Europe Earnings: Bouygues, easyJet, Flybe, Mediaset, Remy Cointreau

Nigel Thomas
04 Apr, 2014
New York City

Bouygues raised its cash component offer for SFR by

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Bouygues raised its cash component offer for SFR by €1.85 billion to a total of €15 billion. easyJet said passenger count in March jumped 5% to 5.1 million. Flybe Group said passenger count in the fourth-quarter soared 6% to 1.6 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index jumped 0.7% or 45.91 to 6,695.05 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 0.5% or 49.58 to 9,678.40.

In Paris, CAC 40 index climbed 0.7% or 32.05 to 4,481.38.

Bouygues SA gained 0.9% to €30.88 after the France-based telecommunications and media group again raised its cash component offer for Vivendi SA mobile unit, SFR. The offer was increased by €1.85 billion to €15 billion or $20.6 billion to ward off a rival bid from Altice SA.

In addition, Bouygues has offered Vivendi an earn-out of €500 million that could lift the total value of SFR to €16.5 billion pre-synergies.

The offer is valid till April 25.

easyJet Plc increased 2.3% to 1,832 pence after the U.K.-based airline company said the number of passengers in March jumped 4.8% to 5.1 million from the same month a year ago. Load factor rose to 91.5% from 90.5% a year earlier.

Flybe Group Plc climbed 5.3% to 148.75 pence after the U.K.-based regional airline said passenger count in the fourth-quarter ending in March soared 6% to 1.6 million and load factor rose six percentage points to 70% and the flown capacity was trimmed by 4% to 2.2 million seats.

Mediaset SpA rose 0.9% to €4.33 after the Italy-based broadcasting company controlled by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi began the sale of its 25% stake in subsidiary Ei Towers SpA.

Remy Cointreau SA jumped 3.8% to €61.31 after the report that the U.S.-based Jack Daniel''s whiskey maker, Brown-Forman Corp. is planning to make an offer.