Brussels shares lower midmorning in quiet trade

Brussels shares lower midmorning in quiet trade

	Published : Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

BRUSSELS (AFX) - Brussels shares were lower in midmorning trade, with subdued pre-weekend sentiment.

A KBC trader told AFX News that 'the market is quite negative, but on low volumes -- it's a typical Friday'.

At 11.04 am the Bel 20 was down 6.60 eur or 0.15 pct at 4503.22.

Telecoms group Belgacom was down 0.07 eur or 0.21 pct at 33.21.

Yesterday, the company said that is has sold its remaining stake in peer Mobistar for about 148 mln eur.

The stake of 2,274,043 Mobistar shares was sold at a price of 65 eur per share, or a total amount of 147,812,795 eur.

A spokesman for Belgacom told AFX News this represented around 3 pct of all Mobistar shares.

Holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) fell 0.13 eur or 0.15 pct to 88.41.

KBC analyst Tom Simonts said in a note to clients that cement maker Lafarge's full year earnings 'abide well for GBL'.

Lafarge reported a jump in full-year profits this morning and posted full year net profit up 25 pct from 2005.

Simonts added he believes 'GBL may have furher upped its presence' in Lafarge's capital 'or may do so after today's earnings release'.

Brewing giant Inbev was virtually flat, down 0.01 eur or 0.02 pct at 53.29, while utility Suez rose 0.14 eur or 0.37 pct to 38.20.

For the heavyweight financials, KBC was down 0.35 eur or 0.36 pct at 96.20 after the group posted full year results yesterday which disappointed investors.

UBS analyst Simon Chiavarini upped his target price on KBC to 115 eur from 114 eur, saying that 'the overall picture on KBC was good', but that investors were worried about the group's operations in Hungary.

He said he are mained bullish' on the long-term prospects of KBC.

Dexia fell 0.03 eur or 0.13 pct to 22.98 while Fortis was down 0.11 eur or 0.32 pct to 34.34.

Colruyt was the sharpest faller, down 1.92 eur or 1.10 pct at 172.67.

The discount supermarket group said yesterday that its unit SAS Codi-France is launching a project to franchise its shops in France.

The group said the project will help Codi-France roll out new Colruyt stores first in eastern France.

Specialty materials group Umicore was down 1.27 eur or 0.91 pct at 137.76 while real estate company Cofinimmo fell 0.26 eur or 0.17 pct to 155.20.

In positive territory, pharmaceutical group UCB bucked the trend and rose 0.39 eur or 0.80 pct to 49.40 after the company said it received 'significant' data from a phase three study of rheumatoid arthritis treatment Cimzia, analysts said.

UCB said that Cimzia treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, in combination with methotrexate, prevented structural damage of the joints to a significantly greater degree than placebo plus methotrexate after one's treatment.

KBC analyst Christophe Vanvaeck said that the announcement should 'ease the confusion that originated from the request to have an urgent FDA meeting a few weeks ago.'

He added that the launch of Cimzia should enable UCB to accelerate its growth significantly after the patent (expirations) in the US of Zyrtec (end-2007) and Keppra (early-2009).

Rabo Securities, however, reminded that rheumatoid arthritis is an 'increasingly competitive therapeutic indication'.

Outside the Bel 20, bedding and foam manufacturer Recticel was up 0.14 eur or 1.27 pct at 11.14.

The company and its Woodbridge's Proseat joint venture said they intend to close a plant in Wetteren, Belgium.

The group said it took the 'radical measure' due to falling efficiency.

Shipping group Exmar NV rose 0.30 eur or 1.22 pct to 24.80.

The company said it has completed the first commercial ship-to- ship transfer of a full cargo of liquefied natural gas from its Excalibur vessel to its Excelsior vessel at Scapa Flow off the Orkney Islands in the United Kingdom.

'These events open the road to regular commercial LNG ship-to-ship operations in the near future and greatly enhance the concept of on-board regasification,' the group said.