STOCK EXCHANGE: A grim fate for Faron shares

At the end of trading on Tuesday, the general index of the Helsinki Stock Exchange was up 0.1 percent at 12,843.80 points.

By far the largest decrease at the end of the stock exchange day was a pharmaceutical development company Faron Pharmaceuticalswhich announced a share issue of EUR 40 million last night. Instead of an announcement, the investors expected information about the partnership agreement from Faron, and the announcement was disappointing.

At the close of trading, Faron’s share was down 59.3 percent at EUR 0.77.

Among other things, a defense industry company also had a strong decline Bittiumwhose share weakened by 4.9 percent to 37.55 euros. ON Pohjola today raised Bittium’s target price to EUR 30.00 from the previous EUR 28.00, but lowered the recommendation to sell from the previous reduce.

Another company in the health sector, offering blood analysis, ended up at the top of the rise Nightingale Healthwho also announced the news last night.

The company said it has received a clinical laboratory license issued by the New York State Health Authority’s Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (CLEP) for the company’s New York laboratory.

At the close of trading, Nightingale’s share was up 9.5 percent at 1.73 euros.

On Tuesday, the most traded stock on the Helsinki Stock Exchange was a financial group Nordeawhose share ended with a 0.3 percent decrease to 16.795 euros. From the list of the twelve most traded stocks, about half were falling and half were rising.

The earnings season continued

On Tuesday, a total of six companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange announced their fourth quarter earnings reports and financial statement releases. The publishers were Inderes, Lapwall, Musti Group, Nokian Tires, Optomed and Remedy Entertainment.

Optomed, which designs fundus cameras, slipped 25.5 percent to 2.955 euros after the report.

Optomed’s turnover and profit weakened in the last quarter, and the new guidelines also left much to be desired.

Optomed only guides turnover and not profit at all. The company estimates that the turnover will increase this year compared to last year. Last year, the turnover was 17.1 million euros and the operating loss was 6.0 million euros.

Optomed’s turnover decreased to 4.8 million euros from 5.1 million euros at the same time of the previous year. Optomed’s operating loss increased to 2.0 million euros from a loss of 1.5 million euros in the comparison period.

Gaming company Remed the share strengthened on Tuesday by 2.2 percent to 14.86 euros.

In October–December, Remedy made an operating profit of 0.7 million euros, while in the comparison quarter a year ago, the operating loss was 1.4 million euros. The company’s turnover in the quarter was 17.0 million euros, compared to 11.7 million euros in the same period a year ago.

Remedy announced last night after the stock market closed that it had appointed a new CEO. French Jean-Charles Gaudechon will start his position at the beginning of March. Gaudechon has a managerial background in, among other things, a global gaming company Electronic Artsilta.

Nokian Tires is updating its strategy, goals and board of directors

Tire company Nokian Tires the board approved the company’s updated strategy and financial goals that extend until the end of 2029.

The updated financial goals of Nokian Tires until the end of 2029 are turnover of 1.8–2.0 billion euros, in terms of profitability, the EBITDA percentage of the segments in total exceeds 24 percent and the operating profit percentage of the segments in total exceeds 15 percent.

Regarding the capital structure, the goal is that the ratio of net debt to the combined EBITDA of the segments is less than two.

The company’s dividend policy remains unchanged and the goal is to pay a dividend of at least 50 percent of the net profit.

In addition, the company’s shareholders’ nomination committee proposes that Tom Adams is elected as a new member of the board.

The current chairman of the board Jukka Hienonen has announced that he is no longer available for re-election.

The nomination committee suggests that Jouko Pölönen is elected as the new chairman of the board. It is proposed to elect Elina Björklund as vice-chair.

According to the company’s results report, the results improved, but less than expected. In connection with the report, the company lowered its turnover target.

On Tuesday, Nokian Tires’ share price ended up 4.9 percent at 11.14 euros.

A technology company Ette plan announced that it is starting change negotiations in its Software and embedded solutions service area. The measures may lead to the termination of employment and layoffs of up to 40 employees.

At the end of trading, Etteplan’s share was down 2.8 percent at 9.14 euros.

Information security company by F-Secure on Tuesday afternoon at 2:11 p.m., a large block trade was made with the shares.

The object of the transaction was 1,022,255 company shares, which corresponds to approximately 0.6 percent of the company’s outstanding shares. In the block transaction, the unit price of the shares was 1.676 euros, so the total value of the transaction rose to 1.7 million euros.

F-Secure’s share ended with a decrease of 0.4 percent to 1.67 euros.

Serial combiner Relais Group announced that the group’s board of directors had decided on a directed share issue. The share issue is related to the Relais Group group company Team Workshop to agree Landströms Bygg och Plåt in Gällivaren for the purchase of the stock from LBP Invest.

In Annissa, Relais Group will issue 61,604 new shares, which will be directed to the seller of the deal. Part of the purchase price of SEK 11.0 million will be paid in shares.

The Relais share ended with a 1.5 percent increase to 17.20 euros.

Sauna company Harvian board member Olli Liitola has sold the company’s shares for a total of 208,800 euros.

The average price of the shares was 41.76 euros and the number of shares was 5,000.

On Tuesday, Harvia’s share ended with a rise of 0.5 percent to 41.55 euros.