Report
Wim Lewi

Dollar Weakness The impact on our Benelux Coverage

In general, a weaker USD has a negative impact on Benelux stocks, particularly for companies with significant exports to the US. In this note we selected a list of companies with high US export exposure and we examine the potential impact on FY25 earninings. On top of the weak dollar, rising trade tensions or the introduction of tariffs further harm Benelux exporters. As the dollar depreciates against the euro, European goods become costlier for American consumers. At the same time, revenues earned in U.S. dollars translate into fewer euros. Some Benelux companies suffer mainly from this translation impact. Key Benelux sectors like industrials, technology, and consumer goods are particularly vulnerable to these dynamics. Financial firms may also suffer from reduced returns on U.S. dollar assets. In contrast, sectors less reliant on U.S. sales like utilities or real estate are better insulated. The recent USD weakness adds to the current market uncertainty that again increased with the raid on Iran this moning that lifted energy prices 10%. In this note, we focus only on the negative USD impact, but lower import costs for dollar-priced commodities can offer relief for some companies. We also note that the valuation of many Benelux stocks is much lower than US averages. The weak USD is also a sign that financial assets are moved from the US to other regions. This could eventually also benefit undervalued Benelux stocks.
Underlyings
Aalberts N.V.

Aalberts Industries is a technology company. As of Dec 31 2015, Co. is organized into four businesses: building installations, which produces and sells connection systems and valves to distribute and control water or gas in heating, cooling, drinking water, gas and sprinkler installations in residential, commercial and industrial buildings; climate control, which develops and produces complete hydronic systems-from source to emitter- for heating and cooling systems; industrial controls, which develops and produces regulation and control systems for selected niche markets; and industrial services, which provides a combination of material technology know-how and manufacturing capabilities.

Adyen NV

Adyen NV, formerly Adyen BV, is provider of mobile, online and point-of-sale (POS) payment solutions based in the Netherlands. It operates an online platform enabling merchants to accept payments internationally and from all sales channels, such as online shops, mobile payments from applications and Websites, and POS, such as countertops, mobile terminals, tablets and cash registers, among others. The platform covers the entire payment chain, including technical, contractual, reconciliation and settlement processes. The platform is available in the form of ready-to-use payment pages (HPP), application programming interface (API), and client-side encryption solution (EE). The Company's customers include Mango, KLM, Netflix, Superdry, Uber, Groupon and Crocs, among others. It has offices in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, China, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

AEGON N.V.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

Anheuser-Busch Inbev is engaged in the brewing of beer. Co. manages a portfolio of well over 200 brands that includes brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck's; multi-country brands such as Leffe and Hoegaarden; and other brands such as Bud Light, Skol, Brahma, Quilmes, Michelob, Harbin, Sedrin, Klinskoye, Sibirskaya Korona, Chernigivske and Jupiler. Co. also produces and distributes soft drinks, particularly in Latin America. Co.'s operations are organized along seven business segments: North America, Mexico, Latin America North, Latin America South, Europe, Asia Pacific and Global Export & Holding Companies.

Arcadis NV

Arcadis NV is a global asset design and consultancy company. The Company is engaged in providing consultancy, design, engineering and management services in the area of infrastructure, water, environment and buildings. The Company's segments include Americas; Europe and Middle East; Asia Pacific, and CallisonRTKL. Its business lines include infrastructure, water, environment and buildings. Infrastructure business line focuses on sustainable infrastructure solutions for transportation by road, rail, air and over water, and creating reliable energy supply systems. The Company is an environmental solutions provider to private industry, and delivers projects that protect the earth's resources. It offers water supply, treatment, management and conveyance solutions. The Company also offers contract solutions, master planning and sustainable urban development, commercially led program management, business advisory, data analysis and architecture and design solutions.

ArGEN-X SE

Argenx N.V. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a deep pipeline of differentiated antibody-based therapies for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases and cancer. Utilizing its suite of differentiated technologies, Co. is focused on developing product candidates with the potential to be either first-in-class against novel targets or best-in-class against known, but complex, targets in order to treat diseases with a significant unmet medical need.

ASM International N.V.

ASM International is an equipment supplier mainly to the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Co. designs, manufactures and sells equipment and services to its customers for the production of semiconductor devices, or integrated circuits. Co.'s front-end segment manufactures and sells equipment used in wafer processing, encompassing the fabrication steps in which silicon wafers are layered with semiconductor devices. Co.'s back-end segment manufactures and sells equipment and materials used in assembly and packaging, encompassing the processes in which silicon wafers are separated into individual circuits and subsequently assembled, packaged and tested.

ASML Holding NV

ASML Holding provides lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, manufacturing machines that are used in the production of integrated circuits or chips. Co. develops, produces, markets, sells and services advanced semiconductor equipment systems exclusively consisting of lithography systems. Co. sells its products to micro-processor manufacturers and Foundries, NAND-Flash memory and DRAM memory chipmakers. Co.'s products line includes the following: PAS 5000 lithography systems, which Co. no longer manufactures but continues to refurbish; PAS 5500 products; TWINSCAN DUV systems and TWINSCAN EUV systems based on a new platform utilizing the concepts of the TWINSCAN platform.

Barco NV

BE Semiconductor Industries N.V.

BE Semiconductor Industries N.V. (Besi) is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and service of semiconductor assembly equipment for the global semiconductor and electronics industries. It operates through three segments: Die Attach, Packaging and Plating. It develops assembly processes and equipment for leadframe, substrate and wafer level packaging applications in a range of end user markets, including electronics, computer, automotive, industrial and solar energy. The Company offers products, such as Die attach equipment, which include single chip, multi-chip, multi module, flip chip, thermo-compression bonding (TCB) and enhanced wafer level ball grid array (eWLB) die bonding systems, and die sorting systems; Packaging equipment, which include wafer level molding and singulation systems, and Plating equipment, which include metal plating systems and related process chemicals.

D'Ieteren SA

D'Ieteren is engaged in two sectors of services to the motorist: Automobile Distribution, which is a distributor of Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, and Yamaha brands in Belgium; and Vehicle Glass, which is engaged in the repair and replacement of vehicle glass mainly in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand through Belron s.a. and notably its CARGLASS®, AUTOGLASS® and SAFELITE® AUTO GLASS brands.

EVS Broadcast Equipment SA

EVS Broadcasting Equipment is engaged in the development and marketing of audiovisual equipment relating to the processing of pictures and sound. Co. provides solutions based on tapeless workflows with a consistent modular architecture. Co.'s activities are divided into the following regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and America.

Fagron SA

Fagron supplies products, services to professionals and institutions in the healthcare sector in Europe, the U.S.A. and Brazil. Co.'s activities are subdivided into four divisions. Through Fagron, Co. offers products and concepts for pharmaceutical compounding. Through Arseus Dental, Co. supplies dental products and concepts to dentists and dental laboratories in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland. Through Arseus Medical, Co. supplies medical and surgical products to specialists, elderly homes, homecare nurses and hospitals in Belgium and the Netherlands. Through Corilus, Co. supplies ICT total solutions for medical specialists in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

FUGRO NV

Kinepolis Group NV

Kinepolis Group NV is a Belgium-based company, which is primarily engaged in the operation of cinemas. The Company's activities are divided into such business units, as Box office, In-theatre sales, Business-to-business (B2B), Film distribution and Real Estate. The Box office unit includes sale of the tickets. The In-theatre sales unit is involved in the sale of snacks and related articles. The B2B unit takes care of the organization of corporate events and the sale of screen advertizing to corporate customers. The Film distribution unit includes all activities related to movies showed in the cinema. The Real Estate is responsible for the property management and utilization. Additionally, the Company has a Technical department, which delivers technological support to Kinepolis facilities. The Company is present in Belgium, France, Spain and Poland.

