ABB Lowers Revenues Forecasts, Ryanair Lifted Profit Outlook

Nigel Thomas
09 Sep, 2015
New York City

ABB lowered revenues forecast up to fiscal 2020. Bourbon net loss widened. Barratt Developments profit surged 47%. Hargreaves Lansdown net slumped 3%. Ryanair lifted profit forecast after traffic in the first-half jumped 13%.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – ABB lowered revenues forecast up to fiscal 2020. Bourbon net loss widened. Barratt Developments profit surged 47%. Hargreaves Lansdown net slumped 3%. Ryanair lifted profit forecast after traffic in the first-half jumped 13%.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index jumped 97.55 or 1.6% to 6,243.16 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 138.67 or 1.4% to 10,410.99.

In Paris, CAC 40 index soared 110.46 or 2.4% to 4,709.18.

ABB Ltd increased 1.2% to 18.76 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based power and automation equipment provider lowered revenue growth forecast from 2015 to 2020 to between 3% and 6% compared to the earlier estimated range between 4% and 7% largely on the slowdown in China and weaker oil prices.

The company estimated white-collar productivity savings of about $1 billion in addition to ongoing cost control measures and free up $2 billion in cash by the end of 2017.

However, ABB said it will continue its current two-year, $4 billion share buyback program.

Bourbon SA gained 2.1% to €11.65 after the France-based offshore marine services provider said revenues in the first-half ending in June soared 9.4% from a year ago to €701.3 million from €642.6 million.

Net loss in the period widened form a year ago to €19.2 million compared to €4.8 million and earnings per share dropped to €0.27 from €0.07.

Barratt Developments Plc rose 0.3% to 638 pence after the U.K.-based residential property developer reported revenues in the year ending in June jumped 10.8% from a year ago to £3.76 billion from £3.16 billion.

Net profit in the quarter surged 47.2% from a year ago to £449.4 million compared to £305.4 million and diluted earnings per share increased to 44.6 pence from 30.4 pence.

Hargreaves Lansdown Plc soared 5.7% to 1,178.88 pence after the U.K.-based financial service provider said net revenues in the year ending in June rose 1% from a year ago to £294.2 million from £291.9 million.

Net profit in the quarter slumped 3% from a year ago to £157.2 million compared to £162.7 million and diluted earnings per share decreased to 33.1 pence from 34.2 pence.

The company said total assets under management for the year soared 18% to £55.2 billion from £46.9 billion in a year ago period.

Ryanair Holdings Plc surged 5.9% to €13.70 after the Ireland-based low-cost airline company lifted net profit forecast for the year to a range between €1.18 billion and €1.23 billion compared to the previous guidance in the range of €940 million to €970 million.

The airline said traffic in the first-half jumped 13% from the previous estimate of 10% increase and fares increased to 2% compared to flat fares estimate.

For the year, the company forecasted traffic to increase to 104 million from the previous guidance of 103 million.