Unilever, Daimler Net Jump, ABB Net Drops; Lufthansa, easyJet Sales Fall

Sarla Buch
21 Jul, 2016
New York City

ABB net plunged 31%. Lufthansa revenues fell 3% and the airline lowered fiscal outlook. Daimler profit and revenues jumped 3%. easyJet revenues slumped 3%. Unilever sales increased 5%. MasterCard agreed to acquire rival VocaLink.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – ABB net plunged 31%. Lufthansa revenues fell 3% and the airline lowered fiscal outlook. Daimler profit and revenues jumped 3%. easyJet revenues slumped 3%. Unilever sales increased 5%. MasterCard agreed to acquire rival VocaLink.[/R]

European market indexes closed mixed and investors shifted focused to latest corporate earnings announcements.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 12.75 or 0.2% to 6,716.10 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 31.08 or 0.3% to 10,172.51.

In Paris, CAC 40 index rose 7.09 or 0.2% to 4,385.85.

ABB Ltd advanced 2.1% to 20.49 Swiss francs after the Switzerland-based power and automation technology provider reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in June dropped 5% from a year ago to $8.68 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 31% from a year ago to $406 million compared to $588 million and diluted earnings per share decreased to 19 cents from 26 cents.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG plunged 5.9% to €10.44 after the Germany controlled airline said preliminary revenues in the first-half ending in June slipped 2.6% from a year ago to €15 billion while operating profit surged 13% to €529 million.

Unit revenues declined 5.2% and unit costs excluding fuel and currency effects declined 1.3% from a year ago period.

As of June 30, the airline said net debt fell to €2.5 billion from €3.3 billion.

Lufthansa forecasted unit revenue in the second-half ending in December to decreased between 8% and 9%.

Daimler AG gained 1.6% to €59.63 after the Germany-based vehicles maker reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in June jumped 3% from a year ago to €38.62 billion.

Net profit in the quarter advanced 3% from a year ago to €2.45 billion compared to €2.37 billion and diluted earnings per share increased to €2.27 from €2.12.

easyJet Plc declined 5.4% to 1,066 pence after the U.K.-based budget airline operator stated total revenues in the third-quarter ending in June slumped 2.6% from a year ago to £1.20 billion after total revenue per seat plummeted 7.7% to £54.54 per seat.

Passengers carried in the quarter increased 5.8% to 20.2 million as capacity jumped 5.5% to 21.9 million seats and load factor rose 0.3 percentage points to 92%.

The budget airline said weak consumer confidence in the aftermath of terrorist attack in Turkey and Nice, France and the sharp drop in pound also pushed up operating costs since Brexit referendum.

Unilever Plc slipped 0.9% to 3,542 pence after the U.K.-based food, home and personal care products producer reported revenues in the first-half ending in June jumped 4.7% from a year ago to €26.3 billion.

Net profit in the period soared 6.3% to €2.51 billion compared to €2.49 billion and diluted earnings per share rose €0.88 from €0.87.

VocaLink Holdings Limited, the U.S.-based MasterCard Inc said it would buy 92.4% in the U.K.-based privately held rival and payment processing services provider for about £700 million or about $920 million.

The company reported revenues in fiscal 2015 of £182 million and processed in the year of about more than 11 billion transactions.