European Indexes Drop 2%, Old Mutual Net Jumps

Sarla Buch
11 Aug, 2017
New York City

Innogy net plunged but reaffirmed outlook. KPS net increased. Novozymes depreciation and write-downs jumped. Nationwide Building Society said mortgage lending declined 31%. Old Mutual profit soared 87% on 45% jump in revenues.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Innogy net plunged but reaffirmed outlook. KPS net increased. Novozymes depreciation and write-downs jumped. Nationwide Building Society said mortgage lending declined 31%. Old Mutual profit soared 87% on 45% jump in revenues.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slumped 54.50 or 0.7% to 7,335.44 and in Frankfurt the DAX index edged up 7.91 to 12,022.09.

In Paris, CAC 40 index dropped 39.62 or 0.8% to 5,075.61.

For the week, FTSE 100 index declined 2.3%, the DAX index dropped 2.2% and the CAC 40 index slumped 2.5%.

Innogy SE slipped 1% to €36.51 after Germany-based electricity and gas producer reported sales in the first-half ending in June declined 4.7% from a year ago to €21.7 billion.

Net income in the period plunged 24.4% to €817 million from €1.1 billion in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share slumped to €1.47 from €5.33.

The utility provider said decline in profit was driven by slow electricity generation by 8%, even after €700 million investment, 9% higher than the same period a year ago.

The electricity producer forecasted fiscal 2017 operating profit of about €4.4 billion, net income is expected to jump 7% to €1.2 billion.

KPS AG declined 5.7% to €16.31 after Germany-based consulting information technology provider reported sales in the third-quarter ending in June rose 3.4% from a year ago to €39.7 million.

Net income in the period increased 3% to €5.9 million from €5.7 million in a year ago three-month period and diluted earnings per share edged up to €0.16 from €0.15.

KPS estimated fiscal 2017 sales to soar 10% to about €160 million and operating profit to jump to about 12.1%.

Novozymes A/S slumped 1.7% to 278.40 Danish kronor Denmark-based biotechnology provider reported sales in the first-half ending in June advanced 3% from a year ago to 7.3 billion kronor.

Net income in the period slid 1% to 1.51 billion kronor from 1.50 billion kronor in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share decreased to 5.05 kronor from 4.90 kronor.

The biotech company said depreciation and write-downs jumped 7% to 498 million kronor from 464 million kronor in the same period a year ago.

Nationwide Building Society, the U.K.-based consumer lending services provider said net profit in the first-quarter ending in June plunged 17.8% to £240 million.

Nationwide said net mortgage lending declined 31.4% to £2.4 billion while current accounts opened soared 17% to 202,000 from a year ago period.

The building society said pre-tax profits in the quarter tumbled to £322 million from £401 million and gross mortgage lending dropped to £8.1 billion from £8.6 billion in a year earlier mainly driven by slowdown in the buy-to-let market.

Old Mutual Plc dropped 2.1% to 197.20 pence after the U.K.-based banking, property and casualty insurance provider reported revenues in the first-half ending in June surged 44.6% from a year ago to £10.8 million.

Net profit in the period soared 86.9% to £531 million from £284 million in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share jumped to 10.8 pence from 5.6 pence.

""We are making excellent progress in delivering the managed separation of Old Mutual having materially reduced debt and largely disposed of our stake in OM Asset Management,” said chief executive officer Bruce Hemphill.