Europe Earnings: AB InBev, Blinkx, Deutsche Bank, Legal & General, Peugeot

Nigel Thomas
20 Jan, 2014
New York City

AB InBev agreed to buy back South Korea

[R]3:40 PM Frankfurt – AB InBev agreed to buy back South Korea’s Oriental Brewery from KKR and Affinity Equity for $5.8 billion. Deutsche Bank net loss narrowed to $1.3 billion and revenues declined 16%. Peugeot plans to raise capital of €3 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index inched up 0.01% or 0.82 to 6,830.12 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slipped 0.4% or 40.25 to 9,703.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 0.2% or 7.98 to 4,320.

Anheuser Busch Inbev SA gained 1.2% to €76.06 after the Belgium-based beer-maker agreed to pay $5.8 billion to buy back South Korea''s Oriental Brewery Co. from KKR & Co. and Affinity Equity Partners Ltd.

Blinkx Plc declined 7.2% to 173.55 pence and the U.K.-based online video search and advertising service provider was speculated to be a merger candidate.

Deutsche Bank AG declined 4.1% to €37.73 after the Germany-based investment bank reported revenues declined 16% to €6.6 billion from a year ago.

The quarterly performance was affected by weaker results in corporate banking and securities resulting in a group loss before-income-taxes of €1.2 billion and net loss of €1 billion.

Net loss in the quarter narrowed to €965 million or $1.3 billion compared to €2.2 billion in the same quarter of a year earlier.

The lender added group revenues for the year dropped 5% to €31.9 billion and net income climbed 57.1% to €1.1 billion from €700 million a year ago.

In the year, litigation expenses for the group were €2.5 billion as the bank put many major legacy issues behind it.

Litigation reserves were €2.3 billion at year-end and total assets at year-end plunged 11% to €1.1 trillion.

Electra Private Equity Plc, the private investment company agreed to acquire Hotter Shoes, the footwear retailer for £200 million.

Legal & General Group Plc fell 0.2% to 229.88 pence after the U.K.-based insurance company intends to build five new towns across U.K. over the next ten years at a cost of up to £5 billion or $8.22 billion, chief executive of the company said in a media briefing.

Peugeot SA plunged 8% to €10.56 after the France-based carmaker’s board approved to raise capital of about €3 billion or $4.1 billion.

2013 sales declined 4.9% from a year ago.