September: Pulp shipments -10% y-o-y

Stora acquires a Finnish sawmill company

Metsa Board (Buy, TP: EUR5.80) - Worst should be over

Although we were negative surprised by the poor Q4 earnings guidance, we believe Q4 represents the worst business conditions in the business cycle. We have made hefty cuts to our 2024–2025e EBITDA of 30–20%. While this is negative, we still have confidence in the investment case. Assuming improved pulp prices and incremental profits after the completed investments, we see strong earnings growth from Q1e, translating into attractive valuation multiples. We reiterate our BUY, but have lowered our target price to EUR5.8 (9).

Edda Wind (Buy, TP: NOK30.00) - Well positioned

While EBITDA was broadly in line with expectations, the Q3 report gave early signs of improved operational reliability, which we believe will be key to narrowing the discount to underlying values (the stock is trading at 0.6x P/NAV). Recent contract awards (including a new 12+12-month contract announced with the results) have made the fleet fully booked until the 2025 summer season, and three of the four 2025 newbuild deliveries are now booked directly following yard delivery. We reiterate our BUY and NOK30 target price.

Valuation and market update

In this note, we show updated valuation and market statistics for the Offshore Drilling sector.

Petrobras FPSO delays may hit service volumes but lengthen cycle

Being the largest global consumer of deepwater oil services, Petrobras’ strategic plans tend to get investor attention. On the positive side, its latest 5-year plan sees 5% higher E&P spending than the previous one, and has a more stable phasing between the years, which is supportive for the cycle duration. However, several FPSOs are facing significant delays, which is on the downside for oil services, leading to delays for deepwater oilfield services (primarily drilling and subsea), likely resulting in lower ‘peak volumes’ and demand being spread over a longer period. The rig count is said to...