Belgium

Solvay, a Belgian chemicals company, said it would pass on higher energy and transportation costs to its customers in response to the Iran War. Solvay says it will assess how the temporary closure of its Saudi Arabian-based joint venture peroxides would affect its business during the second quarter. It adds that the overall impact is limited. Vara Research had predicted a core profit of 220 millions euros, but the comments accompanying them showed that it fell to 219 million euros (257.37 dollars), a 12.4% decline. Solvay's Middle East sales are less than 5%, but since mid-March, production has been stopped...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France or Benelux. ECB/VILLEROY : According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, France's central bank chief Francoisvilleroy de Galhau, the?European Central Bank aims to stop any inflation caused by energy. However, it is still too early to talk about dates for interest rate increases. France/Israel: According to a German Foreign Office statement, the foreign ministers from Germany, France, Italy, and Britain have urged Israeli lawmakers to drop a bill that would allow the death penalty to be imposed in Israel. HAL TRUST HAL Trust, a Dutch investment...

The "Sell America' trade is back in the news, and even though it may quieten down after reports of U.S. president Donald Trump's possible Greenland deal it's safe to assume that it won't?go away. We've done this before. Last year, the term "de-dollarization", which was coined by Trump's tariffs-based trade war, became a buzzword. Investors were worried that they would reduce their exposure to U.S.-based assets. This?didn’t happen. U.S. Treasury official figures show that foreigners purchased a net of $1.27 trillion in U.S. Securities during the first eleven months of last year. This was primarily due to a flood of...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. The President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, said that TOTALENERGIES Mozambique has met the conditions to lift the force majeure for its $20 billion LNG project in Southern Africa. DEME GROUP The Belgian engineering company said that it had secured a contract to transport and install inter-array cable at the Nordseecluster A offshore wind farm located in Germany. CARMILA The French shopping centre operator launched a tender on four existing bonds worth 300 million euros. Pan-European market data: European Equities speed...

ExxonMobil has halted 100 million euros (118.4 millions) in investment in European Plastic Recycling due to draft EU rules that define the recycled content of a final product. Two projects are being developed by the U.S. energy company to recycle chemicals at its existing plants in Rotterdam, and Antwerp. The project will process 80,000 tons of plastic waste annually. In an interview, Jack Williams, Senior Vice-President of ExxonMobil, said that the two projects were now halted due to the EU draft rules which he claimed discriminated against existing petrochemicals facilities versus standalone installations. "Everything is going according to plan." He...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. EURONEXT Euronext, the pan-European stock exchange operator, announced on Thursday that it would be added to France's CAC 40 blue-chip index. Euronext announced that Teleperformance, a French call centre and office services company, will be excluded from the CAC 40 index. The SBF 120 index, which measures the most traded stocks, will now include Abivax and Exail Technologies, instead of Esso and OVH. The changes will take effect on September 22. ROBERTET The French fragrance group announced half-year revenue of...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. DRONEVOLT: Drone Volt, a drone-maker, entered into a strategic partnership that will see the two parties deploy drone inspections on several sites both in France and abroad. EVS: Belgian broadcast equipment manufacturer EVS has announced the acquisition of Telemetrics, a U.S. based company. The move is part of an effort to increase its global reach. The Belgian company also maintained its guidance for annual revenue and EBIT after delivering revenues of almost 92 million euro ($107.25 millions) in the first...

The Australian government announced on Tuesday that it would provide A$135 (US$87.4M) in financial assistance to two smelters in Australia's southern region owned by Nyrstar. Nyrstar is a subsidiary of commodity trader Trafigura. Trafigura placed its Port Pirie lead-smelting operations, in South Australia, and its zinc processing operation in Hobart in Tasmania under strategic review in early this year after high energy costs and lower processing fees rendered the businesses unprofitable. Nyrstar, as part of its review, assessed the potential of producing antimony, a critical mineral, at its Port Pirie facility, but it would require government assistance to do so....

