CYBG to Buy Virgin Money for

Sarla Buch
18 Jun, 2018
New York City

CYBG agreed to acquire Virgin Money for

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – CYBG agreed to acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billion. DS Smith profit surged. Engie said revised scheduled in three nuclear reactors will hurt fiscal year profit. Nexans tumbled after profit warning.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slid 15.36 or 0.2% to 7,618.69 and in Frankfurt the DAX index declined 208.86 or 1.6% to 12,802.43.

In Paris, CAC 40 index dropped 74.04 or 1.4% to 5,428.92.

CYBG Plc dropped 2.2% to 299.40 pence after the U.K.-based banking services provider agreed to acquire domestic rival Virgin Money Holdings Plc for about £1.7 billion or $2.3 billion.

The bank estimated after consolidation, it will generate annual pre-tax cost synergies of about £120 million by 2021.

DS Smith Plc slumped 2.5% to 550 pence after the U.K.-based corrugated and plastic packaging maker said revenues in the year ending in April soared 21% from a year ago to £5.8 million.

Net income in the year surged 23.9% to £259 million from £209 million in a year ago period and diluted earnings per share increased to 24.8 pence from 22 pence.

The packaging group said operating profit jumped 20% to £530 million and as of April 30, net debt jumped to £1.7 billion from £1.1 billion and free cash flow declined to £204 million from £363 million from in the same period a year ago.

The packaging group said strong growth in sales was driven by improvement in paper prices and acquisitions as well as strong demand in Europe.

Engie SA declined 4.4% to €13.31 after France-based electric utility provider today forecasted revised schedule in its nuclear units may lower earnings by about €250 million or $290.1 million in fiscal 2018 mainly driven by unscheduled outages at three Belgium-based nuclear reactors.

Nexans SA tumbled 15.9% to €30.64 after France-based copper and optical fiber cable provider said fiscal 2018 operating profit to decline to €350 million from €411 million in a year ago period.

In the first-half, the cable maker reaffirmed slight contraction in sales but operating profit to drop to €150 million from €211 million in the same period a year ago.