BASF Net Falls 13%, Vivendi Net Plunges 94%

Nigel Thomas
26 Feb, 2013
New York City

BASF fourth quarter net declined 13.4% and for the year net plunged 21%. Pandora plans to buy back 700 million kroner of shares this year. Vivendi earnings for the year tumbled 94%.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – BASF fourth quarter net declined 13.4% and for the year net plunged 21%. Pandora plans to buy back 700 million kroner of shares this year. Vivendi earnings for the year tumbled 94%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 1.2% or 78.8 to 6,277 and in Frankfurt, the DAX index declined 1.4% or 111.4 to 7,662. In Paris, CAC 40 index dropped 1.8% or 67.9 to 3,653.

BASF SE dropped 2.7% to €157.15 after Germany based chemical maker reported sales for the fourth quarter ending in December jumped 8.7% to €19.65 billion from €18.07 billion from a year ago.

Net income for the quarter declined 13.4% to €980 million compared to €1.13 billion and earnings per share dropped €1.06 from €1.23 from a year ago.

For the year, sales climbed 7.1% to €78.73 billion compared to €73.50 billion from a year ago.

Net income for the year plunged 21.2% to €4.88 billion from €6.19 billion and earnings per share declined €5.31 from €6.74 from a year ago.

BASF said sales in the quarter surged 10.1% to €3.44 billion and sales in plastic segment climbed 11.8% to €2.88 billion.

Sales in performance products segment grew 2.9% to €3.74 billion and sales oil and gas segment soared 21% to €4.77 billion from €3.94 billion a year ago period.

Pandora A/S climbed 2.2% to DKK146.70 based jewelry maker announced its plan to buy back 700 million kroner of shares this year.

The jewelry maker expects revenue for the 2013 above 7.2 billion kroner and EBITDA margin to grow above 25%.

Vivendi SA slid 0.1% to €157.15 after France based telecommunications service provider said revenue for the fiscal year ending in December rose 0.6% to €28.99 billion from €28.81 billion from a year ago.

Earnings for the year tumbled 93.9% to €164 million compared to €2.68 billion from and diluted earnings per share plunged 94.1% to €0.12 from €2.09 a year ago period.

For the fourth quarter, revenue jumped 8.6% to €3.77 billion from €3.47 billion from a year ago period. Net loss for the quarter widened to €1.49 billion compared to €118 million and diluted earnings per share to €1.12 from €0.09 a year ago period.

The Vivendi said revenues from Activision Blizzard segment climbed 9.8% to €3.77 billion and the balance of the deferred operating margin was up 10% to €1 billion as of December 31.

Universal Music Group’s revenues jumped 8.3% to €4.54 billion and digital sales represented 44% of recorded music sales compared to 38% in the prior year.

The company added sales of Parlophone Label Group part of the EMI recorded music increased to €600 million.

SFR revenues declined 7.3% to €11.29 billion. Mobile revenues dropped 11.1% to €7.52 billion compared to 2011.

During the fourth quarter, SFR’s postpaid mobile customer base increased by net 109,000 and postpaid mobile customer base was stable at 16.563 million. Broadband internet and fixed revenues slid 0.9% to €3.96 billion.

Maroc Telecom group’s revenues fell 1.8% to €2.69 billion and operations in Morocco generated revenues slipped 6.1% to €2.09 billion.

GVT’s revenues surged 18.7% to €1.72 billion and Canal+ group’s revenues grew 3.2% to €5.01 billion.

For 2013, SFR expects EBITDA close to €2.9 billion and capex around €1.6 billion.

Whitbread Plc declined 3.4% to 2,474 pence after the hotels and restaurant operator reported sales as of February 14. The company said during the fourth quarter, total sales climbed 16.9% and total sales surged 14.8% for the fifty week ended February 14.

Premier Inn, total sales in the quarter jumped 14.1% and restaurant business sales rose 0.2% and UK comparable sales jumped 5.5%.

Costa continued total sales surged with 32.2%. Total system sales of Costa in the fifty weeks soared 22.4% to £962.0 million. Costa Enterprises system sales climbed 29.7% to £225.6 million and Costa Asia system sales surged 71.7% to £45.7 million.

UK Retail system sales advanced 20.2% to £525.2 million. EMEI system sales increased 11.7% to £165.5 million.