Brussels: VGP from stratosphere to troposphere
The European stock markets are gaining ground. VGP raised 300 million euros in an hour on Wednesday to finalize the growth, but paid for it with a significant price tumble. KBC Securities does not see a fourth player appearing on the Belgian telecom market any time soon.
After several days of declines, European stocks are back in the plus. Investors are not paying much attention to the Fed minutes released that evening, which pointed to a possible faster easing of stimulus policy than started Wednesday.
Keep that tap open for the European Central Bank (ECB). At the beginning of this month, ECB chairwoman Christine Lagarde nipped speculation about an interest rate hike in 2022 in the bud. As a result of that monetary policy differential, the euro has plunged $1.12 to its lowest level since June 2020.
The Brussels benchmark Bel20
charge in line with Europe at 0.2 percent. At the top of the price board is the Boël holding Sofina
, die 3.1 percent wins.
Telenet and Proximus
Telenet
recovers by 0.5 percent, Proximus
return 0.6 percent. The Bel20 telecom operators have little of the threat of a fourth telecom player on the Belgian market in the political agreement on Tuesday.
We still think the legality of a fourth telecom player is uncertain.
“It was a somewhat negative surprise for us,” says ING analyst David Vagman. We thought the local government would be more resistant to the federal government’s will to accommodate a fourth player. We still think the legality of a player is uncertain because the Council of State has not yet made a clear commitment to the federal government. We believe it is still possible for the parties involved to legally challenge this.’
According to the analyst, there is still little chance of a new player on the consumer market, because the spectrum auction has been made so flexible that players on the Belgian telecom market can only become active on the (lucrative) business market. And because Orange Belgium is likely to acquire VOO, a potentially smooth entry ticket to the Belgian market will disappear.
VGP
VGP
makes an 8 percent tumble. The developer of research parks easily raised 300 euros with a capital round on Wednesday afternoon. ‘The books were filled within an hour’, says Wim Lewi, an analyst at KBC Securities. “The discount on the share price charges 9 percent, but we must not forget that the price had risen by 13.1 percent since the closing price on Thursday last week.” The company then gave a good trading update.
Lewi predicts that the debt ratio (net debt-to-balance sheet) will fall from 30.4 percent at the end of June to 20.5 percent for the full year. ‘We expect this ratio to return to 30.2 percent only in 2025. We also expect a development peak in 2022-2023. When the development of the joint venture will arise, the growth of the joint venture will grow in 2024-2025 will flow back. The company expects to receive a credit rating from S&P. A higher credit rating will put pressure on interest rates.’
A higher credit rating for VGP will result in a lower interest rate on the debt.
The analyst predicts an explosive growth path for VGP in the next two to three years, with the company entering new regions such as France, Serbia and Sweden. Now that the land and construction costs are rising, prices will also increase the quantity. VGP expects it to be able to keep its development profits per square meter at least stable.’
“As VGP expands into new regions, there is also a chance that the investment portfolio will exceed the historical bandwidth of 200,000 to 250,000 square meters,” says Lewi.
Payton Planar
Israeli technology company Payton Planar
, a producer of the year with slightly less good figures. Revenue came in at $29.2 million compared to $30.8 million a year earlier. The company attributes the decline to customer demand to delay deliveries due to parts shortages.
Payton Planar higher development and labor costs, mainly due to the increase in the Israeli amounts against the US dollar and the amount. Operating profit fell 18.4 percent to $6.4 million. Net profit stands at $5.2 million against 6.8 million a year earlier.
The currency is the best currency against the euro this year with a climb of more than 11 percent. The worst is the Turkish lira: -32 percent.
On the other hand, it is positive for Payton Planar that the order books are well filled. At the end of September, Payton Planar had orders for $28.2 million against $18.9 million at the end of 2020. Payton Planar believes the bulk of the order book can be delivered by the end of September 2022.
Payton tumbles on the fixing market with 5.9 percent to 7.95 euros.