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|  | JANUARY 5, 2006
 EUROPEAN MARKET MOVERS On the Move: GSK, VW, France TelecomPlus: Repsol, Michelin, Man Group and other European companies making headlines ThursdayFrom Standard & Poor's European MarketScope France SANOFI-AVENTIS (SNY ) was up €0.80 to €78.05. The company and Procter & Gamble (PG ) have filed a lawsuit against Roche & the UK's GSK (GSK ) for making false and misleading claims about their osteoporosis drug, Boniva. Procter & Gamble sells a rival drug, Actonel, with the company as its marketing partner. They are seeking an injunction to stop advertisements that claim the drug has been proven to reduce the risk of non-spinal fractures. FRANCE TELECOM (FTE ) was up €0.10 to €21.80. The Guardian reported on market rumors of a possible bid for the UK's Cable & Wireless. Meanwhile, the company has withdrawn its €15.8/share offer for Belgium's Telindus as the strategic and financial criteria of the company's industrial project for the acquisition of Telindus are no longer met. TOTAL (TOT ) was down €1.20 to €214.30. EIA released weekly US inventories data: crude showed a draw of 1 million bbls, broadly in line with expectations. The company refused to comment on Challenges' article about plans to split the role of the CEO and chairman. The magazine reported that Thierry Desmarest, who currently holds both roles, would keep the post of chairman and hand over the CEO duties to the current head of the exploration and production division, Christophe de Margerie. MICHELIN was up €0.57 to €48.70. Merrill Lynch added the company to its Europe one list and rated it a buy. The broker said fiscal 2005 was a difficult year as the European truck tire replacement market weakened. It expects progressive recovery in fiscal 2006 after 18 months of decline, which should re-invigorate the truck tire division's margins. Meanwhile, the spectacular improvement in the specialty tire margins in fiscal 2005 should continue in fiscal 2006-07. CAP GEMINI was up €2.21 to €37.56. Brokers were pleased with the company's restructuring. CSFB upgraded the company to outperform from neutral and raised its target to €44.0 from €32.6, noting that the demand for enterprise technology solutions has improved significantly over the past year and looks to improve further. UBS upgraded the company to buy from neutral and raises its target to €41 from €34. Germany SAP (SAP ) was up €4.27 to €158.42. Hasso Plattner Beteiligungs-GmbH has increased its stake in the company to more than 10% (10.001%) as of Dec. 28. Note that a previous ad in the Boersen-Zeitung incorrectly stated that founder Dietmar Hopp was raising his stake. INFINEON was up €0.19 to €8.19. UBS upgraded the company to neutral from reduce and raised its price target to €9.0 from €7.5. VW was down €0.49 to €45.21. Sales in US jumped 20.9% in December after the company sold 25,956 VW brand vehicles. This performance led to gains by European brands in that month and outperformed the broader market. Still, fiscal 2005 sales at the company were down 12.5% to 224,195 vehicles. Italy PARMALAT was up €0.12 to €2.26. Market rumors have it that Italian prosecutors, who are investigating the company's previous administration, revealed that Lehman Brothers raised the alarm on the company's financial difficulties in 2003, domestic sources said. Nordics AUTOLIV was up SEK12.50 to SEK389.00. Carnegie noted that US car sales in December, with a decent seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of 17.2 million, were down 4% year-over-year but still 2% ahead of consensus expectations. Spain REPSOL YPF was up €0.04 to €25.65. Bolivia's new president Evo Morales has pledged not to put foreign investment in the country at risk, but added that foreign companies must not be masters of Bolivia's natural resources. Morales has also met the company's chairman Antonio Brufau. Spain is to cancel most of Bolivia's US$120 million debt. Switzerland SGS was down CHF37.00 to CHF1123.00. The company is buying Paris-based drug trial firm aster.cephac for an undisclosed sum. The French company generates annual revenues of more than €35 million and employs around 330 people (excluding its cosmetology / dermatology testing services which have not been acquired.) United Kingdom GLAXOSMITHKLINE was up £0.11 to £14.97. Shares gained after a report in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that two oral doses of the company's Rotarix vaccine against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis and against rotavirus-associated hospitalization was 85% and reached 100% against more severe rotavirus gastroenteritis. XSTRATA was up £0.16 to £14.57.Dresdner KW said the company is one of its Top Ten Buys for 2006, as M&A potential added to the attraction. REDROW was down £0.17 to £5.18. Numis downgraded the company to sell from reduce, but kept its target of £4.17. The company says legal completions in the first half of 2006 slipped to 2,077 vs. 2,111 in the first half of 2005, but overall volumes were broadly maintained. MAN GROUP was up £0.43 to £20.03. Deutsche Bank upped its target to £22.60 from £20.20; and kept a buy rating.  Prepared by Zaida Espana, Valerie Vidal, Michael Sanderson, Mariella Mongio, Alexander Wisch, Holly Cook, Emma Stevenson, Pawan Girglani, Julien Manrique, and Rocio Opazo-Aniotz (Standard & Poor's); Alex Halperin (BusinessWeek Online) All of the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal views regarding any and all of the subject securities or issuers. No part of analyst compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report. Standard & Poor's Regulatory Disclosure Any advice, analysis, or recommendations contained in articles labeled "Insight from Standard & Poor's" reflect the views of Standard & Poor's, which operates separately from and independently of BusinessWeek Online. It is possible that BWOL may from time to time publish information that is not consistent with advice, analysis, or recommendations that are published by Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek Online are each units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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