Ericsson soars; ArcelorMittal dips (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milan, 16 Apr - In European stock market dealings most sectors were lower, with miners and financial services shares leading the losses.

Telecoms stocks bucked the trend and were slightly higher after Swedish major Ericsson posted better-than-expected profits in the first quarter.

Ericsson soared 4.53% after it said that in the first quarter of 2024 diluted earnings per share rose 71% to 0.77 crowns on improved profitability. Net sales fell 15% to 53.3 billion crowns, with organic sales down 14% due to a 19% decline in the Networks business. The gross margin improved to 42.5% from 38.6% a year ago and the EBITA margin to 9.2% from 6.2%.

The EBITA margin excluding restructuring charges was 9.6% against 7.7%.

Shares of the Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal sank 6.11% in Paris after Deutsche Bank cut its recommendation on the stock to "hold" from "buy" and reduced the target price to 29 euros from 31. Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted concerns about the evolution of steel demand, given that a rebound in strategic markets has been limited while industrial activity demand in China remains weak. These factors led Deutsche Bank to reduce ArcelorMittal's operating profit estimates for 2024 to 2026.

Shares in Dr Martens plummeted 30.17% after the UK footwear group said that its pretax profit in fiscal 2025 could be a third of the level posted in fiscal 2024 because of difficulties in the US. Dr Martens said that it will release its results for fiscal 2024 on May 30 which are expected "to be in line with guidance and consensus expectations." But it warned that in fiscal 2025 revenue will decline by single-digit percentage year-on-year and at the profit before tax (PBT) level it "could see a worst-case scenario of PBT of around one-third of the FY24 level.".

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(RADIOCOR) 16-04-24 13:47:18 (0425) 5 NNNN