JD Sports Gains, RWE Confirms Oil Unit Sale on Track

Nigel Thomas
16 Jan, 2015
New York City

D Sports surged on higher sales and profit outlook. Moneysupermarket.Com forecasted sales to jump about 10% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – JD Sports surged on higher sales and profit outlook. Moneysupermarket.Com forecasted sales to jump about 10% to £248 million. National Exhibition Centre agreed to be acquired in leveraged buyout deal by a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group for £307 million.[/R]

European markets opened higher but struggled to hold on gains and market indexes in Zurich extended losses for the second day in a row.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 0.06% or 3.63 to 6,495.15 and in Frankfurt the DAX index fell 0.3% or 32.56 to 10,000.05.

In Paris, CAC 40 index closed nearly unchanged at 4,323.05 and in Zurich SMI index plunged 5.2% to 7,964.32.

JD Sports Fashion Plc surged 6.5% to 507.25 pence after the U.K.-based branded clothing and equipment retailer said comparable store sales at the end of January 3 climbed 12% and pre-tax profit will exceed the top end of market expectations up to £90 million.

Moneysupermarket.Com Group Plc jumped 3.4% to 233.50 pence after the U.K.-based price comparison website forecasted revenues for the year to jump about 10% to £248 million and adjusted EBITDA to soar by 13% to £95 million from a year ago period.

The National Exhibition Centre, the Birmingham, U.K.-based exhibition and trade and consumer shows centre announce that it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale to a private equity firm LDC, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group for £307 million.

The deal includes 125-year lease of the NEC site and 25-year leases on the ICC and Barclaycard Arena.

The transaction is expected to close in April.

RWE AG climbed 5.7% to €23.78 after the Germany-based electricity and gas utility agreed to complete the sale of its gas and oil unit RWE Dea in its entirety by early March for about €5 billion or $5.8 billion to Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman.

Investors were worried that the deal may collapse after the recent plunge in ruble and rising tensions between Russia and Germany. Several deals between the two countries have been canceled in the last five months including a deal to exchange natural gas assets between BASF and Gazprom.

Spectris Plc jumped 5.4% to 2,071 pence after the U.K.-based instrumentation and control device maker forecasted adjusted operating profit for the year to be about £198 million.