Europe Earnings: Balfour Beatty, Countrywide, Harvey Nash, Royal Mail Group

Nigel Thomas
27 Sep, 2013
New York City

Balfour Beatty secured an order worth

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Balfour Beatty secured an order worth £87 million. Countrywide agreed to acquire Lambert Smith for £34.1 million in cash. Harvey Nash profit for the period slid but revenue jumped. Royal Mail is expected to be valued between £2.6 billion and £3.3 billion in its IPO in the next three weeks.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index declined 1.1% or 69.21 to 6,496 and in Frankfurt the DAX index fell 0.3% or 22.43 to 8,642.

In Paris, CAC 40 index decreased 0.3% or 11.87 to 4,175.

Balfour Beatty Plc rose 0.4% to 284.90 pence after the UK based infrastructure developer secured an order worth £87 million for St James''s Market contract from The Crown Estate and Oxford Properties.

Countrywide Plc plunged 6.3% to 510 pence after the UK based residential estate developer agreed to acquire Lambert Smith Hampton Limited for a total cash consideration of £34.1 million.

Filtronic Plc plummeted 5.8% to 65 pence after the UK based wireless telecommunication service provider said trading in the first quarter ending in August is in line with expectations.

Harvey Nash Group Plc declined 6.5% to 89.20 pence after the UK based recruitment and outsourcing consultancy said revenue in the first-half ending in July jumped 13% to £329.2 million from £292.5 million a year ago period.

Profit for the period slid £1.3 million compared to £1.1 million and pre-tax profit for the period dropped to £1.8 million from £3.4 million a year earlier.

The company added revenues in the UK and Ireland climbed 9% but flat in the U.S. and surged 16% in Europe.

Royal Mail Group Ltd after the government said mailing service provider is now valued at £2.6 billion to £3.3 billion. The Department for Business said next month Royal Mail will be listed on the London Stock Exchange and privatization is expected to be complete on or before October 15.

Royal Mail''s initial public offering is expected to be priced between 260 pence and 330 pence a share and nearly 150,000 Royal Mail employees will receive free shares worth roughly £2,000 each at the valuation''s mid-range.

The government plans to sell its holds in the range of 40% to 52% under privatization proposal.

Volkswagen AG slid 0.3% to €169.80 after the Germany-based automaker is likely to de-list its share trading from the London Stock Exchange from October 28 mainly due to lower trading volume.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S climbed 4.6% to 139.20 kronor and the Denmark-based wind turbines maker is expected to form joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. at the end of first quarter of next year to develop offshore wind energy.