Associated British Foods Net Surges, BMW Profit Falls

Nigel Thomas
04 Nov, 2014
New York City

Associated British Foods profit surged 25% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Associated British Foods profit surged 25% to £783 million. BMW profit fell 1% to €1.31 billion but revenue jumped 5%. Glencore copper production climbed 8%. Greene King agreed to acquire Spirit Pub for about £774 million. Legal & General sales jumped 5%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% or 10.12 to 6,477.85 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.2% or 19.92 to 9,231.78.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slipped 0.7% or 28.78 to 4,165.25.

Associated British Foods Plc climbed 3.3% to 2,758 pence after the U.K.-based food processing company reported group revenue in the year dropped 3% to £12.9 billion £13.31 billion a year ago period.

Profit in the year surged 24.7% from a year ago to £783 million compared to £628 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 96.5 pence from 74 pence.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG declined 2.8% to €82.86 after the Germany-based luxury automaker said revenue in the third-quarter ending in September jumped 4.5% to €19.60 billion from €18.75 billion a year ago period.

Profit in the quarter fell 1.2% from a year ago to €1.31 billion compared to €1.33 billion and earnings per share slid to €1.99 from €2.02.

Glencore Plc decreased 0.5% to 313.10 pence after the U.K.-based diversified natural resource company said copper production for the nine-month period surged 8% to 1,149,000 tons while production of zinc declined 6% to 998,000 tons.

Glencore entitled oil production in the period surged 50% to 5.1 million barrels and coal production jumped 7% to 111.4 million tons. Nickel production fell 1% to 75,000 tons.

Greene King Plc dropped 2.8% to 786 pence after the U.K.-based restaurants and bars operator agreed to acquire rival Spirit Pub Company for about £774 million, a 52.2% premium to Spirit''s September 22 closing share price prior to the offer period.

The transaction is expected to close in the first-half of 2015.

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc Tuesday reported higher profit for fiscal 2014, reflecting lower costs. Annual revenues declined 6%.

Legal & General Group Plc jumped 2.1% to 235.40 after the U.K.-based investment company said corporate annuity sales in the nine-month ending in September climbed 5.1% to £3.88 billion from £3.69 billion a year ago period

Total gross written premiums on insurance business in the period soared 8.6% to £2.28 billion compared to £2.10 billion a year ago. Net cash generation for the nine-months to September soared 12% to £827 million from £740 million in the same period a year ago.