STOCK EXCHANGE: The Helsinki stock exchange turned to a cautious rise

The general index of the Helsinki Stock Exchange advanced by 0.01 percent on Friday afternoon at 13,216.80 points. The stock market first opened lower on Friday morning, but has slowly turned upward as the afternoon progresses.

On Friday, a technology company focused on the defense sector clearly had the strongest rise Bittium, whose stock shot up after a strong second-quarter earnings report. The company’s result also seemed to surprise the analysts following it.

At the time of the review, Bittium’s share was up by as much as 32.5 percent.

Bittium’s turnover rose to 36.6 million euros from 22.9 million euros at the same time of the previous year. Information service of Modular Finance according to the analysts following the company expected 29.3 million euros on average.

The company’s operating profit rose to 8.1 million euros from 1.1 million euros, while expectations were 4.0 million euros. The share of operating profit in turnover improved to 22.2 percent from 4.8 percent. In analysts’ forecasts, the reading would have been 13.7 percent.

In addition to the positive earnings surprise, the company’s board of directors was said to have decided on an additional dividend of EUR 0.15 per share.

Risk of profit warning at Tokmanni

At the other end of the stock exchange, a trading company Tokmanni the stock slips as the day’s heaviest decliner. Tokmanni also published its second quarter figures today. The company’s result fell short of analysts’ forecasts.

At the time of the review, Tokmanni’s share was down 8.3 percent.

The company’s comparable operating profit in the review period was 21.0 million euros, while at the same time last year it was 21.4 million euros. The company’s comparable operating profit margin was 4.6 percent.

Information service Factset the analyst forecast compiled by Tokmann expected a comparable operating profit of 24.3 million euros.

Tokmanni’s turnover grew to EUR 457.7 million in the second quarter. At the same time last year, turnover was 442.9 million euros. Analysts expected turnover of 464.2 million euros from Tokmanni.

Analysis house Inderes analyst Arttu Heikuran according to  on olemassa selvä riski, että Tokmanni joutuu antamaan tulosvaroituksen loppuvuoden aikana.

Nokia turned upward

The position of the stock exchange’s most traded stock was held in the afternoon as usual Nokia. Nokia’s share fell by 0.5 percent in the afternoon.

Nordea’s share was up 0.09 percent at the time of the afternoon review. Neste decreased by 0.6 percent.