ABB Order Book Health Sparked Stock, Unilever Plans Buyback of

Sarla Buch
19 Apr, 2018
New York City

ABB reported sales rose and the order book improved. Hawesko said wholesale and distribution business showed healthy growth. Publicis revenues declined 8.4%. Sky profit surged 11%. Unilever announced share buyback of up to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – ABB reported sales rose and the order book improved. Hawesko said wholesale and distribution business showed healthy growth. Publicis revenues declined 8.4%. Sky profit surged 11%. Unilever announced share buyback of up to €6 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 5.15 to 7,313.70 and in Frankfurt the DAX index fell 39.89 or 0.3% to 12,550.94.

In Paris, CAC 40 index edged up 0.30 to 5,380.24.

ABB Group jumped 4.9% to 23.68 Swiss francs after Switzerland-based robotics, power, heavy electrical equipments and automation technology provider reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in March soared 10% from a year ago to $8.6 billion.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 21% to $572 million or 27 cents per diluted share from $724 million or 34 cents in the same quarter last year.

ABB said total orders in Europe surged 20% in rail, specialty vessel and process industry and in the Americas total orders rose 1% and in Asia, Middle East and Africa soared 30%.

Hawesko Holding AG rose 0.1% to €51 after Germany-based wines and champagnes maker said sales in the year ending in March jumped 5.4% from a year ago to €507 million and operating profit advanced 4.6% to €30.4 million.

The wholesale segment sales soared 7.2% to €184.2 million and online sales surged 15% or below €100 million.

The specialist retail segment Jacques’ Wein-Depot increased 4.1% to €152.3 million while sales in the distance selling segment particularly Hawesko.de and Vinos.de increased 4.8% to €170.5 million.

The champagne maker forecasted fiscal 2018 sales of about 3% and operating profit in the range of €32 million to €33 million and operating margin of about 6.2%.

Publicis Groupe SA surged 8.4% to €60.84 after France-based advertising and public relations services provider reported revenues in the first-quarter ending in March declined 8.4% from a year ago to €2.28 billion.

Revenues in North America region jumped 2.8% and in Europe increased 0.3% to €614 million while revenues in Asia slumped 4.6% to €199 million from €238 million in the same period a year ago.

Sky Plc rose 0.4% to 1,309 pence after the U.K.-based media and communication services provider said revenues in the nine-month period ending in March soared 5% from a year ago to £10.1 billion and operating profit surged 11% to £1.7 billion from £1.5 billion in the same period a year ago.

Revenues in the U.K. and Ireland advanced 4% to £6.7 billion and in Germany and Austria surged 6% to £1.5 billion and in Italy increased 5% to £1.9 billion from a year ago period.

The media and communication services provider said direct-to-consumer revenue grew by £297 million to £8.9 billion largely on price increase in the U.K. in March 2017 and in Italy.

Unilever Plc declined 2.3% to 3,855 pence after the Netherlands-based consumer goods maker reported sales growth jumped 3.7% with volume growth of 3.6% and price increase of 0.1%

Unilever intend to start share buy-back program of up to €6 billion or $7.4 billion from May and increased dividend by 8% to €0.3872 per share.

“For the full year, we continue to expect underlying sales growth in the range of 3% to 5%,” said chief executive officer Paul Polman.