U.K. Construction Rebound Lifts Balfour, ICA Gruppen Net Surges 38%

Sarla Buch
16 Aug, 2017
New York City

Admiral net hurt by lowered rates on personal injury policies. Balfour Beatty net swung to profit on the rebound in U.K. construction activities. Bgeo Group profit soared on higher income in segment business. ICA Gruppen profit surged 38%. Nanogate lifted outlook.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Admiral net hurt by lowered rates on personal injury policies. Balfour Beatty net swung to profit on the rebound in U.K. construction activities. Bgeo Group profit soared on higher income in segment business. ICA Gruppen profit surged 38%. Nanogate lifted outlook.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index jumped 48.97 or 0.7% to 7,432.82 and in Frankfurt the DAX index increased 100.95 or 0.8% to 12,277.

In Paris, CAC 40 index advanced 44.63 or 0.9% to 5,184.87.

Admiral Group Plc plunged 7.3% to 2,012 pence after the U.K.-based passenger car insurance provider said revenues in the first-half ending in June jumped 7.8% from a year ago to £551 million.

Net income in the period advanced 3.7% to £163.2 million from £157.4 million in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share increased to 57.2 pence from 55.8 pence.

The insurer said weak profit was driven by the unexpected discount rate determined by the Odgen for personal injury policies.

As of June 30, Admiral said the number of U.K. insurance customers soared 11% to 4.34 million and international car insurance clients increased 11% to 961,200.

Balfour Beatty Plc jumped 5.1% to 275.70 pence after the U.K.-based engineering infrastructure developer said revenues in the first-half ending in June advanced 8% from a year ago to £4.2 billion.

Net in the period swung to profit £20 million from a loss of £11 million in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share swung to 2.9 pence from the diluted loss per share of 1.6 pence. The company reported its first profit in the period since 2014.

As of June 30, the construction services provider said order book declined 8% to £11.4 billion.

Bgeo Group Plc declined 4.3% to 3,292 pence after the U.K.-based banking and insurance service provider said revenues in the first-half ending in June soared 43.2% from a year ago to £630 million.

Net income in the period soared 24% to £217.6 million from £175.5 million in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share jumped to 5.51 pence from 4.57 pence.

The bank said improvement in revenues and profit was driven by higher income in its banking and healthcare businesses after the Bank of Georgia posted profit of 21.7%.

Hochschild Mining Plc tumbled 18.9% to 265.93 pence after the U.K.-based silver and gold miner said revenues in the first-half ending in June soared 43.2% from a year ago to $340.8 million.

Net income in the period plunged 15.8% to $23.4 million from $27.8 million in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share were flat at 5 cents from a year ago period.

The miner said decline in profit was driven by higher operating costs at one of the mines in Peru and investment in brown-field exploration. Production in gold jumped 9% and production in silver rose 3%.

ICA Gruppen AB plunged 5.9% to 309.60 Swedish kronor after Sweden-based food retail reported net sales in the first-half ending in June advanced 2.4% from a year ago to 52.2 billion kronor.

Net profit in the period surged 37.5% to 2.2 billion kronor from 1.6 billion kronor in a year ago six-month period and diluted earnings per share soared to 10.67 kronor from 7.77 kronor.

The retailer said on June 2, it had completed the sale of its 12 properties to Secore Fastigheter and generated a capital gain of about 150 million kronor.

Nanogate AG soared 5.9% to €51.50 after Germany-based nanotechnology provider estimated group sales in the first-half ending in June to increase more than €93 million and operating profit of about €10.5 million.

The nanotechnology provider forecasted fiscal 2017 sales to exceed €170 million compared to €112.5 million reported in a year ago and higher than the earlier estimate of €160 million.

Nanogate estimated full-year operating profit to jump to €20 million from €12.4 million reported in a year ago and increase from the previous estimate of €18 million.