HSBC Net Surges on Asia Boom, GEA Jumps on Positive Outlook

Sarla Buch
29 Oct, 2018
New York City

GEA Group reported net income declined but offered positive outlook. HSBC reported strong results and said growth was driven by the rising activities in Asia. Kuka net income and revenues declined but a system engineering contract.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – GEA Group reported net income declined but offered positive outlook. HSBC reported strong results and said growth was driven by the rising activities in Asia. Kuka net income and revenues declined but a system engineering contract.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index soared 114.86 or 1.7% to 7,054.55 and in Frankfurt the DAX index surged 216.99 or 1.9% to 11,422.58.

In Paris, CAC 40 index jumped 53.49 or 1.1% to 5,020.94.

GEA Group AG jumped 5.6% to €27.58 after Germany-based food equipment and process technology provider reported revenues in the nine-month period ending in September soared 5.6% from a year ago to €3.4 billion.

Net income in the period declined 16.7% to €128.5 million from €154.2 million in the same period a year ago and diluted earnings per share slumped to €0.71 from €0.82.

GEA forecasted fiscal 2018 revenues growth of about 7.5% or €4.8 billion and operating profit of about €540 million and operating margin growth of about 11.3%.

""Although demand for our innovative products and solutions continues to grow at a highly gratifying rate, we expect the fourth quarter of the year to be challenging,"" said chief executive officer Jürg Oleas.

HSBC Holdings Plc soared 5.2% to 636.50 pence after the U.K.-based banking and financial services provider reported revenues in the nine-month period ending in September advanced 5.1% from a year ago to $41.1 billion.

Net profit in the period soared 11.2% to $12.9 billion from $11.6 billion in a year ago period and diluted loss per share increased to 55 cents from 50 cents.

The lender said pretax profit in the period jumped 12% to $16.6 billion and operating expenses rose 2% to $25.5 billion from a year ago period.

The bank said strong results were driven by the Asia-business and the bank plans to invest $17 billion in three-years in technology and in China.

“We are doing what we said and deliver growth from areas of strength and investing in the business while keeping a strong grip on costs,” said chief executive officer John Flint.

Kuka AG dropped 2.5% to €63.20 after Germany-based industrial robots and automation provider said revenues in the nine-month period ending in September declined 5.7% from a year ago to €2.5 billion.

Net income in the period plunged 7.6% to €73.4 million from €79.4 million in the same period a year ago and diluted earnings per share dropped to €1.78 from €2.

The robotics and automation solutions provider lowered fiscal revenues forecast to about €3.3 billion from the earlier estimate of €3.5 billion and margin growth to about 4.5% from the earlier estimate of 5.5%.

Separately today, Kuka said it won a contract from Swisslog for two AutoStore projects from the Switzerland-based from Winterhalter and Fenner for about €10 million.

Separately, KUKA today also received a major systems engineering contract from one of the largest U.S. automotive manufacturers to design and install a flexible manufacturing system to produce body components for a mid-size vehicle.