Europe Earnings: Alstom, Home Retail, Lonmin, Mulberry, Volex

Nigel Thomas
12 Jun, 2014
New York City

Hitachi agreed to participate with Mitsubishi and Siemens to bid for France based Alstom. Home Retail said sales at Argos and Homebase business climbed. Lonmin surged after settling wage dispute at African mines. Mulberry profit plunged 54%. Volex said net loss in the year widened.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Hitachi agreed to participate with Mitsubishi and Siemens to bid for France based Alstom. Home Retail said sales at Argos and Homebase business climbed. Lonmin surged after settling wage dispute at African mines. Mulberry profit plunged 54%. Volex said net loss in the year widened.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 0.03% or 2.36 to 6,836.51 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slipped 0.2% or 23.59 to 9,926.22.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 0.1% or 6.78 to 4,548.33.

Alstom SA increased 0.7% to €29.72 after the Nikkei newspaper reported Hitachi Ltd is in talks with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Siemens AG for an offer for France-based transport and energy infrastructure developer.

Home Retail Group Plc declined 3.9% to 192.65 after the U.K.-based home and general merchandise retailer reported total sales at Argos segment jumped 4.8% to £868 million and total sales at Homebase business climbed 5.5% to £445 million.

Lonmin Plc climbed 7.5% to 254.40 pence after the U.K.-based mining refining and marketing company settled the wage dispute with the largest union at its South African mines.

Mulberry Group Plc rose 0.3% to 710 pence after the U.K.-based luxury accessories maker said revenue in the year ending in March fell 1% to £163.46 million from £165.13 million a year ago.

Profit in the quarter plunged 54% to £8.60 million compared to £18.7 million and diluted earnings per share declined to 14.3 pence from 32 pence a year earlier.

The company said retail sales in the year increased 2% to £109 million while wholesale sales dropped 6% to £54.5 million.

OpSec Security Group Plc gained 1.4% to 35 pence after the U.K.-based said revenue in the year ending in March climbed 7.4% to £55.5 million from £51.7 million a year ago period.

Pretax loss in the year slipped to £3.22 million compared to £3.20 million a year earlier.

Volex Plc slipped 0.6% to 78 pence after the power products provider stated revenue in the year ending in March plunged 15.4% to $400.2 million from $473.2 million a year ago.

Net loss for the year widened to $14.17 million compared to $0.89 million and loss per share increased to 23.7 cents from 1.6 cents.