Karim Bertoni Quotations

Management forecasts of slower growth in sales and orders in the second part of the year are hurting the stock. There are also additional restructuring costs that weren't expected.

We are seeing takeovers across the board. This will be a driver for share prices.

BNP did well in all the main divisions, especially in the businesses linked to the market. Still, these results are less impressive than those of its competitors.

Sometimes there are bad surprises like Swiss Re. There's been some locking in of profits but company results remain good.

They have an opportunistic approach to the U.S.. They buy banks in the rich, western states, such as Hawaii, they look for franchises they can improve and don't pay too much for them.

This is very much at the start-up phase, where investment costs are more significant than revenue. In the long term, it may be possible to boost revenue once the technology improves.

Following the acquisition, Reebok's clients have to get used to a different company, and so in the short term they may prefer to cut their orders.

Shell's results were a bit below expectations. Oil's retreat yesterday is weighing on the industry as well.

The integration is having a negative effect on Reebok's sales.

I pretty much liked everything about these results. They were above expectations. The good performance of businesses such as retail banking and equity derivatives doesn't reverse that quickly, so the trend should continue in the first quarter at least.

The market has been going up a bit too strong, too quickly and we may now get a reality check from companies. There's been some good earnings, but some important disappointments.