(by Dr. Goldfinger)
European stocks advanced after many european companies beat analysts’ expectations.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 rose 1 per cent to 978.50 with the Frankfurt Xetra Dax up 1.6 per cent to 3,866.97 and the CAC-40 in Paris 1.2 per cent higher at 3,618.44 and London’s FTSE 100 1.1 per cent up at 4,401.9.
Sales at Siemens rose for the first time in more than two years, up 5 per cent to €18.22bn, in its June quarter, lifting operating income by more than 20 per cent year-on-year. The German engineering conglomerate had previously projected double-digit earnings growth in the fiscal year to September. Siemens shares added 4.2 per cent to €56.95.
Royal Dutch/Shell said net income at current cost rose 16 per cent to $3.768bn in the second quarter boosted by higher oil price and volumes of liquid natural gas (LNG). But this was below analyst forecasts of €3.8-4.3bn and the troubled oil giant also said oil and gas production fell 5 per cent in the quarter. And Shell said it had agreed in principle to resolve investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Services Authority into its reserves recategorisations. It will pay £17m to the FSA and a civil
penalty of $120m to the SEC. Shell shares recovered from early losses to rise 2.1 per cent to 398p. Peer BP added 3 per cent to 512.50p.
At, EADS the aerospace group with an 80 per cent stake in Airbus, first half operating profit soared past analyst consensus expectation of €784m hitting €985m, a rise of 66 per cent. EADS raised its full year guidance for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to €2.1bn from €1.93bn previously. The stock added 0.3 per cent to €22.94.
Ahold, the world’s third largest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour, reported
a drop in second-quarter sales to a weak dollar, slow demand and the impact of asset sales in its debt reduction restructuring programme. Total sales fell 4.8 per cent to €12.3bn, but was above market expectations of about €12.17 billion and the shares rose 2.6 percent to €5.90.
Telecoms group, Alcatel, said it was comfortable with its full-year guidance after it reported just in line second quarter sales of €3.078bn with net profit swinging into a profit of €23m from a loss of €675m a year ago. Alcatel predicted a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in third quarter sales on a constant currency and structure basis, but earnings per share was seen flat compared with the previous quarter. Investors were none too impressed as the share price fell 3.2 per cent to €10.70.
Another telecom group propping up the losers table was BT, down 2.6 per cent to 189.57p despite better-than-expected first quarter revenues helped by a strong performance in new business areas. But the UK fixed-line group said the environment remained tough.
The rally in car maker shares continued into a third day ahead of an expected tripling of operating profits at DaimlerChrysler in the second quarter thanks to a big swing in Chrysler earnings. Daimler chose its commercial vehicles head, Eckhard Cordes, to success Juergen Hubbert as head of the Mercedes car division from October. The shares rose 2.8 per cent to €38.16 with Volkswagen up 2.3 per cent to €34.01 and Peugeot 2.2 per cent higher at €47.54 in a strong sector.
Dassault Systemes, the world’s largest maker of computer- aided design software, added 1.3 percent to 36.62 euros after saying second-quarter profit rose 25 percent. Net income excluding takeover costs increased to 36.5 million euros, beating the 31 million-euro median estimate of seven analysts in a Bloomberg News survey.
The company raised its sales and profit forecasts for a second time this year.
ICI, the U.K.’s largest specialty-chemicals maker, led the advance on the Stoxx 600, climbing 8.8 percent to 223.25 pence. Second-quarter profit before one-time items of 77 million pounds ($141 million) beat the 70.5 million-pound median forecast of a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts.