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: But let's take a look at some stocks on the
Speaker 3: move today in Europe. I'm Stephen Carroll and I'm joined
Speaker 3: by Bloomberg's Breaking News editor Louise Moon. Luise, good morning.
Speaker 3: Let's start then with the big mover. Novo Nordisk shares
Speaker 3: down eighteen percent this morning, exactly.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Essentially, investors have been shocked this morning by Novo.
Speaker 4: They've forecast a very steep.
Speaker 1: Decline in sales, so they're expecting that sales could fall
Speaker 1: by as much as thirteen percent this year, and List
Speaker 1: is saying even the most skeptical among them didn't anticipate
Speaker 1: this big of a drop, essentially adding to evidence of
Speaker 1: the challenges in the industry. In the a BT drug industry,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of price competition, partly under pressure from
Speaker 1: the US government to cut drug prices.
Speaker 4: There's also a lot of competition.
Speaker 1: You know, Nova have been fighting for market share with
Speaker 1: Eli Lilly in the.
Speaker 4: US, their their key rival.
Speaker 1: But then on top of that, there's also kind of
Speaker 1: smaller companies selling cheaper copycup versions of their BC drugs,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of competition as well as the
Speaker 1: price war. Nova have already been struggling and they've already
Speaker 1: been trying to turn it around. So under their CEO,
Speaker 1: he's cut jobs, he's changing management at the top. He's
Speaker 1: already has in trying to instill a culture that's more
Speaker 1: kind of performance orientated. But this, this forecast this morning
Speaker 1: really did did shock investors. The CEO was on Bloemboat
Speaker 1: TV earlier and he did try to kind of reassure
Speaker 1: with some positivity in the long term.
Speaker 4: So he was hailing their recent.
Speaker 1: Launch of their pill version of their drug and saying
Speaker 1: that you know, longer term there would be more positivity
Speaker 1: and the focus now is on transforming and developing new products.
Speaker 1: But as I say, investors and shares are really plunging
Speaker 1: on that news that sales forecast.
Speaker 3: Yeah, indeed, a different story though from the UK specialty
Speaker 3: ensure Beasley It shares are up by eight point four
Speaker 3: percent some m and a news and focus.
Speaker 1: Indeed, they finally agreed to an offer from Zurich Insurance,
Speaker 1: so the Swiss based insurance. This is a sweetened offer
Speaker 1: of eight billion pounds, and the two sides have reached
Speaker 1: this agreement in principle.
Speaker 4: This has been a long running saga. So this is.
Speaker 1: Zurich's sixth bid over the past year. These bees bids
Speaker 1: were made public in January, but this is their sixth
Speaker 1: one and the previous ones have all been rejected by
Speaker 1: Beasley for undervaluing it. So the latest price that they
Speaker 1: have agreed to now is a sixty percent premium to
Speaker 1: the closing price to Bezy's closing price the day before
Speaker 1: the offer became public, as I say that was in January.
Speaker 4: This premium is pretty.
Speaker 1: Unusual for a foot teen hundred companies, so it's a
Speaker 1: very high premium. Analyst is saying, you know, it appears generous,
Speaker 1: so perhaps those price they've now agreed to this deal,
Speaker 1: and they're saying that combined these two companies will have
Speaker 1: fifteen billion dollars of grossert and premiums. It's going to
Speaker 1: be based in the UK, and BZ shares hit a
Speaker 1: record high that they've already they've already been soaring since
Speaker 1: the offers and the approaches from Zurich were made public,
Speaker 1: but they soared once more again this morning. So hit
Speaker 1: a record high and also lifted the sector. So Hisscocks
Speaker 1: for example, also rose and Zurich also rose as well
Speaker 1: on the back of this this deal, So quite an
Speaker 1: exciting bit of activity.
Speaker 4: Who said insurance was boring?
Speaker 3: Well, indeed, insuring against excitement, Some could argue, let's talk
Speaker 3: a little bit about Carlsburg though as well. Their shares
Speaker 3: are hired this morning almost three percent. That's despite a
Speaker 3: cautious outlook.
Speaker 1: Indeed, Yeah, so they've widened their operating profit outlook compared
Speaker 1: to last year. So it's expecting organic growth of two
Speaker 1: to six percent in twenty twenty six, and if you
Speaker 1: compare that's last year the range was three to five percent,
Speaker 1: So they've widened that, essentially reflecting a cautious stance over
Speaker 1: future demand for drinks. Obviously, consumer habits are changing. People
Speaker 1: are shifting away from alcohol towards you know, lower or
Speaker 1: no alcohol alternatives. And then on top of that, there's
Speaker 1: also kind of rising prices and consumer habits in that sense,
Speaker 1: and then dealing with tariff. So the CEOs worn that
Speaker 1: demand for beer in the Western markets remains subdued and
Speaker 1: he doesn't see a more positive stance for the global
Speaker 1: consumer as well. He does see some growth in the
Speaker 1: more premium ends and as I say, in alcohol free categories,
Speaker 1: so two different ends.
Speaker 4: And Carlsberg I've already been trying to.
Speaker 1: Mitigate this, so they've been moving and diversifying away from
Speaker 1: beer but widen profit outlook.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers Report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
Speaker 2: us throughout the day for the latest roundup of companies
Speaker 2: making news on Wall Street and for the latest market
Speaker 2: moving headlines. Listen to Bloomberg Radio Live, catch us on YouTube,
Speaker 2: Bloomberg dot com, and on Applecarplay and Android Auto with
Speaker 2: the Bloomberg Business app.