Before the opening bell: Asian markets surge

Argenx carries out a very costly CEO transition, WDP steps up investments in logistics real estate, and Under Armour sprints higher.

The Bel20 fell 0.3% yesterday. That was certainly not due to Umicore (+3.6%), Melexis (+3.1%), Sofina (+2.8%) or Ackermans & van Haaren (+2.1%). But index heavyweight Argenx (-5.6%) dragged the benchmark sharply lower on Monday. Investors are clearly less enthusiastic about the leadership change at the Ghent-based biotech company. Mechelen-based biotech group Galapagos (-3.1%) also had a poor trading day after announcing it would permanently discontinue its cell therapy activities. On the other side of the Atlantic, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq technology index rose by 0.6% and 0.7% respectively.

In Asia this morning, Japan’s Topix and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are rising in tandem by 1.7%. Europe will publish the final services PMI, while Germany releases its December inflation figures. In the United States, AAR Corp, which provides maintenance services to airlines, will report its results.

Canadian investor backs US sports brand

Shares of US sportswear brand Under Armour rose 4.2% in after-hours trading in New York on Monday. The move followed a disclosure by Fairfax Financial Holdings. The Canadian investment group is said to have built up a 22% stake in Under Armour. The brand was once highly popular, as a challenger that brought fresh momentum to a sector dominated by giants such as Nike, Puma and Adidas. Recently, however, performance has deteriorated. Revenue weakened and the share price collapsed by more than 80%. In 2022, Under Armour traded at nearly 26 dollars per share. Yesterday, the stock changed hands at just 5.40 dollars. According to Fairfax Financial Holdings, that valuation is far too low.

Pont de Normandie

Belgian logistics real estate specialist WDP is making an acquisition worth 58 million euro in Le Havre, France. The company is buying two logistics sites from the French arm of AG Real Estate. In total, the transaction covers 65,000 square metres of leased space, plus a container zone with storage capacity for 1,200 containers. The buildings were developed in 2021 by AG Real Estate for Seafrigo, a company specialising in refrigerated transport and storage, as the name suggests. The properties are fully leased until 2033 and are expected to generate a yield of 6%. At the same time, WDP sold a vacant logistics building in Liège for total proceeds of around 35 million euro.

Did you know…

that Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter (now X), and Evan Sharp, co-founder of Pinterest, have jointly launched a new social media platform? It is called Tangle and, according to its founders, aims to help users achieve their own goals and support one another, unlike existing platforms.

This article was translated from Dutch and was originally published on Spaarvarkens.be.