easyJet Net Soars, AstraZeneca Offered Positive Outlook

Nigel Thomas
18 Nov, 2014
New York City

Altice net loss widened and Carlyle and Cinven sold their stakes. AstraZeneca rose on long term outlook. easyJet profit soared 13% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Altice net loss widened and Carlyle and Cinven sold their stakes. AstraZeneca rose on long term outlook. easyJet profit soared 13% to £450 million. Prudential new business profits in the third-quarter soared 17% to £1.5 billion. Wirecard acquired business assets from Visa.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index gained 0.5% or 32.61 to 6,704.58 and in Frankfurt the DAX index climbed 1.5% or 137.82 to 9,444.17.

In Paris, CAC 40 index jumped 0.8% or 33.36 to 4,259.46.

Altice SA declined 3.8% to €46.10 after the private equity firms Carlyle Group LP and Cinven Group Ltd sold 7.5 million shares valued at €341.3 million or $426 million in the company.

The company reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in September soared 133.8% to €832 million from €355.8 million a year ago period.

Net loss in the quarter widened from a year ago to €242.7 million compared to €69.2 million and diluted loss per share increased to €0.97 from €0.28.

AstraZeneca plc rose 0.6% to 4,625 pence after the U.K.-based pharmaceutical company forecasted annual revenues to surpass $45 billion by 2023 and return to growth by 2017 based on the new drugs in the pipeline.

Balfour Beatty Plc climbed 5.3% to 164 pence after the U.K.-based infrastructure developer reaffirmed its profit outlook for the full-year and said at the end of the third-quarter the order book stood at £11.7 billion, flat from a half-year ago period.

Net debt for the nine-month period ending in September stood at £477 million and the company plans to reduce it to £400 million.

easyJet Plc fell 0.5% to 1,536 pence after the U.K.-based airline reported total revenue in the year ending in September climbed 6.3% to£4.53 billion from £4.26 billion a year ago period.

Net profit in the year soared 13.1% from a year ago to £450 million compared to £398 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 113.2 pence from 100 pence.

Prudential Plc gained 0.7% to 1,486 pence after the U.K.-based insurance and financial service provider said new business group profit in thethird-quarter soared 17% to £1.51 billion and new business from Asia region jumped 15% to £775 million.

U.S. new business profit climbed 16% to £530 million and Eastspring third party net inflows increased to £3.7 billion. New business profit in U.K. surged 28% to £209 million.

Wirecard AG jumped 2.7% to €30.92 after the Germany-based electronic payment service provider agreeing to buy assets of Visa Processing Service in Singapore and acquired all shares in Visa Processing Services India Private Limited from Visa Inc. for $16 million.