Arkema: stock upbeat after quarterly results

(CercleFinance.com) - The Arkema stock is up 1.
4% on the Paris Stock Exchange on Wednesday afternoon, after a "good publication" of quarterly results for the analyst Oddo BHF.

The chemical group's sales continued to grow steadily in the second quarter, reaching 2.3 billion euros, up 3.3% as reported and up 6.7% in organic terms. This performance is close to that of Q1 (+7.3% like-for-like).

At the same time, quarterly EBITDA increased by 8% to 430 million euros, or +12.6% excluding FX factors, improving the group's margin from 18.1% to 18.9%. Arkema proved to be precise in its forecasts: previously, the group expected to increase its EBITDA between 2017 and 2018, without quantifying this improvement. It now expects EBITDA to rise by about 5%.

The analyst who monitors the stock has confirmed its Buy rating, with a target price of 128 euros, before possibly increasing his earnings estimates for Arkema.


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