Europe Earnings: Bellway, Lloyds Banking, Legal & General, SAP, SSE

Nigel Thomas
26 Mar, 2014
New York City

Bellway profit surged to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Bellway profit surged to £81 million and revenue soared 39% to £701 million. Lloyds Banking declined after the government sold second portion of its stake to raise £4.23 billion. Legal & General won a bulk annuity contract worth £3 billion. RBS plans to sale Irish hotels assets for more than €400 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% or 14.07 to 6,618.96 and in Frankfurt the DAX index jumped 1.1% or 104.75 to 9,443.15.

In Paris, CAC 40 index gained 0.9% or 40.50 to 4,384.62.

Bellway Plc jumped 2.7% to 1,651 pence after the U.K.-based house-builder reported revenue in the first-half ending in January soared 39.5% to £701.1 million from £502.5 million a year ago.

Profit in the period climbed nearly doubled to £80.7 million compared to £46 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 65.9 pence from 37.7 pence a year earlier.

The builder said pretax profit in the first-half surged 73.3% to £103.8 million and dividend per share is raised 77.8% to 16 pence from 9 pence a year ago period.

Lloyds Banking Group Plc declined 5% to 75.16 pence after the government sold a second portion of its shares stake of 7.5% at a 5% discount to raise £4.23 billion or $6.99 billion in the U.K.-based bank

Legal & General Group Plc climbed 3.2% to 216.20 pence after the U.K.-based insurer won a bulk annuity contract worth £3 billion with ICI Pension Fund.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose 0.1% to 308.20 pence after the U.K.-based brokerage group plans to sale Irish hotels assets for more than €400 million or $550 million.

SAP AG gained 1.3% to €57.56 after the Germany-based business-management software provider plans to acquire Fieldglass, the cloud-based vendor management system provider.

Earlier, SAP and Adobe Systems Inc planned for joint venture that will develop resources for additional product integration and marketing funds for joint co-marketing activities.

SSE Plc jumped 2.6% to 1,537 pence after the U.K.-based electricity provider plans to freeze household energy prices up to January 2016 as part of overhaul of its business.

The utility also plans to sale stakes in two U.K. offshore wind projects to raise about £1 billion or $1.65 billion to reduce the debt.