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V.

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize is an international group of supermarket and foodservice operators based in Europe and the U.S. Co. operates supermarkets and convenience stores. In addition, Co. provides online food retailing services. Co. also finances, develops and manages store sites and shopping centers. Ahold Europe comprises Albert Heijn in the Netherlands and Belgium; Etos, Gall & Gall, and albert.nl in the Netherlands; and Albert / Hypernova in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Ahold USA is organized into four retail divisions: Giant Carlisle, Giant Landover, Stop & Shop New England, and Stop & Shop New York Metro. The Peapod online business is also part of Ahold USA.

KONINKLIJKE DSM N.V.

Melexis NV

Melexis designs, develops, tests and markets advanced integrated circuits primarily for the automotive industry. Co. sells its products to a wide customer base in the automotive, medical and industrial markets in Europe, Asia and North America. Co.'s main products are Hall effect ICs, Pressure and Acceleration Sensors, Sensor Interface ICs, Automotive Systems-on-a-Chip, Embedded Microcontrollers, Bus System Chips, Optical and Infrared sensors. In each case the products are primarily developed for automotive applications and designated lead customers with subsequent use in commercial and industrial applications.

Royal Vopak NV

Royal Vopak is a holding company. Via its subsidiaries, Co. acts as a tank storage provider for the oil and chemical industry. Co. operates a network of terminals located at locations along trade routes. Co. also provides a range of additional services, from loading and unloading a range of transport modalities to heating, cooling, blending and customs formalities. The customers Co. serves range from global to local clients and include national and global producers, governments, distributors and traders of liquid and gaseous bulk products. Co.'s customers are active in the production, trading and marketing of oil products, chemicals, gases, biofuels, edible oils and liquefied natural gas.

SIPEF group

Sipef is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries and associated companies, Co. is primarily engaged in the development and production of sundry commodities, including palm oil, palm kernels, tea, tropical fruits and flowers, bananas, pineapples, ornamental plants, guava, pepper and natural rubber. Palm oil, which is Co.'s most important commodity, is used within the cosmetics industry, in soaps and detergents, as a supplement to cattle and poultry feed, for production of protein, and for several other purposes. In addition, Co. provides management, marketing and consultancy services in the agro-industry.

Sofina SA

SOFINA is an investment company whose portfolio consists of shareholdings in various companies. Co. manages a portfolio of long-term and short-term investments. Its portfolio comprises investments in companies which are active in sectors such as: Energy and Services (GDF Suez, Suez Environnement, bioMerieux and Exmar); Retail (Colruyt, Delhaize); Consumer goods (Danone, Rapala, B & W Group, and Chapoutier); Satellite operators (SES); Finance Companies (Eurazeo, Caledonia, Luxempart, RAB Capital); Industry (Petit Forestier, Landis + Gyr, Carbone Lorraine and Deceuninck) and Alternative assets (Private equity, Hedge funds).

Solvay SA

Solvay is engaged in chemical and plastic businesses worldwide. Co. offers chemical products such as advanced materials, barium strontium, calcium chloride, caustic soda, chlorinated products, fluor, peroxygen products, polyglycerols, precipitated calcium carbonate, soda ash, and sodium bicarbonate. It also provides specialty polymers, such as Spire ultra polymers, Solviva biomaterials, and sulfone polymers. Co. structures its activities around five operating segments: Advanced Formulations, Advanced Materials, Performance Chemicals, Functional Polymers and Corporate & Business Services, each with its own specific business model and each comprised of Global Business Units (GBUs).

UCB S.A.

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on severe diseases in two therapeutic areas, namely central nervous system disorders and immunology. In the area of central nervous system disorders, Co. is focused on advanced Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, restless legs syndrome and epilepsy. In the area of immunology disorders, Co. is focused on rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, post-menopausal osteoporosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and immunological diseases.

Provider
KBC Securities
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Analysts
Wim Lewi

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