Wednesday, March 3, 2010

NORDIC STOCKS - Factors to watch on March 3NORDIC STOCKS - Factors to watch on March 3

HELSINKI, March 3 (Reuters) - The following stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Wednesday:

GENMAB (GEN.CO)

Danish biopharma firm Genmab reported losses for 2009 after the Copenhagen bourse closed on Tuesday and said it expected 2010 operating losses from continuing operations of 550-650 million Danish crowns ($118.1 million) ($99.94 million-$118.1 million) excluding royalties. Genmab also said it expected sales this year, excluding sales of its Leukaemia drug Arzerra, of 350-450 million crowns. [ID:nLDE6201WH]

For more on the company, double click on [GEN.CO]

VESTAS (VWS.CO)

Danish wind turbine maker Vestas' Spanish rival Gamesa (GAM.MC) is considering establishing a manufacturing plant in Denmark and has been looking at sites, financial daily Borsen said. The aim would be to boost Gamesa's position in the offshore turbine market, the paper said.

For more on the company, double click on [VWS.CO]

STOREBRAND (STB.OL)

Norwegian insurance company Storebrand's embedded value at the end of 2009 was 28.5 billion Norwegian crows ($4.78 billion), up from 23 billion crowns at the end of 2008.

For more on the company, double click on [STB.OL]

VOLVO CARS (F.N)

The purchase of Volvo Cars by China's Zhejiang Geely (0175.HK) has been delayed for unknown reasons, daily Dagens Industri quoted a source in Volvo parent Ford's top management saying.

On Tuesday, Stephen Odell, the chief executive of Volvo Cars, said nothing had changed in the proposed timing of the deal, with signing planned before the end of the first quarter.

For a full story, double click on [ID:nWEB3421]

For more on the company, double click on [F.N]

FINNAIR (FIA1S.HE) Finnish national carrier is likely to remain in the red the first half of this year, Finnair's chief executive officer was quoted as saying in a newspaper.

Mika Vehvilainen declined to predict to daily Helsingin Sanomat when the firm would break-even, but said the company had to stop leaking the money out and slowly get back to profit.

Last month Finnair forecast it would be clearly loss-making in the first quarter of 2010, while cost cuts was expeced to improve profitability towards the the end of the year.

For more on the company, double click on [FIA1S.HE]

STOCKMANN (STCBV.HE)

Finnish retailer and department store group Stockmann said it planned to merge its mail order subsidiary Hobby Hall into parent company to clarify structure and to cuts administrative costs. It said the registration of the merger would take place on June 30.

For more on the company, double click on (STCBV.HE)

NOKIA (NOK1V.HE)

Finnish mobile phone maker unveiled a new 5230 Nuron smarphone aimed for T-Mobile's customers in the United States market.

For more on the company, double click on [NOK1V.HE]

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(Additional reporting by Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm newsrooms) (Helsinki Newsroom; +358-9-6805-0244) ($1=5.957 Norwegian Crown) ($1=5.503 Danish Crown)