The European stock exchanges took a step back on three upward trading sessions. The shaky Chinese real estate mastodon Evergrande should have paid the interest on a dollar bond on Thursday, but missed that appointment. Fears of Evergrande toppling and a shock wave sent by the Chinese financial system are mounting again. Evergrande has a debt mountain of $305 billion.

The deteriorating business confidence in Germany added extra pressure. The Ifo indicator fell by 0.8 points to 98.8 points in September, slightly more than expected. The problems in the supply chains are especially worrying for business leaders.

On average, the European stock markets fell by 0.9 percent. In Brussels, there was a similar loss for the Bel20 (-0.8%). KBC Group

(+1.1%) could offer some resistance.

Ackermans & van Haaren

collected 0.7 percent to 150 euros. The Antwerp investment group has received a new capital round from the Indian supplier of medical equipment Medikabazaar. In that round, Medikabazaar raised 75 million dollars (64 million euros) from existing and new shareholders.

AvH invested 10 million euros and sees its direct interest in Medikabazaar increase from 5.4 to 8.7 percent. The entire interest amounts to 11.1 percent, because AvH also participates in the Indian b2b health tech company through two funds. This concerns the HealthQuad I fund, of which AvH is 36.3 percent innocent, and the HealthQuad II fund (22.1%).

It is rumored that the new capital round will value the company around $250-260 million. That is a much higher valuation than at AvH’s entry in 2019′, notes Michiel Declercq of KBC Securities. He repeated his ‘buy more’ advice and price target of 172 euros.

Mithra’s half-year report was a ‘mixed bag’. The net loss increased to 55 million euros, but the Liège pharmaceutical company, which focuses on medicines for women, made a good first turnover with the sale of products: the contraceptive pill Estelle. The greater loss is due to higher research and development costs.

Mithra reported disappointing news for estetrol (E4) as a treatment for Covid-19. The drug turned out to be no better than a placebo. According to Mithra, no definitive conclusion can be drawn because there were other factors: patients were still receiving medical treatments for problems. Estetrol was very well tolerated.

“Although believe that our view of the potential of E4 is beyond the potential of E4 in contraception and menopause,” say the biopharma analysts at KBC Securities. Their valuation continues to ‘buy’, their target price is 33.50 euros.

The share

fell 3.8 percent to 17.8 euros.

One of the toppers was Van de Velde

, which climbed 2.4 percent to 30.4 euros. The lingerie group from Schellebelle received a substantial price target increase from KBC Securities.

After the very good half-year results, the momentum around Van de Velde has improved, notes analyst Guy Sips. He thinks that could continue if US private equity player Carlyle plans to sell Dutch lingerie chain Hunkemöller.

Hunkemöller, which operates 850 stores in Europe, saw a sharp drop in turnover and gross operating profit due to the pandemic in the 2020/21 financial year, but both are expected to rebound strongly this year. There is a valuation multiple of 10 to 12 times gross operating profit (EBITDA), which Hunkemöller would value at almost 1 billion euros, notes Sips.

The reason for the good recovery of the EBITDA margin (to more than 30 percent) at Van de Velde was the 16.5 percent turnover growth, according to the KBCS list. In addition, there was a positive price effect. He has his estimates for further increases this year. His price target rises from 28 to 36.5 euros, which reflects Van de Velde’s growth ambition for the second half of the year. His advice continues to ‘buy more’.