Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves
Speaker 2: in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 3: Now, let's take a look at some of the stocks
Speaker 3: on the move today in Europe. I'm Lizzie Burdon in
Speaker 3: London with Stephen Carroll in Brussels, and we're joined by
Speaker 3: Bloomberg reporter Chloe Melly. Chloe, I want to start with
Speaker 3: BMW because we've seen shares slumping this morning on the
Speaker 3: profitability outlooks slashed. They've also flagged weaker demand in China
Speaker 3: and it seems to be spreading across the auto sector.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely so. As you said, BMW share is really
Speaker 1: really taking a hit this morning and dragging down the
Speaker 1: rest of that sector after cutting its profitability outlook, and
Speaker 1: it blamed we demand in China's as you said, Lizzie,
Speaker 1: but also the impact from the Iran war, and so
Speaker 1: it will accelerate its cost cutting program as a result
Speaker 1: of their weaker demand, although it didn't clarify whether or
Speaker 1: not their meant job cut, so we'll be waiting for
Speaker 1: more details there. And this comes just a month since
Speaker 1: the new CEO took over, so it's a bit of
Speaker 1: a tough start for him. And the big problem, and
Speaker 1: it is a problem that's faced by all the carmakers
Speaker 1: in Europe, really is that demand for electric cars. So
Speaker 1: in the US there's been policy reversals and around electric
Speaker 1: cars and a bit of a slump and demand as
Speaker 1: a result. And then in China, which is really where
Speaker 1: the problem is, the domestic manufacturers make much cheaper evs
Speaker 1: and so the European car makers are just not as
Speaker 1: competitive in that market and that is something that BMW
Speaker 1: is really feeling at the moment. The weakness in China
Speaker 1: is not new, according to analysts, and this is a
Speaker 1: profit warning that was actually quite expected, and ANALYSTA Jeffries
Speaker 1: said that a margin reset of such magnitude was unexpected,
Speaker 1: so this might be a bit of a wake up
Speaker 1: call actually for that entire industry, and this explained why
Speaker 1: all of those carmakers were much weaker today because they'll
Speaker 1: have to really tackle this weakness in China and try
Speaker 1: and revise that demand there.
Speaker 2: So that's the car makers, but a related company, Auto Worn,
Speaker 2: which operates an online portal for buying and selling cars.
Speaker 2: Their shares are on the rise to this morning.
Speaker 1: Why, yeah, it's quite interesting in the context of car
Speaker 1: makers not doing so well, But then what is doing
Speaker 1: well is a platform for buying and selling used cars,
Speaker 1: so this really points to some of the affordability problems
Speaker 1: that consumers are having, so the consumer spending side of
Speaker 1: things here as well. And so Auto one is up
Speaker 1: quite strongly today after unveiling some long term financial targets.
Speaker 1: So it expects as much as fifteen percent unit growth
Speaker 1: for its much and division, which is the B to
Speaker 1: B side of the business where used car dealers are
Speaker 1: essentially buying inventory, and then as much as forty percent
Speaker 1: unit growth for the retail segment. So that's very healthy
Speaker 1: growth and it really follows in the trajectory of what
Speaker 1: we saw from the earnings. Actually last month it had
Speaker 1: record first quarter results because of that massive growth and
Speaker 1: demand for used cars. The one thing that's a bit
Speaker 1: unclear in which some analysts have flagged is the outlook
Speaker 1: for cash flow. But overall, the targets do look very solid,
Speaker 1: and we can see the gap in performance between those
Speaker 1: carmakers and then those used car platforms actually widening, So
Speaker 1: that's quite interesting.
Speaker 3: And Chloe Hay shares the recruitment company hitting a two
Speaker 3: month high.
Speaker 1: Why Yeah, so completed a sale of operations in six
Speaker 1: countries and then it's also exploring options for its operations
Speaker 1: in seven other countries. So the market is reacting quite
Speaker 1: positively to this decision to essentially streamline the business. Because
Speaker 1: Hayes and all of the other recruitment firms in the UK,
Speaker 1: So Robert Walters and Page Group have been having, of course,
Speaker 1: quite a tough time. They're all down between thirty and
Speaker 1: fifty percent this year, and they of course reflect the
Speaker 1: difficulties that is faced by the labor market in a
Speaker 1: lot of the countries in which they operate. You know,
Speaker 1: both permanent and temporary recruitment is weak. Companies are really
Speaker 1: hesitating to hire because of everything that's happening. Geopolitical uncertainty, inflation,
Speaker 1: all of those things really weighing on those hiring trends,
Speaker 1: and of course recruitment firms are really the first to
Speaker 1: feel the impact. A lot of them have been reducing
Speaker 1: the headcount and from what we've heard from hayesydate seems
Speaker 1: that it's very likely that we'll see more of that
Speaker 1: streamlining in that sector going forward.
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