Europe Update: Babcock, Glencore, ING Groep, Quindell, Telekom Austria

Nigel Thomas
31 Mar, 2014
New York City

Babcock won

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Babcock won £7 billion contract to decommissioned 12 nuclear plants. Glencore signed a port expansion agreement worth $1 billion with Mauritania. ING Groep paid €1.23 billion to Dutch government and plans to resume dividend payments. Austria and American Movil.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% or 7.54 to 6,623.12 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.03% or 2.84 to 9,584.35.

In Paris, CAC 40 index gained 0.1% or 6.09 to 4,417.35.

Babcock International Group Plc climbed 4.6% to 1,351.15 pence after the U.K.-based marine and technology provider and Cavendish Fluor in a partnership won the £7 billion contract to run the nuclear decommission operation at the Magnox sites for the next 14 years.

The company added the Cavendish Fluor Partnership selected as the preferred bidder to take ownership of Magnox Ltd and Research Sites Restoration Limited and site license to decommission 12 UK nuclear sites. The contract will provide savings in excess of £1 billion.

Glencore Xstrata Plc slipped 1% to 310.05 pence after the U.K.-based diversified natural resource company signed an agreement to access railway and port facilities with Mauritania to expand the iron ore mines. The deal is valued at about $1 billion.

ING Groep NV climbed 3.6% to €10.35 after the Netherlands-based bank paid €1.23 billion to Dutch state including €817 million repayment of core tier 1 securities and €408 million in interest and premium.

The investment bank added it will resume dividend payments from next year after a five-year interval.

Quindell Plc declined 5.8% to 36.50 pence after the U.K.-based software and consulting service provider reported revenue increased 133% in the year ending in December to £380.1 million from £163 million a year ago.

Profit in the year surged 203% to £82.7 million compared to £27.4 million and diluted earnings share jumped to 1.95 pence from one pence a year earlier.

Telekom Austria AG slipped 1.8% to 7.18 and the telecom services provider and Mexico based America Movil plan to pool together the shares held by both companies and sell as much as €1.5 billion or $2.1 billion in new shares by the end of May.

The state controlled OIAG holds 28.4% and after the shareholder pact, American Movil will be able to increase its stake in Telekom Austria to at least 30% from the current 26.8%.

The conditional shareholder pact between the company and American Movil will require the headquarters of the company kept in Vienna and the Austrian government maintain a blocking minority stake of 25%.