Balfour Rejects Revised Third Offer, Glencore Net Swings to Profit

Nigel Thomas
20 Aug, 2014
New York City

Balfour Beatty rejected third revised takeover offer from Carillion. Carlsberg profit climbed 7% to 2.2 billion kronor. Glencore net swung to profit of $1.7 billion. Heineken net fell 1% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Balfour Beatty rejected third revised takeover offer from Carillion. Carlsberg profit climbed 7% to 2.2 billion kronor. Glencore net swung to profit of $1.7 billion. Heineken net fell 1% to €631 million.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 0.6% or 38.94 to 6,740.37 and in Frankfurt the DAX index dropped 0.8% or 72.03 to 9,262.25.

In Paris, CAC 40 index declined 0.9% or 37.22 to 4,217.23.

Balfour Beatty Plc declined 7.8% to 235.90 pence after the U.K.-based infrastructure company rejected revised merger terms from Carillion Plc for the third time.

Carillion offered new merge proposal for about £2.09 billion or $3.5 billion, represented more than a 35% premium to the recent average share price and give 58.27% to the investors of Balfour Beatty and also may receive 8.5 pence per cash dividend worth £59 million.

Carillion earlier agreed for 56.5% stake from initial approach for a stake of 51%.

Carlsberg A/S dropped 2.6% to 550 kronor after the Denmark-based breweries maker reported sales in the second-quarter ending in June edged up 0.5% to 19.16 billion kronor from 19.06 billion kronor a year earlier.

Net profit in the quarter climbed 6.7% from a year ago to 2.21 billion kronor compared to 2.07 billion kronor in the same period last year.

The company forecasted adjusted net profit for the year to decline mid- to high-single digit percentages compared to earlier estimate of low single-digit growth.

Glencore Plc rose 0.2% to 359.85 after the U.K.-based diversified natural resource company said net in the first-half ending in June swung to profit $1.72 billion compared to a net loss $9.39 billion a year ago period mainly due to write-down of $7.7 billion after acquisition of the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.

As of June, the company said net debt climbed 9% to $37.6 billion from $35.80 billion a year ago period.

Heineken N.V surged 7.2% to €56.73 after the Netherlands-based beer maker reported group revenue in the first-half ending in June fell 1.4% to €10.20 billion from €10.34 billion a year ago period.

Net profit in the period dropped 1.3% from the same period a year ago to €631 million compared to €639 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to €1.34 from €1.18.

Infineon Technologies AG slipped 1.1% to €8.58 on the reports that the Germany-based chipmaker intends to acquire a U.S.-based chipmaker for about $2 billion.