Airbus to Sell 17.5% Stake in Dassault, Balfour Beatty Loss Widens

Nigel Thomas
25 Mar, 2015
New York City

Airbus plans to sell its stake 17.5% in Dassault Aviation as the French government looks to raise capital. Balfour Beatty net loss widened to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Airbus plans to sell its stake 17.5% in Dassault Aviation as the French government looks to raise capital. Balfour Beatty net loss widened to £59 million. Bellway net profit surged 57% to £126.4 million. Conwert net jumped 7% but revenues declined 26%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 0.1% or 7.63 to 7,012.05 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slipped 0.5% or 57.87 to 11,947.82.

In Paris, CAC 40 index decreased 0.8% or 41.65 to 5,046.63.

Airbus Group NV dropped 2.1% to €59.02 after the France-based aerospace and defense systems maker plans to sell 17.5% stake in Dassaut Aviation as the larger company plans to lower its stake in the company.

Airbus had earlier announced to sell 15% stake in the fighter jet maker and after the sale its stake in Dassault will decline to 24.5% from 42%.

French government said it would not exercise its right for first refusal for the deal as the two companies have been working for months for the sale.

Dassault said it would acquire as much as 5% stake or 460,000 shares from Airbus for 980 per share. Dassault share closed at 1,240 on Tuesday before placed on hold and institutional investors are willing to pay up to €980 per share.

The placement is expected to close on March 26 and Airbus is expected to raise €1.57 billion.

Balfour Beatty Plc climbed 6.2% to 245.50 pence after the infrastructure developer reported total revenues in the year ending in December rose 0.8% to £8.79 billion from £8.85 billion in a year ago period.

Net loss in the period widened from a year ago to £59 million compared to £35 million and diluted loss per share increased to 8.6 pence from 5.1 pence.

The company made additional provisions of £118 million, on top of a £205 million that already announced.

Bellway Plc jumped 3.1% to 2,066 pence after the U.K.-based home-builder stated revenues in the first-half ending in January soared 18.7% to £831.2 million from £700.4 million in a year ago period.

Net profit in the period surged 56.6% from a year ago to £126.4 million compared to £80.7 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 103.1 pence from 65.9 pence.

Conwert Immobilien Invest SE rose 0.04% to €11.81 after the Austria-based real estate developer said revenues in the year ending in December declined 26.2% to €381.2 million from €516.4 million in a year ago period.

Net income jumped 6.6% from a year ago to €150.7 million compared to €141.4 million but diluted loss per share swung to a €0.14 from earnings per share of €0.09.

The company said on March 18, Deutsche Wohnen AG the Germany-based property developer announced a voluntary takeover offer for €11.50 per share or €1.2 billion, but the company said the offer does not adequately reflect its outlook for this and next year.