Helsinki share slightly lower at midsession, Wartsila shines on Q3 results

Helsinki share slightly lower at midsession, Wartsila shines on Q3 results

	Published : Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:31 By : Agencies Print this Story

HELSINKI (Thomson Financial) - Helsinki shares were marginally lower in midsession trade, with Nokia-led losses offsetting gains in a group of key stocks led by Wartsila, which gained sharply after reporting consensus-beating third-quarter earning figures.

At 2.30 pm, the OMX Helsinki 25 was 0.06 pct lower at 3,328.83 and the OMX Helsinki all-share index was down 0.26 pct at 12,479.34 on 625 mln eur turnover.

Nokia -- down 0.83 pct at 27.38 eur -- led a group of blue chips into the red.

Losing ground also was Neste Oil, down 1.79 pct at 24.65 eur after its third-quarter results missed expectations across the board.

'(Third quarter) total refining margin comes in at a disappointing 10.2 pct, compared to our estimate of 11.6 pct,' one trader noted.

Another trader expressed disappointment with the delay of the group's new diesel production line re-starting.

The group unveiled a quarterly pretax profit of 168 mln eur, below the consensus estimate of 183.63 mln eur from a poll by Thomson FirstCall and down from 246 mln eur a year earlier.

Raisio V was 0.54 pct firmer at 1.87 eur.

The grain and vegetable oil-based foods producer posted weak third-quarter earnings due to sharp rises in raw material prices.

Pretax profit came in at 3.1 mln eur against 3.5 mln eur a year ago, missing market expectations of 3.45 mln eur, according to an analyst survey polled by Thomson FirstCall.

Of the other fallers, Outokumpu shed 2.21 pct to 25.72 eur, Nokian Tyres was down 2.70 pct at 25.99 eur and Fortum lost 0.36 pct at 30.58 eur.

On the other hand, Wartsila B led another group of shares as it added 15.46 pct to 57.81 eur after reporting consensus-beating third-quarter results and repeated that it sees growth possibilities in 2008.

Quarterly pretax profit was 95 mln eur, up from 58 mln eur a year earlier, and surpassing the average of analysts' predictions of 81.6 mln eur, as recorded by Thomson FirstCall.

In a post-results note, Glitnir said that while Wartsila's third-quarter net sales were in line with expectations, the EBIT margin was 'a positive surprise'.

'Order intake was also excellent, exceeding expectations by 31 pct,' it said.

Another gainer was UPM-Kymmene -- up 0.20 pct to 15.07 eur.

The paper group posted a fall in underlying third-quarter pretax earnings, and said costs were rising faster than it had anticipated and that urgent measures were needed to boost profitability.

The company said the soaring price of wood means overall costs are now set to rise 2.5 pct this year, including expected cost savings from an ongoing restructuring programme.

That compared with its previous estimate of 2 pct.

Sector peer Stora Enso R was 0.57 pct lower at 12.17 eur.

Of the other gainers, Metso added 0.88 pct to 42.37 eur, Outotec was up 0.57 pct at 49.75 eur and Nordea Bank gained 1.01 pct at 12.00 eur.

Elsewhere, Kemira GrowHow was 1.00 pct higher at 12.12 eur.

Kemira GrowHow said it has sold Verdera Oy, a biological plant protection products unit, to Canada's Lallemand Group, but gave no financial details.

azer.sawiris@thomson.com

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