Adyen, HelloFresh and Zalando Gain as European Lockdowns Return

By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Shares of HelloFresh (DE:HFGG), Zalando (DE:ZALG) and Adyen (AS:ADYEN) were trading higher in Europe Friday as Austria became the first country on the continent to reimpose a lockdown to contain a resurgent coronavirus.

Meal-kit provider HelloFresh was up 5.0% in Frankrurt trading while ecommerce platform Zalando was up 2.6%. Payment company Adyen gained 3.1% in Amsterdam.

Reports said Germany, Europe’s largest economy, too could be heading for a lockdown. The country’s Health Minister Jens Spahn today said the situation is more serious than a week ago. "We are in a national emergency," Spahn said, according to Reuters.

Companies like HelloFresh and Zalando were big winners of the pandemic, profiting from the abrupt and accelerated shift to online commerce, but had all been drifting lower since the summer, when the pandemic appeared to be in retreat. Of the three, only HelloFresh hit a new all-time high in response to Friday's news.

Austria will resume lockdowns Monday and will re-evaluate the scenario after 10 days. The Alpine nation also plans to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory from February 1, reports said, quoting Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.

Thursday, outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders agreed to bar the unvaccinated from restaurants, bars and public events. Austria too had initially tried such measures but found within days that they weren't enough to stop national case rates rising.

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