Europe Earnings: easyJet, ITV, LSE, Severn Trent, ThyssenKrupp, TUI

Nigel Thomas
15 May, 2013
New York City

easyJet loss in the first-half narrowed and ITV expects revenue to fell in first-half. LSE operating profit for the year fell 3% to

[R]3:00 PM Frankfurt – easyJet loss in the first-half narrowed and ITV expects revenue to fell in first-half. LSE operating profit for the year fell 3% to £348.4 million. Severn Trent rejected £5.3 billion unsolicited offer. ThyssenKrupp net loss in the first-half narrowed to €822 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index up 0.1% or 3.9 to 6,690 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.2% or 14 to 8,325.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 0.1% or 4 to 3,962.

easyJet Plc climbed 6.5% to 1,203 pence after the UK based low-cost airliner said total revenue in the first-half ending in March jumped 9.3% to £1.60 billion. Loss for the period narrowed to £47 million compared to £90 million and basic loss dropped 12 pence from 21.2 pence.

easyJet said total revenue per seat for the period climbed 8.6% and rose 5.8% to £53.39 on a per seat basis. Average load factors increased 1.7 percentage points to 88.6% whilst capacity grew 3.3% to 30 million seats.

The airline added with around 50% of second-half seats now booked and second-half of the year revenue per seat growth ending in September is expected to be around 4%.

ITV Plc slipped 2.1% to 128.92 pence after the UK based commercial television network operator expects revenue in its first-half from television channel network likely to fall 3%.

London Stock Exchange Group Plc soared 6.3% to 1,419 pence after the UK based exchange said revenue in the year ending in March jumped 7% to £726.4 million. Operating profit for the period fell 3% to £348.4 million compared to £358.5 million and basic earnings per share declined 58% to 80.4 pence from 193.6 pence.

LSE added adjusted operating profit slid 3% to £430.2 million and adjusted profit before tax dropped 5% to £380.7 million.

Severn Trent Plc slid 0.4 to 2,069 pence after the waste water treatment provider rejected a unsolicited bid of £5.3 billion received from a consortium of Canada''s Borealis, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Universities Superannuation Scheme.

The company concluded the bid “completely fails to recognize existing and potential value of Severn Trent.”

ThyssenKrupp AG fell 0.9% to €14.16 after the Germany based steel producer reported net sales in the first-half slipped 9.3% to €17.94 billion. Net loss in the period narrowed to €822 million compared to €1.07 billion and diluted earnings per share declined €1.21 from €2.03.

The company added quarterly group sales from continuing operations slumped €9.10 billion compared to €10.19 billion and orders intake for the period dropped to €9.67 billion from €11.09 billion.

The steel maker expects sales in the second half to increase from the first half and full-year sales will be fall from a year earlier period.

TUI AG gained 3.7% to €9.38 after the Germany based travel group said it plans to generate operating profit of €1 billion by 2015.