Kingfisher Sales Ease, Logitech Sales Surge

Nigel Thomas
24 Jul, 2014
New York City

easyJet declined despite revenue climbed 9% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – easyJet declined despite revenue climbed 9% to £1.2 billion. Howden Joinery profit double to £52 million. Kingfisher plunged after sales declined. Logitech first-quarter net surged. Nokia net swung to profit of €2.51 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% or 10.89 to 6,809.04 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.2% or 17.27 to 9,770.83.

In Paris, CAC 40 index increased 0.5% or 22.16 to 4,398.48.

easyJet Plc declined 5.1% to 1,331 pence after the U.K.-based budget airline said revenue in the second-quarter ending in June climbed 8.6% to £1.24 billion, passengers carried soared 9.4% to 17.9 million and the load factor increased by 2.2 percentage points to 90.4%.

The airline company said total revenue per seat grew by 1.7% to £62.47 on a reported basis and increased 2.7% on a constant currency basis.

The company forecasted pre-tax-profit for the year ending in September between £545 million and £570 million.

Howden Joinery Group Plc climbed 10.7% to 344.82 pence after the U.K.-based kitchens and joinery products supplier reported group revenue in the first-half ending in June climbed 11.4% to £435.4 million from £390.8 million a year ago.

Profit in the period double from a year earlier to £52.1 million compared to £26.7 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 6.6 pence from 4.2 pence.

Kingfisher Plc plunged 8.3% to 307.90 pence after the U.K.-based home improvement retailer said total sales in the second-quarter ending in June fell 0.8% and comparable sales dropped 1.8%.

Total sales in France slipped 1.4% in the quarter but increased 1.1% in the year so far and total sales in the UK & Ireland rose 0.7% while international sales climbed 4.7% and surged 9.5% year to date basis.

Logitech International SA surged 14.5% to 13.85 francs after the Switzerland-based hardware and software products developer said net sales in the first-quarter ending in June rose 1.2% to $483.7 million from $477.9 million a year earlier.

Net income in the quarter surged from the year ago period to $22.03 million compared to $1.04 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 13 cents from one cent.

Nokia Oyj soared 6.9% to €6.12 after the Finland-based telecom-equipment maker reported revenue in the second-quarter declined 6.7% to €2.94 billion from €3.15 billion a year ago period.

Net in the quarter swung to profit of €2.51 billion compared to a loss of €277 million in the year ago period and diluted earnings per share to €0.61 from a loss of €0.06.

Nokia completed the sale of substantially all of the Devices & Services business to Microsoft.

Of the about €5 billion of net cash impact from the proceeds of sale, approx €4.8 billion was booked in the second quarter and balance is expected to be received in the second-half of this year.