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. TRUMP/TARIFFS - President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" on dozens countries went into effect on Wednesday. These included massive 104% tariffs on Chinese goods. This deepened his global trade conflict even as he was preparing for negotiations with certain nations. France/Economy: The French economy performed marginally better than anticipated in the first three months of the year, but the business environment in the industrial sector will ease due to new U.S. Tariffs. This was stated by the central bank in its...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. EXMAR: Exmar reported on Thursday a decline in FY IFRS revenues to $348.9 millions but an increase in IFRS EBITDA at $204.7 million. It will not be proposing a dividend in 2024. FLUXYS: Fluxys announced on Thursday that FY revenues and EBIT had increased to 608.8 millions euros ($657.0) and 133.9million euros, respectively. It proposes to pay a EUR 1.4 dividend per share. HAL TRUST HAL Trust reported that its NAV will increase by 2,20 billion euros in 2024 to...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. ESSO - The French oil company Esso announced its results for the full year on Wednesday. Its adjusted EBITDA was 58 million Euros and it will propose a dividend of 3 euro per share. SANOFI, French pharmaceutical company announced on Thursday an agreement with Dren Bio to acquire its autoimmune disease treatment DR-0101 from Dren Bio. Sanofi plans to purchase Dren-0201 at a price of $600,000,000 upfront and $1.3 Billion in future payments. SODEXO - French food caterer SODEXO lowered...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. EUROPEAN CAR SALE/RENAULT: According to industry data released on Tuesday, new car sales in Europe fell by 2.1% during January. This was due to a decline in petrol and diesel sales and a rise in the number of fully electric and hybrid-electric cars registered in Europe's main markets. CLARIANE expects organic revenue growth of around +5% in 2025. FRANCE/MACRON/TRUMP/UKRAINE U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron displayed stark differences on Monday in their approach to Ukraine, exposing a...

Here are some company news and stories from France and Benelux that could impact the markets in the'region or individual stocks. RENAULT/STELLANTIS :?Demand 'for electrified cars' continued to support growth in Europe's automotive market in May. This offset a sharp drop in petrol and diesel sale and allowed Chinese?brands?to expand their footprint. VALEO - French automotive supplier Valeo has signed a contract with Nissan to provide smart electric vehicle charging using'vehicle to grid technology. VIOHALCO: Belgian Industrial Group Viohalco has launched a 100% secondary bookbuilding offer to institutional investors for about 6,000,000 existing ordinary shares of Cenergy Holdings in which...

The World Steel Association cut its forecast on global 'crude steel demand' for this year. This was partly because of the Iran War, which has slashed Middle East consumption. The industry group reduced its forecast of growth in 2026 steel demand to 0.3%, or 1.72 billion tons. This is down from an earlier forecast in October that was 1.3%. "We expect that the conflict in the Middle East will result in a sharp decline in the region's demand for steel in 2026. This was a strong area for growth," said Alfonso Hidalgo Calcerrada. "We're now transitioning to a modest growth...

Here are some company news and stories that could have an impact on markets in France and Benelux or individual stocks. RENAULT Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of the French automaker Renault Group, will not seek to continue his term in spring 2027. This was confirmed by a source familiar with the matter on Wednesday. AIRBUS SE Airbus, the aerospace manufacturer, has announced a new subsidiary that combines Skywise digital and Navblue into a single entity. KERING SA Kering, the owner of Gucci, announced on Wednesday that it had struck a deal with Qatar's Al-Mirqab Group in which they would?sell? an 80%...

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the EU must simplify its regulations to be more competitive with the United States and China. Over the last two decades, EU growth has consistently been lower than that of?the United States, with EU innovation and productivity, especially in fields such as AI, falling behind. "Let's take the U.S. as an example again." Von der Leyen stated on Wednesday that there is only one financial system and capital. "In Europe, we don't only have 27 different systems of financial supervision, each with their own supervisor. More than 300 trading...

