Brenntag flags tariff uncertainties, posts quarterly core profit miss
"Currently, caution prevails among our customers; no one will really expose themselves by deliberately building up stocks now, because it is actually unclear how the situation will be resolved," CEO Christian Kohlpaintner said on a conference call.
U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, uncertainty over his trade policies and China's retaliation had sent global markets into a tailspin and stoked fears of a global recession.
However, the United States and China agreed to temporarily slash reciprocal tariffs earlier this week, lifting investor sentiment while businesses awaited more clarity.
Kohlpainter said 90-day tariff moratoriums, as good as they may seem at first glance, do not really help to create clarity and ultimate security.
Last week, the European Commission proposed countermeasures on up to 95 billion euros of U.S. imports if negotiations with Washington fail to remove the series of tariffs applied by Trump.
"I remain fundamentally positive about the American market, as long as these tariff discussions hopefully lead to a sensible solution," Kohlpaintner said.
Brenntag's shares fell 4.1% as of 0935 GMT, sitting at the bottom of Germany's blue-chip index (.GDAXI), opens new tab. They are up about 3.2% year-to-date.
Earlier in the day, the company reported operating earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) of 264.3 million euros ($295.75 million) for the first quarter, up from 259.7 million a year earlier.
Analysts had forecast 275.9 million euros profit, according to a poll, opens new tab by Vara Research.
There was a noticeable decline in North American business in March that impacted the company's performance, Kohlpaintner said.
Brenntag now expects annual core profit to come in at the lower end of its forecast range of 1.1 billion euros to 1.3 billion euros, while analysts expect 1.17 billion euros, a poll, opens new tab by Vara Research showed.
($1 = 0.8937 euros)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
10 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Air Canada plans to restart services as union says attendants ‘remain on strike'
The union representing 10,000 striking Air Canada flight attendants has said it will challenge an order for them to return to work, adding 'we remain on strike'. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back by 2pm on Sunday after the government intervened and Air Canada said it planned to resume flights on Sunday evening. Advertisement 'We will be challenging this blatantly unconstitutional order,' the CUPE union said in a statement. A man tries to check in to his Air Canada flight at Vancouver International Airport (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP) 'We remain on strike. We demand a fair, negotiated contract and to be compensated for all hours worked.' The strike has stranded more than 100,000 travellers around the world during the peak summer travel season. The country's largest airline said early on Sunday that the first flights would resume later in the day but that it would take several days before its operations returned to normal. Advertisement It said some flights would be cancelled over the next seven to 10 days until the schedule was stabilised. People sleep under a flight information board at Vancouver International Airport (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP) Less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job, federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu ordered the 10,000 flight attendants back to work, saying now was not the time to take risks with the economy and noting the unprecedented tariffs the US had imposed on Canada. Ms Hajdu referred the work stoppage to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. The airline said the Canada Industrial Relations Board had extended the term of the existing collective agreement until a new one was determined by the arbitrator. Advertisement The shutdown of Canada's largest airline early on Saturday was impacting about 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day. An Air Canada agent, left, speaks to a man at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP) According to numbers from aviation analytics provider Cirium, Air Canada had cancelled a total of 671 flights by Saturday afternoon — following 199 on Friday. A further 96 flights scheduled for Sunday were already suspended. The bitter contract fight escalated on Friday as the union turned down Air Canada's prior request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract. Advertisement Flight attendants walked off the job around 1am Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. Ms Hajdu said that her Liberal government was not anti-union, saying it was clear the two sides were at an impasse. Passengers whose flights were impacted would be eligible to request a full refund on the airline's website or mobile app, according to Air Canada. Advertisement An empty Air Canada bag-drop area at Montreal–Trudeau International Airport (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP) The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. Still, it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines were already full 'due to the summer travel peak'. Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but are yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides have said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes are not in the air. The airline's latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions, over four years, which it said 'would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada'. But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year did not go far enough because of inflation.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Global markets face shaky week ahead as US pressure mounts on Ukraine
LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Defence stocks and energy markets are likely to be in focus this week, as European leaders rushed to back Ukraine in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump that may pressure Kyiv to accept a peace deal favouring Russia. Investors are watching for signs that the U.S. may move closer to Russia in a bid to exploit vast, untapped Arctic energy resources, in a major geopolitical shift that piles pressure on Europe to rapidly boost defence spending. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin ended their weekend summit in Alaska without securing a Ukraine ceasefire agreement, with the U.S. President then saying he now wanted a rapid peace deal that Kyiv should accept. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is travelling to Washington on Monday for talks that leaders of nations including Germany, the UK and France will now join. "Trump seems inclined to reduce or even end US support for Ukraine. Putin got him interested in business deals," Berenberg Chief Economist Holger Schmieding said in a note to clients. "As a result, the US may lift its sanctions on Russia and invest in Russia instead," he added. "Europe will have to spend a lot more for its own defence." Investors have bet on that outcome since February 2022, driving a supercharged rally in European aerospace and defence stocks (.SXPARO), opens new tab with gains of over 600% for Leonardo ( opens new tab and 1,500% for Germany's Rheinmetall ( opens new tab. The euro has rallied 13% against the dollar this year and traded at about $1.17 on Friday. Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett highlighted the potential for U.S.-Russia Arctic drilling projects to exploit 15% of the world's undiscovered oil and 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas, resulting in a deep energy bear market. Brent crude, which dropped more than 1% to near $66 a barrel, on Friday, was still priced for a Ukraine peace deal, Hartnett cautioned, while Trump wanted lower energy prices for U.S. consumers . Ukraine's government bonds - key mood indicators - rallied when news of the summit emerged earlier this month but have stalled at a still-distressed 55 cents per dollar. "I would think they will be a bit weaker following the recent strength as the mood seems to favour Russia following Friday's summit," Aegon Asset Management head of emerging market debt Jeff Grills said.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Air Canada flight attendants to defy back-to-work order and remain on strike
Air Canada's flight attendants plan to remain on strike, their union has said, defying government efforts to force them back to work and into binding arbitration over a dispute that has left more than 100,000 travellers stranded around the world during the peak summer travel season. About 10,000 flight attendants who work for Canada's largest airline walked out on the job early on Saturday amid an increasingly bitter dispute over what the union has described as 'poverty wages' and unpaid labour. Around the same time, Air Canada, which operates about 700 flights a day, said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports. Less than 12 hours later, the Canadian government said it had ordered an end to the work stoppage, leading Air Canada to announce plans to resume flying by Sunday evening. However, that timeline was thrown into question after the union told Reuters it would challenge the return-to-work order, which it described as unconstitutional. It was the latest twist in talks that have dragged on since March as the flight attendants seek to address the fact that they are not compensated for work carried out when planes are not in the air, whether it is time spent on the ground between flights and or helping passengers to board. On Saturday, Canada's federal jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, said it was clear the talks had reached an impasse and that the impact was being felt by Canadians and visitors across the country. 'The talks broke down,' said Hajdu as she told reporters that she had asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an immediate end to the strike and to impose binding arbitration. 'It is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator.' She appeared to link her actions to the toll that US tariff increases had taken on the Canadian economy. 'In a year in which Canadian families and businesses have already experienced too much disruption and uncertainty, this is not the time to add additional challenges and disruptions to their lives and our economy,' she said in a statement. Hajdu's power to halt the strike stems from a section of the Canada Labour Code, which gives the minister unilateral authority to end work stoppages in order to 'maintain or secure industrial peace'. While the section was rarely used by previous governments, the Liberal government has invoked it several times in the past year, quelling strikes by workers at Canadian ports, the post office and railway companies, prompting analysts to voice concerns that the use of the clause may be undermining workers' rights. The union representing the flight attendants decried the Liberal government for stepping in within hours, accusing it of violating their right to take job action. Air Canada had reportedly previously requested that the government intervene to impose binding arbitration. Wesley Lesosky, of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the government was giving 'Air Canada exactly what they want – hours and hours of unpaid labour from underpaid flight attendants, while the company pulls in sky-high profits and extraordinary executive compensation'. According to the aviation analytics firm Cirium, the airline had cancelled 671 flights by Saturday afternoon, leaving some travellers stranded overseas and others scrambling to find alternatives during the busy summer travel season. About 130,000 customers a day could be affected by a disruption, according to the airline. The airline said earlier it had offered its flight attendants 'an increase of more than 38% on global compensation', but the union said the figure failed to fully account for inflation. Air Canada also said it was willing to pay flight attendants 50% of their wage for work done before planes take off, leading the union to reply that its members should be fully compensated for their labour. About 70% of the airline's flight attendants are women, said Natasha Stea, a local union president and flight attendant. She questioned whether they were being treated fairly, given that Air Canada pilots, the vast majority of whom are men, received a significant raise last year. 'We are heartbroken for our passengers,' she told the Associated Press late last week. 'Nobody wants to see Canadians stranded or anxious about their travel plans, but we cannot work for free.'
