Europe Earnings: Infineon, Norsk Hydro, Pandora, Talktalk

Nigel Thomas
12 Nov, 2013
New York City

Infineon Technologies net surged 84%. Norsk Hydro said Vale sold its 22% stake valued $1.8 billion. Oxford Instruments profit jumped 18%. Pandora net profit surged 61%. Talktalk profit tumbled 90%. Vodafone net swung to

[R]4:25 PM Frankfurt – Infineon Technologies surged 84%. Norsk Hydro said Vale sold its 22% stake valued $1.8 billion. Oxford Instruments profit jumped 18%. Pandora net profit surged 61%. Talktalk profit tumbled 90%. Vodafone net swung to £18 billion profit.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% or 20.39 to 6,708 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.2% or 23.21 to 9,085.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slipped 0.4% or 16.31 to 4,274.

Infineon Technologies AG declined 4.4% to €6.90 after the Germany-based chip maker reported revenue in the fourth-quarter ending in September grew 3% to €1.05 billion from €1.02 billion a year ago.

Net income in the quarter surged 84% to €142 million compared to €77 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to €0.13 from €0.07 a year earlier.

The company estimated revenue in the fiscal first-quarter to increase between €960 million and €1 billion and for the year revenue to rise between 7% and 11%.

Norsk Hydro AS declined 5.5% to 25.46 kronor after the Norwegian aluminum producer confirmed that Brazil-based iron ore miner Vale SA sold its 407.1 million shares at a price of 25 kroner per share for total consideration of $1.8 billion.

Oxford Instruments Plc surged 13.5% to 1,393 pence after the U.K.-based nanotechnology tools maker reported revenue in the first-half ending in September fell 2.6% to £166.3 million from £170.8 million a year ago.

Profit for the period jumped 17.9% to £13.2 million compared to £11.2 million and diluted earnings per share climbed to 23.1 pence from 19.7 pence a year earlier.

Pandora A/S dropped 4.8% to 245.50 kronor after the Denmark-based fashion jewelry maker said sales in the third-quarter ending in September soared 32.9% to 2.26 billion kronor from 1.79 billion kronor a year earlier.

Net profit in the quarter surged 61% to 612 million kronor compared to 380 million kronor.

Pandora expects annual sales of 8.6 billion kronor and EBITDA margin of approximately 30%.

Talktalk Telecom Group Plc climbed 9.6% to 273.80 after the U.K.-based broadband services provider said total revenue in the first-half ending in September increased 1.8% to £843 million from £828 million a year earlier.

Profit for the period tumbled 89.7% to £7 million compared to £68 million and earnings per share declined to 8 pence from 7.8 pence a year ago.

The company lifted its revenue growth guidance for the year to at least 3% from 2% a year earlier.

Vodafone Group Plc rose 0.7% to 228.95 pence after the U.K.-based mobile phone company reported group revenue in the first-half ending in September rose 2.5% to £19.1 billion from £18.6 million a year ago.

Net for the period swung to a profit to £18.01 billion compared to a loss of £1.89 billion and diluted earnings per share swung to 31.97 pence from a loss of 8.81 pence a year earlier.

On organic basis the company earned £1.5 billion in the period before taxes.

Vodafone said group revenue in the first-half climbed 1.2% to £22.03 billion. However, second-quarter organic service revenues declined 4.9% on 15.5% revenue plunge in Southern Europe.

Operating profit after adjusting for one-time items declined 8.3% to £5.71 billion and the results in the first-half included five months of contribution from Verizon Wireless compared to six months in the period a year ago.

Vodafone announced an interim dividend of 3.53 pence a share, an increase of 8% from a year ago. With this, the total annual dividend is expected to increase to 11 pence a share.

Vodafone is looking to expand in fast growing regions of the world like India and Turkey but most of its profits are in slow growth and competitive markets in Europe.

Vittorio Colao, Chief executive, said the group has filed to purchase remaining minority stake in its Indian subsidiary.

Vodafone said it plans to spend £7 billion over the next two fiscal years focus on the expansion of third and fourth generation network capacity and fiber optic cable rollout.

In Europe, the telecom carrier plans to spend £3 billion to expand its mobile network to meet demand for faster data connections originating from tablets and smartphones.

Vodafone in September sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to the U.S. based Verizon Wireless Communications Inc for $130 billion.