Polish prosecutors announced on Wednesday that European investigators had uncovered a synthetic drugs international network operated from Poland. They have seized over 9.3 tonnes of narcotics as well as arrested more than 100 suspects. Operation 'Synthetic Drugs in More Than 20 Illegal Laboratories' targeted a criminal gang accused of importing chemical pre-cursors from China and India, and manufacturing them in over 20 illegal laboratories for distribution throughout the European Union. The prosecutors said that the 'group' operated a complex supply chain. They imported large quantities of chemicals legally, which were then repackaged to be sent illegally to drug labs in...

Apple has denied the allegations, but a U.S. advocacy group filed a suit in Washington claiming that the iPhone maker uses minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Rwanda. International Rights Advocates, a group based in the United States, filed a lawsuit last year against Apple, Tesla and other tech companies for cobalt sourcing. However, U.S. court dismissed it. In December, French prosecutors dropped Congo's conflict mineral case against Apple subsidiaries citing a lack of evidence. An investigation is ongoing in Belgium into a criminal complaint related to this issue. Apple has denied any wrongdoing as a response to...

Apple has denied the allegations, but a U.S. advocacy group filed a suit in Washington. The lawsuit accuses Apple of using minerals that are linked to human rights violations and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. International Rights Advocates, a group based in the United States, has sued Apple, Tesla and other tech companies over cobalt sourcing. However, U.S. court dismissed this case last year. In December, French prosecutors dropped Congo's conflict mineral case against Apple subsidiaries citing a lack of evidence. An investigation is ongoing in Belgium into a criminal complaint related to this issue....

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or specific stocks. ABIONYX SA: The biotech company Abionyx Pharma has announced a global strategic partnership exclusively with Sebia. This partnership will transform sepsis diagnostics and validate new test for early sepsis detection. Financial terms and milestones remain confidential. Boiron SA, a homeopathic drug manufacturer, announced that Thierry Boiron will step down from his position as Deputy CEO on December 31, 2025. EIFFAGE SA. French construction company Eiffage has won a second contract for the construction of infrastructure at the Madrid street circuit, Spain....

The mines ministry announced that the Democratic Republic of Congo extended for another six months the ban on trading minerals from dozens of sites of artisanal gold mining in the conflict-hit provinces of North and South Kivu. The extension increases compliance pressure on global supply chain for tin tantalum and titanium, which are key inputs to the electronic, automotive, and aerospace industries. According to an order signed by Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba on November 3, the ban introduced in February is still in effect because there is evidence that the illegal supply of mines funds armed groups in eastern...

Solvay, a French chemical company, announced on Wednesday that it has signed two agreements to supply rare-earths to U.S. magnetic makers in order to expand its processing facility. Solvay is one of only a handful of companies outside China that can perform the difficult rare earths separation. In April, it began processing minerals for permanent magnets in its French facility. However, commercial production will depend on government and customer support. Separate statements stated that Solvay has concluded agreements to supply rare-earth oxides with U.S. firms Noveon Magnetics & Permag. In order to reduce dependence on China, the United States, Europe,...

The CEO of Solvay, a chemical group, said that the company would be interested to build a processing plant for rare earths in the United States where there is more financial support than in Europe. Solvay is one of only a handful of companies outside China that can perform the difficult rare earths separation. In April, it began processing minerals for permanent magnets in its French facility. However, commercial production will depend on government and customer support. In order to reduce dependence on China, the United States, Europe, and their allies are racing to develop domestic industries that can produce...

Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. WORLDLINE: Worldline said it plans to raise 500 millions euros ($583million) as part a capital infusion, which will be used to help the French payments company recover from years' worth of setbacks, and restore investor trust. ELIS SA: A global leader in circular services in action Elis acquired 100% ownership of Lavanderia Hospitalar Acqua Flash Ltda (Acquaflash) in Brazil. The company is based in Brasilia and generated revenues of approximately 6 million euro in 2024. Integration into the Group's accounts...