ABN AMRO Jumps on Trading Debut, European Travel Stocks Drop

Lucy Stoeva
20 Nov, 2015
New York City

Markets in Europe closed higher on Friday. Oerlikon soared 6% after asset sale. ABN AMRO jumped 3.5% on its first day of trading. Nationwide profit surged 31%. Fuller, Smith & Turner profit and revenues jumped.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Markets in Europe closed higher on Friday. Oerlikon soared 6% after asset sale. ABN AMRO jumped 3.5% on its first day of trading. Nationwide profit surged 31%. Fuller, Smith & Turner profit and revenues jumped.[/R]

In the preliminary estimate in the wider region of EU28, seasonally adjusted external current account surplus widened to €15.9 billion in September compared to a surplus of €13.8 billion in August and a surplus of €10.9 billion in a year ago month, the eurostat said.

European bourses were slightly higher on Friday as investors welcomed the IPO of ABN AMRO and Oerlikon’s division sale, but remained wary of the effect of terrorist attacks on the travel and leisure industries.

The President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi once again confirmed that ECB is ready to take action if inflation in the euro zone remains too low.

“If we decide that the current trajectory of our policy is not sufficient to achieve our objective, we will do what we must to raise inflation as quickly as possible.” said Mario Draghi in a speech at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress.

In the wider EU28 region, the seasonally adjusted current account recorded a surplus of €15.9 billion in September 2015, compared with a surplus of €13.8 billion in August 2015, and a surplus of €10.9 billion a year ago, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 19.08 or 0.3% to 6,349.01 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 43.48 or 0.4% to 11,129.06.

In Paris, CAC 40 index added 10.45 or 0.2% to 4,919.32.

For the week, FTSE 100 index jumped 3.8% and the DAX index soared 3.9% and the CAC 40 index increased 2.3%.

Oerlikon soared 5.97% to 10.65 Swiss francs after the engineering group announced the sale of its vacuum business to Sweden’s Atlas Copco, an industrial equipment company, for 525 million Swiss francs.

The deal, which also includes debt, comes after several assets sales by Oerlikon, as the Swiss engineering group is streamlining operations and focusing on markets with highest growth potential.

ABN AMRO Group NV jumped 3.5% to €18.37 on its first day of trading in Amsterdam in seven years.

The initial public offering of 188 million shares was priced at €17.75 per share.

The bank was nationalized in 2008, during the financial crisis, and the Dutch government spent more than €20 billion to save the financial institution.

The Dutch government sold 20% of the bank and raised €3.3 billion and to partially recoup the billions spent on bailing out ABN AMRO.

The Netherlands intends to sell additional 3% in an over-allotment option and to divest more in the next couple of years.

easyJet Plc slumped 2.5% to 1,670.88 pence, despite reporting another profitable year, as investors worry about the setbacks in the travel industry after the terrorist attacks in France, Egypt, and Bali.

Revenue rose 3.5% to £4.7 billion, while operating profit reached £688 million, up 18.4% from the previous year.

Nationwide Building Society, the U.K.-based construction company, said revenues for the six-month period ending in September slipped 2.6% from a year ago to £2.61 billion.

Profit in the period surged 30.9% from a year ago to £636 million.

The company said gross mortgage lending in the period jumped 14% to £14.9 billion from a year ago period.

Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc increased 2.4% to 1,170 pence after the U.K.-based brewer and pub operator reported revenues for the six-month period ending in September soared 10% from a year ago to £177.7 million.

Profit in the period jumped 18.4% from a year ago to £16.7 million and diluted earnings per share rose to 29.45 pence from 24.98 pence.