European markets rise as traders await Fed meeting; Philips up 45%, Atos up 16% – CNBC

Philips shares soared 46% in morning trading, after the company announced it had agreed to a $1.1 billion settlement in the United States for personal injury cases linked to the recall of some of its devices against sleep apnea.

Stocks hit their highest intraday level since March 1, 2022, according to LSEG data.

The provision was lower than the 2-4 billion euros expected, according to Barclays analyst Hassan Al-Wakeel. He added that 10 billion euros were to be feared in the worst case.

Philips CEO Roy Jakobs said this meant the “vast majority” of recall-related cases were now resolved.

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-Jenni Reid

Troubled French IT company Atos has confirmed it has received an offer from the French state to acquire the operations of its big data and security business, covering cybersecurity and advanced IT products.

French officials have stressed the importance of protecting the cash-strapped company, which holds sensitive high-level government contracts and manages data and cybersecurity for the Summer Olympics.

The offer values ​​the company between €700 million ($750 million) and €1 billion. Atos indicated that a due diligence phase would begin soon, with a view to a non-binding offer by early June 2024.

In its update on Monday, Atos also said it now needs 1.1 billion euros in liquidity to fund the business through 2024 and 2025, as part of a financial restructuring, up from 600 million euros. euros previously announced.

-Jenni Reid

Philips reported a first-quarter loss of 998 million euros ($1.07 billion) as the Dutch consumer products giant confirmed it had agreed to pay $1.1 billion to settle personal injury cases against United States related to the recall of devices intended for the treatment of sleep apnea.

The company said it had made a provision of 982 million euros for the payment, adding that a settlement would end the uncertainty surrounding the litigation for the company. He said he does not admit any fault or liability, nor that any injuries were caused by his Respironics devices.

Adjusted profit nevertheless exceeded analysts’ consensus expectations, according to Reuters, at 388 million euros for the quarter.

Sales are down slightly year-on-year, to 4.14 billion euros compared to 4.17 billion euros in 2023.

-Jenni Reid

The Japanese yen strengthened sharply in afternoon trading, hours after the currency surpassed the 160 mark against the U.S. dollar, hitting its weakest point in 34 years.

Since hitting that record high, the yen has strengthened against the greenback, trading at 155.43 as of 2:12 p.m. local time. Japanese markets are currently closed for a public holiday.

There has been no official indication of intervention by Japanese authorities. But traders and analysts have been monitoring interventions on the yen in recent weeks.

A European company known for its bitcoin mining operations recently transformed its business model to focus on cloud solutions and data center infrastructure.

The company’s cloud division is certified as an Nvidia “Elite” partner, making it one of the largest Nvidia-based cloud service providers in Europe.

Investment bank Berenberg estimates the stock could rise by more than 50%, with the market largely overlooking the potential of the cloud division.

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-Ganesh Rao

There’s one dividend stock that Morningstar says is “deeply undervalued” right now and is bullish on for the long term.

He also identified it as one of his top picks for next year.

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— Weizhen Tan

European markets are expected to open in positive territory on Monday.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 46 points higher at 8,189, Germany’s DAX up 57 points at 18,221, France’s CAC up 34 points at 8,126 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 110 points to 34,117, according to IG data.

Profits come from Philips, Vivendi and BBVA. The data released includes the latest German inflation figures for April.

—Houx Ellyatt