EUROPEAN: bourses put in a mixed performance over the week to April 30 after slow-down concerns over Spain's housing boom caused the FTSE Eurofirst 300 Index to drop 0.9% on April 25, offset by a strong crop of earnings reports. ZURICH saw Novartis gain 0.9%, outperforming the SMI, which fell 0.1%. Roche was the worst performer, falling 2.9% on no apparent news. In AMSTERDAM, Dutch chemicals and drug firm Akzo Nobel rose 2.9% over the week on the back of strong first quarter results. UCB gained 1.3% on a flat BRUSSELS market. PARIS saw a modest performance from Sanofi-Aventis, which gained 0.9% but out performed the CAC 40's 0.7% rise, while bioMerieux fell short with a decline of 1.6% SWEDEN's Karo Bio lost 4.7% against a 0.5% drop in the OMX AS index.
LONDON: share prices gyrated through the week and drug stocks were also mixed. Phytopharm was the week's top performer gaining a massive 33% ahead of its interim results announcement on May 1 when it was due to update investors on a collaboration with Unilever to develop an appetite suppressant from the Hoodia gordonii cactus (see page 11). On April 25, GlaxoSmithKline shares rose 0.3% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to buy on expectations that its Coreg (carvedilol) CR patent could last until 2023. However, the drug major slipped 1.7% on April 28 after observers said that a US Supreme Court verdict could make it harder to defend key patents (see page 26). Elan lost 10.3% after its first-quarter loss grew 179%, while Shire rose 7.7% over the week after an upgrade from Citigroup, prompted by strong first-quarter earnings (see page 4) and rumors that it could be a takeover target for a larger company hoping to bolster its pipeline.
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Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Apr 30, 2007
EUROPEAN: bourses put in a mixed performance over the week to April 30 after slow-down concerns over Spain's housing boom caused the FTSE Eurofirst 300 Index to drop 0.9% on April 25, offset by a strong crop of earnings reports. ZURICH saw Novartis gain 0.9%, outperforming the SMI, which fell 0.1%. Roche was the worst performer, falling 2.9% on no apparent news. In AMSTERDAM, Dutch chemicals and drug firm Akzo Nobel rose 2.9% over the week on the back of strong first quarter results. UCB gained 1.3% on a flat BRUSSELS market. PARIS saw a modest performance from Sanofi-Aventis, which gained 0.9% but out performed the CAC 40's 0.7% rise, while bioMerieux fell short with a decline of 1.6% SWEDEN's Karo Bio lost 4.7% against a 0.5% drop in the OMX AS index.
LONDON: share prices gyrated through the week and drug stocks were also mixed. Phytopharm was the week's top performer gaining a massive 33% ahead of its interim results announcement on May 1 when it was due to update investors on a collaboration with Unilever to develop an appetite suppressant from the Hoodia gordonii cactus (see page 11). On April 25, GlaxoSmithKline shares rose 0.3% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to buy on expectations that its Coreg (carvedilol) CR patent could last until 2023. However, the drug major slipped 1.7% on April 28 after observers said that a US Supreme Court verdict could make it harder to defend key patents (see page 26). Elan lost 10.3% after its first-quarter loss grew 179%, while Shire rose 7.7% over the week after an upgrade from Citigroup, prompted by strong first-quarter earnings (see page 4) and rumors that it could be a takeover target for a larger company hoping to bolster its pipeline.
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
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