Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers podcast, your roundup of companies making moves
Speaker 2: in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 1: Let's take a look at some stocks on the move
Speaker 1: today in Europe. I'm Stephen Kahra with Tom McKenzie, and
Speaker 1: we're joined by Bloomberg's equities reporter Joe Easton. Joe, good morning.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the latest in the saga, that is
Speaker 1: the back and forth Steen Energy giants, Shell and BP
Speaker 1: talk us through what's happening on markets this morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's just.
Speaker 3: A complete back and forward, as you say this. So
Speaker 3: last night we had loads of excitement because there was
Speaker 3: a report in the Wall Street Journal saying that Shell
Speaker 3: was potentially looking at doing a bid for BP. Something's
Speaker 3: been speculated on over the past few months. So there's
Speaker 3: big movements in the ads the US stocks for those companies.
Speaker 3: But then today, and actually shortly after that statement, Shell
Speaker 3: coming out and saying that they are not actively considering
Speaker 3: making office. This is an RNs today. They also did
Speaker 3: a short update last night as well, but very much
Speaker 3: stronger in their wording today, saying this is not going
Speaker 3: to go ahead. So at the moment, BP shares are
Speaker 3: pretty much bang on where they closed yesterday and Shell
Speaker 3: only up zero point two percent, so basically we haven't
Speaker 3: seen any action. It was all in the ADR, so
Speaker 3: lots of movement, lots of incitement. The general take from
Speaker 3: analysts is that this would be too much for a
Speaker 3: risk for Shell, given they've had a big strategy change recently,
Speaker 3: refocusing on a lot of their fossil fuel business, and
Speaker 3: it wouldn't be the good time to do a massive
Speaker 3: deal for BP. Those stocks unchanged today.
Speaker 4: OK. From energy to retailers H and M an update
Speaker 4: from that clothing company that retailer today, So H and
Speaker 4: M looking really strong.
Speaker 3: That was one of the best performers on the market
Speaker 3: this morning. H and M up eight percent. That's the
Speaker 3: most since April. The Swedish fast fashion retailer reporting better
Speaker 3: and expected second cours at earnings, analyst saying that it
Speaker 3: was against very downbeat expectations. So H and M is
Speaker 3: kind of seen as a stock market rival to indo Text,
Speaker 3: the owner of Zara. Indotext has doubled in value over
Speaker 3: the past year or so, whereas H and M has
Speaker 3: really struggled, hasn't really gained it tool actually declined a
Speaker 3: little bit. Now the company says they're mostly doing better
Speaker 3: in the women's wear sales, so that's really strong in
Speaker 3: terms of that part of the business, and also doing
Speaker 3: a little better and a little bit better in some
Speaker 3: of the costs, so shipping costs not as high as
Speaker 3: they had thought they would be, so that's helping the margins.
Speaker 3: H and M up six percent after a bit of
Speaker 3: a bad run for that stock.
Speaker 1: We're going to France with the next story, Joe. This
Speaker 1: is to do with meal vouchers, which most French employers
Speaker 1: provide to their employees as part of their employment. Essential
Speaker 1: if you don't have a canteen, you get meal vouchers
Speaker 1: every day. The government's shaking up this sector. What does
Speaker 1: it mean for the provider?
Speaker 3: Eden read Yes, it's kind of It seems to be
Speaker 3: kind of a niche market in terms of it is
Speaker 3: only really over in France in Europe where we have
Speaker 3: this this market for these companies. Now, it's been a
Speaker 3: sector that there has been a lot of talk about
Speaker 3: regulatory change and potentially capping the fees that these voucher
Speaker 3: merchants and people that make the merchant make the vouchers
Speaker 3: are able to charge. Now there's a big reform just
Speaker 3: been published. News updates on the reform from the French government,
Speaker 3: so publication on that and it has not announced a
Speaker 3: cap on the fees, so that is seen as a
Speaker 3: big relief. Also, the French government's saying that they want
Speaker 3: to make these meal vouchers more widespread and digitalize the
Speaker 3: whole system, which is seen as a positive on the
Speaker 3: demand signed as well. So Eden Bread one of the
Speaker 3: best performers today up five percent. Another company, Pluxi, is
Speaker 3: gaining as well. Those two stocks rising pretty strong over
Speaker 3: in Paris, gaining on the market this morning.
Speaker 4: Okay Our Markets Equities reports at Joe Easton with some
Speaker 4: of the stocks on the move in today's session.
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