Europe Movers: Amlin, Debenhams, HSBC, Repsol

Nigel Thomas
04 Mar, 2013
New York City

Amlin fiscal net swung to

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Amlin fiscal net swung to £247.7 million profit and agreed to acquire RaetsMarine. Debenhams January sales declined 10%. HSBC profit declined 17%. Singapore based Temasek Holdings invested €1 billion in Repsol and increased its stake to 6.3%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5% or 28.9 to 6,350 and in Frankfurt, the DAX index fell 0.4% or 33.9 to 7,674. In Paris, CAC 40 index rose 0.2% or 6.2 to 3,706.

Amlin plc slipped 2.2% to 421.50 pence after the UK based reinsurance company reported gross written premium for the fiscal year ending in December advanced 4.4% to £2.32 billion compared to £2.22 billion in the same period of last year.

Profit for the year swung to £247.7 million compared to loss of £149.5 million from a year ago and diluted earnings per share swung to 49.4 pence compared to loss of 30.3 pence from a year ago.

In a separate press note, the Amlin agreed to acquire RaetsMarine for $50 million in stock and cash.

Debenhams plc plunged 11% to 84.55 pence after UK based clothing and accessory retailer said comparable sales from January 14 to January 27 declined 10% because of the bad weather.

HSBC Holdings plc dropped 2.5% to 709.60 pence after the UK based financial service provider reported net interest income for the year ending December dropped 10% to $56.70 billion from $63 billion a year ago. Profit for the year declined 17% to $14.03 billion compared to $16.98 billion from a year ago. Basic earnings per share slipped 20% 74 cents from 92 cents a year earlier.

The bank said profit before tax slipped 6% to $20.6 billion, including $5.2 billion of adverse fair value movements on bank’s own debt and core tier 1 capital ratio 12.3% increased from 10.1% in last year.

Return on equity was 8.4%, down from 10.9% in 2011

Repsol, S.A. gained 1.7% to €16.67 after the Spain based oil and gas explorer sold its treasury shares to Singapore based Temasek Holdings Pte for €1 billion to save its credit rating.

Temasek agreed to sell 64.7 million share of Repsol from its treasury stock at €16.01 a share. Temasek now owns 6.3% of Repsol.