pro Sieben Sat 1 and its partner Discovery for the new streaming platform.
07.03.2019 – 07:57
Anis Mičijević
Internet business boosts Springer’s profit
The media group has achieved its goals for 2018 thanks to the booming digital business. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 14.3 percent year-on-year to 738 million euros. The publisher’s sales of “Bild” and “Welt” climbed 4.1 percent to 3.2 billion euros. “In 2019, we want to invest in growth to secure a long-term increase in value,” said Group CEO Mathias Döpfner. For the current year, the management expects only a stagnant profit. Before the stock exchange, the Springer shares were 2.4 percent down.
07.03.2019 – 07:48
Lars Ophüls
Hannover Re increases dividend by 25 cents
Hannover Re, the fourth-largest reinsurer in the world, raises the dividend by 25 cents to 5.25 euros per share. € 1.50 of it will be paid as a special dividend. Net profit rose to 1.06 (2017: 0.96) billion euros after final figures, although the major losses of 850 million euros were slightly above the budgeted budget.
Hannover Re wants to screw the net profit to 1.1 billion euros in 2019.
07.03.2019 – 07:48
Lars Ophüls
Hugo Boss raises the dividendThe fashion company Hugo Boss has earned more in 2018 and wants its shareholders to participate with a dividend increased by five cents to 2.70 euros. The net profit climbed by two percent to 236 million euros.
For the current year, the Executive Board announced a mid-single-digit percentage revenue growth and a high single-digit percentage increase in operating profit (EBIT). In 2018, the EBIT increased by two percent to 347 million euros.
07.03.2019 – 07:47
Lars Ophüls
Rusal slips into the black The Russian aluminum giant Rusal slipped into the red in the last quarter. He reported an adjusted net loss of $ 17 million after a gain of $ 350 million a year ago. Management now expects aluminum demand to recover this year and next. In January, the US lifted sanctions on the company.
On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Rusal shares were down 3.9 percent.
07.03.2019 – 07:24
Anis Mičijević
Cement giant LafargeHolcim expects attractive growth
The Swiss cement giant LafargeHolcim returned to the black in 2018. The world market leader, according to own data from Thursday, according to a profit of 1.5 billion francs. In 2017, write-downs on acquisitions had a loss of CHF 1.68 billion in the past. Adjusted operating profit in 2018 increased by 3.6 percent to CHF 6.02 billion. Analysts had expected an average of 5.97 billion francs.
“I expect 2019 to further accelerate our growth and earnings momentum,” said CEO Jan Jenisch. LafargeHolcim confirmed the goals for the current year. At the end of November, the Group had forecast revenue growth of three to five percent for 2019 and an improvement in operating income of at least five percent.
07.03.2019 – 07:08
Anis Mičijević
Merck earnings shrink towards the end of the year
Negative currency effects also slowed down the pharmaceutical and specialty chemicals group Merck in the fourth quarter. Adjusted operating income (Ebitda) decreased 1.3 percent to 950 million euros, as the Darmstadt company announced on Thursday. Currency effects had a significant negative impact on earnings, without which they would have increased by around three percent. Thanks to the proceeds from the sale of prescription health products, Merck achieved a net profit of € 2.4 billion, just over a billion a year earlier. Sales generated by all three divisions increased by 6.6 percent to 3.9 billion euros.
For 2019, Merck expects moderate organic sales growth. Adjusted operating profit should increase in the lower percentage range of ten compared to the previous year. In 2018, it also fell by more than ten percent to 3.8 billion euros due to negative currency effects and was thus within the forecast lowered in the autumn. The Group expects the burden of exchange rates to continue in 2019.
07.03.2019 – 07:07
Anis Mičijević
Package crisis slows down the post
Declines in earnings in the mail and parcel business in Germany weigh on the profits of Deutsche Post. 2019 should bring but now improvement. His goals for 2020 confirm CEO Frank Appel.
The operating profit (Ebit) broke last year because of the cost of the reorganization of the German letter and parcel business by 15.5 percent to 3.16 billion euros, as the Bonn Group announced on Thursday. Swiss Post thus met the expectations of the market. Analysts had predicted an EBIT of 3.1 billion euros. Below the line and after minority interests, the profit shrank to two (previous year: 2.7) billion euros. Group sales increased by 1.8 percent to 61.5 billion euros. The Bonn plan to distribute an unchanged dividend of 1.15 euros per share for 2018. In 2019, Post CEO Frank Appel wants to increase the operating profit to 3.9 to 4.3 billion euros. In 2020, it should then be more than five billion euros, the corporation said in a presentation.
07.03.2019 – 07:06
Anis Mičijević
Vonovia makes more than a billion euros profit
Thanks to two takeovers in Austria and Sweden, Germany’s largest housing company Vonovia broke the billion dollar profit last year. As the company from Bochum announced on Thursday, the operating result from current business (FFO I) climbed by 15.8 percent in 2018 to 1.07 billion euros. The Group thus pretty much met the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Reuters, who had calculated FFO I at 1.066 billion euros. The dividend should rise to 1.44 (previous year: 1.32) euros per share.
Vonovia once again grew significantly in the past year with the purchase of BUWOG in Austria and Victoria Park in Sweden. The group now manages nearly 400,000 apartments, of which around 23,000 are in Austria and around 14,000 in Sweden. The total traffic value is currently around 44.2 (2017: 33.4) billion euros. At the end of 2018, the housing stock was almost fully let. At 2.4 percent, vacancy was slightly below the comparable 2017 level of 2.5 percent.
For 2019 CEO Rolf Buch expects an increase in operating profit to 1.14 to 1.19 billion euros. He wants to spend around two billion euros on investments in modernization and maintenance.
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