Before the bell: new Olympic record!

While gold prices reached new records, investors’ attention this morning was mainly on EVS, while in Germany HelloFresh announced its figures.

Good news for Remco Evenepoel and Nafi Thiam! Since both Belgian athletes brought in Olympic gold, the price of gold has risen again to a new record in dollars. The news was also felt in the gold sector yesterday, with Barrick Gold (+9.1%) and the rest of the sector moving higher. In the US, the S&P 500 (+0.1%) and the Nasdaq (+0.3%) remained close to zero. Then again, the Bel20 lost 0.5%, although a price target increase for Lotus Bakeries (+1.7%) could provide some support for the index. Analysts at Bank of America raised their target price to 11,900 euros per share. Also noteworthy was the rise in the share price of Hyloris (+47.4%). The group was able to announce positive results for its drug against herpes infections.

In Brussels, it is quiet today. Investors waiting for the EVS figures will have to be patient until tonight, when the figures are released after market close. The Dutch company TKH did release figures, but there the profit remained below the analyst consensus, while turnover fell. On the macroeconomic front, today is rather quiet. U.S. business confidence is scheduled for today, as is the German ZEW index measuring economic sentiment. In the afternoon, we are especially looking forward to Home Depot’s figures. We also look forward to Nextensa’s figures.

Keep it simple, stupid!

The best investment ideas? They tend to be simple. When you talk about investing, hardly anyone will talk about Germany’s Henkel. Consequently, there is little exciting to report about the German group. The group makes detergents, detergents and adhesives, and is active in hygiene and cosmetics. Adhesives and glues, in particular, account for nearly half of its sales. And what turns out? There is quite a bit of demand for these basic products. This morning, Henkel raised its outlook for the full year. Earnings per share will now rise 20-30% this year, up from 15-25% previously. Group sales rose to 10.8 billion euros, with earnings per share up 32.9% to 2.78 euros in the first half of the year. Good results, from which the group was able to draw a free cash flow of 800 million euros. Sometimes an investor should not look too far.

Expensive food does not appeal

Whether we have ever been fans of HelloFresh, not really. Sometimes we let the German company bring some free trial boxes (today you get 90 euros off if you want to try HelloFresh in Belgium), and it certainly wasn’t bad. The problem? The meal boxes might be cheaper than eating out, but still more expensive than grocery shopping yourself. So often we ended up sticking to order a trial package and soon stopped using the concept. Looking at the numbers, we are not the only ones. This morning, it was revealed that HelloFresh’s annual sales barely grew by 0.9% to 1.95 billion euros. What’s striking is that the number of new customers is in decline. And what we’re not fans of at all? HelloFresh reports its profits in its own definition with the difficult acronym AEBITDA, using a custom profit definition that seems to have been created specifically for the company. We often see this as a way to present things better than they are, but again, the trend is clear. AEBITDA fell 23.7% to 146.4 million euros, with profits clearly under pressure from rising food prices. Investors have thrown in the towel, with the stock losing 95% of its value since 2021. Want to make a meal for 2 in Belgium today? Then that will quickly cost you 16 euros. We see it as an expensive way to eat for wealthier citizens who have little time. But in times when everyone is watching their pennies, we see little growth opportunity for the group.

Did you know…

gold medals in the Olympics are actually not made up of gold at all? 6 grams of the medal is gold, but 92.5% of the medal is actually silver. Bashir Abdi can take comfort. As a result, there is little difference in materials between Bashir Abdi’s silver medal and Remco Evenepoel and Nafi Thiam’s gold.