Europe Earnings: Dart, Ericsson, Hitachi, Nokia, Optos, Sports Direct

Nigel Thomas
18 Jul, 2013
New York City

Dart annual profit jumped 37%. Ericsson sales flat but quarterly soared 26%. Hitachi secured contract worth

[R]3:20 PM Frankfurt – Dart annual profit jumped 37%. Ericsson sales flat but quarterly soared 26%. Hitachi secured contract worth £1.2 billion to build the 270 train carriages. Nokia revenue declined 24% and handset business revenues plunged 32%. Sports Direct profit surged 40% to £207 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index climbed 1% or 66.81 to 6,639 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 0.6% or 52.69 to 8,307.

In Paris, CAC 40 index jumped 1.1% or 41.07 to 3,913.

Dart Group Plc climbed 11.1% to 239.97 pence after the UK based leisure reported total leisure airline turnover in the year ending in March climbed 20% to £869.2 million. Profit for the year jumped 37.4% to £31.2 million compared to £22.7 million and diluted earnings per share advanced 21.44 pence from 15.48 pence a year ago.

Retail revenue per passenger increased to £30.96 from £27.86.

Ericsson dropped 3.3% to 74.05 kronor after the Sweden based communications equipment maker reported sales in the second quarter were nearly flat at 55.3 billion kronor and profit for the quarter soared 26% to £150 million.

Fenner Plc jumped 4.5% to 336.80 pence after the UK based polymer products maker said revenue and earnings for the period from March 1 to July 17 achieved as per management expectations.

Hitachi, Ltd, the subsidiary of Japan based technology, Hitachi Rail Europe secured contract worth £1.2 billion to build the 270 carriages for the train, at a new factory of Durham and production will start in 2016. The trains are expected to be introduced in 2018.

Nokia Corporation declined 3.6% to €2.99 after the Finland based mobile phones maker said revenue in the second quarter declined 24% to €5.7 billion and reported operating loss of €115 million.

The handset business revenues plunged 32% to €2.72 billion.

Optos Plc surged 19% to 142.75 pence after the UK based retinal imaging company stated total revenue in the third quarter slid 2% to $40.1 million but underlying revenue jumped 14% reflects soaring of 52% increase in outright sales of $14.5 million.

Sports Direct International Plc soared 5.3% to 632.50 pence after the UK based sports goods retailer said sales climbed 30% to £2.19 billion. Profit before tax in the first quarter surged 40% to £207.2 million compared to £148 million and like-for-like stores gross sales jumped 11.2%.

Sales of the premium lifestyle division including USC and Cruise surged 74.7% to £128.4 million and revenues from the international retail division rose 20.1%.