The Brussels party with the Belgian as a wallflower
fortis. It remains an F-word for the Belgian saver. And there is no new Belgian ‘population’ in the pipeline, despite all the belgitude of Solvay and Umicore.
One of the best interviews the undersigned has had the opportunity to do over the years was in 2005. In the small offices of Euroshareholders, the interest group of European small investors in the Brussels labyrinth. Interviewee: Lars Milberg, then chairman of Euroshareholders and of 1987 to 2005 ombudsman and driving force at the Swedish investor association Aktiespararna.
Actionsparna is fulfilled 70,000 members with the largest advocacy of small investors in the world, not bad for a country with fewer inhabitants than Belgium. “Actually, it’s a paradox,” Milberg said at the time. “Sweden is a country with a deeply rooted equity culture, even though we have the highest capital gains tax in the world (meanwhile, the Danish and Finnish neighbors, among others, have the Swedes in capital gains tax caught up, red.).
Milberg readily acknowledged that Stockholmsbörsen is fortunate to have many large companies, genre Electrolux, Ericsson and H&M. And recently, in addition to Volvo AB (the trucks), also Volvo Cars: 90,000 Swedish small investors entered on the IPO of the rapidly electrifying, traditionally Swedish car manufacturer with a Chinese owner.
Yet there is more to it than just a price board. Milberg pointed to Swedish governments that have always been stock market-oriented. Center-left governments that see many small ones than one big and center-right governments that urged Swedes to partly save for their pensions themselves.
Such a stock-market-friendly policy is lacking on land. Here we are happy if politicians do not decry the stock market or come up with a new investment tax in the middle of the night. Although it must be said: the passage of Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem at the autumn meeting of the investor association VFB was refreshing. “It will never and can never be the intention to discourage investment in this country,” said the minister of the major tax reform he has in the pipeline.
A new Cooreman – De Clercq – the legislation that allowed Belgians to rediscover Belgian shares in the 1980s – will not be forthcoming. The minister does not incorrectly point out that Belgians are also finding their way back to the stock exchange without a tax incentive. We just have a double feeling about that.
Ten first, the chauvinist in us fears that Belgians are not necessarily rediscovering Belgian shares. GameStop is now more fun. And second, more frenetic stock trading isn’t necessarily a sign of more participants: Like Warren Buffett, we think the best investor is a lazy one. Who does his homework and waits quietly until that quality – now Lotus, Melexis from Sofina – is interestingly priced and waits quietly for a marathon again.
The problem is that the belief in ‘buy & hold’ among Belgians has taken a hit. Due to the implosion – our Minister of Finance can comment on this – of the bank shares in 2008. And especially the F-word: people’s share Fortis, once due to Maurice Lippen’s experiences as a ‘whale on a Mickey Mouse stock exchange’.
And so the majority of Belgians are a wallflower the Bel20
20 percent higher this year. Thanks to the great survivor of the banking crisis: KBC
, which posted a plus of 46 percent. With the backing of the underlying second home market, where central banker Jiri Rusnok more enthusiastically than Christine Lagarde is tackling the underlying with interest rate hikes.
Since the F-word, the Brussels stock exchange no longer has real people’s shares. Yes, in 2004 143,000 Belgians signed on Belgacom (in the meantime).
Somewhere it would be nice if Umicore
en Solvay
are people’s shares. Two giants who, with their long and rich history Belgium to breathe. Umicore is doing better than the Bel20 with 28 percent, Solvay is behind with a plus of 8 percent.
Solvay, in the times of ‘ESG investors’, is somewhat confused with its cradle: soda ash. With the controversial soda factory in the Italian Rosignano often the goal. Together with Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, France, it is one of the oldest Solvay factories.
A Tuscan factory that breathes European history: in the excellent (and honest) turf for over 150 years of Solvay can you read how the gérants of the chemical giant in the 1920s and 1930s from Brussels with Mussolschipini’s Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF) to safeguard their interests in the most important market. In 1941, 80 percent of workers were members of the PNF and its paternalistic system to keep workers ‘meaningful’ after hours (dopolavoro) also well established in Rosignano.
With a sale of the proceeds of soda, Solvay would sell its own history, but at the same time remove a millstone. UBS calculates that of the 28 European chemical companies, the third (Linde and Yara) have CO2 emissions. One stock exchange, Jefferies, however, notes that a sale is not obvious: players, such as Tata Chemicals and Ciner, are also considering ‘for their other strategic alternatives’.
The cradle overshadows the green credentials that Solvay can present to elders. Even if Brussels does not have Volvo Cars, there is belgitude under the hood of every electric car. More specifically in the anodes and cathodes of rechargeable batteries. The anode is a fairly simple graphite electrode that is in use when the battery is charged, the cathode is the much complex electrode that has to work when the recharge battery releases its energy.
Solvay is the world market leader in materials for separating anodes and cathodes and also produces heat-resistant plastics for use in batteries. “In a classic car there is 6 kilos of Solvay, in an electric 9 kilos,” said CEO Ilham Kadri in the margins of the quarterly report.
Materials group Umicore is the world market leader in cathodes containing nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC), through its Energy & Surface Technologies (E&ST) division. But it is too strong that there is no Buffettian ‘moat’ around dating. Electric vehicle manufacturers are eager for cheaper LFP cathodes with lithium, iron and phosphate, leading Tesla. But also it prospectus from Ebusco learns that the Dutch bus builder swears entirely by LFP.
Due to greater competition in battery materials, there is strong price pressure. But this year, Umicore is countering that with its booming ‘above-ground miner’ in Hoboken and spiked precious metal prices. Still, stock exchange house JPMorgan suspects that 2021 will be ‘as good as it gets’. Analyst Chetan Udeshi fears that E&ST’s profit contribution will stagnate, the other two derivatives will be due to the rapid exit for the combustion engine. Catalysts because the shrinking diesel park will mean fewer particulate filters will be needed and recycling because the shrinking market will also put pressure on the price of palladium and platinum.
So maybe Solvay has the successful green prospects of the Bel20 duo under the hood of your e-car. But until further that white beach in Rosignano to blind them in order to give investors insight into this.