Europe Earnings: Britvic, Pandora, SSE, Wm Morrison

Nigel Thomas
22 May, 2013
New York City

Britvic revenue rose 0.3% to

[R]3:20 PM Frankfurt – Britvic revenue rose 0.3% to £639.2 million and profit after tax surged 52%. Pandora plunged after Prometheus lowered its stake in the cosmetic jewelry maker. SSE revenue dropped 11% to £28.30 billion but net doubled to £425.9 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% or 5 to 6,761 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.1% or 9.5 to 8,446.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 7.9 to 4,015.

Britvic Plc surged 11.4% to 526 pence after the UK based soft drinks maker said group revenue in the interim results for the period ending on April 14 slid 0.3% to £639.2 million and group profit-after-tax surged 52.4% to £28.5 million compared to £18.7 million. Adjusted earnings per share climbed 47.6% to 12.4 pence from 8.4 pence a year ago period.

The soft drinks maker added agreement reached with Narang Group for the national sales & distribution of Fruit Shoot in India, commencing from mid-2014.

The company expects full year EBIT will be at the upper end of the earlier released estimated range between £125 million to £131 million.

Pandora A/S plunged 10.1% to 202 kroner after the Denmark based jewelry maker confirmed that Prometheus Invest A/S agreed to sell 13 million shares in the company to raise 2.6 billion kroner in gross proceeds.

Prometheus holds total 53,187,416 shares of the company, or 40.6%.

SSE Plc rose 0.01% to 1,676.12 pence after the UK based electricity provider reported revenue in the year ending in March dropped 10.8% to £28.30 billion. Profit for the year doubled to £425.9 million compared to £197.8 million and diluted earnings per share soared 44.6 pence from 21.1 pence a year earlier.

Gross profit in the year surged 25% to £2 billion and operating profit climbed 50% to £800.4 million. Profit-before-tax jumped 124% to £600.9 million.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc slipped 2.8% to 281.10 pence after the UBS confirmed that it had placed around 100 million shares in the food retailer at 280 pence on behalf of an institutional seller representing a 4.4% stake.