Airbus Wins Telecom Satellite Contract; Ineos to Buy North Sea Oil Field

Sarla Buch
19 Nov, 2018
New York City

Babcock rejected the recent media report of half-year write-down. easyJet jumped ahead of its scheduled earnings release on November 20. Airbus wins contract for two satellites from Eutelsat.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Babcock rejected the recent media report of half-year write-down. easyJet jumped ahead of its scheduled earnings release on November 20. Airbus wins contract for two satellites from Eutelsat.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index increased 9.96 to 7,023.84 and in Frankfurt the DAX index dropped 35.61 or 0.3% to 11,305.39.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slipped 21.52 or 0.4% to 5,004.47.

Babcock International Group Plc advanced 1.9% to 595 pence after the U.K.-based aerospace and defense engineering services provider today said that while the exact impact of these actions had yet to be determined by the board, it does not expect the net cash costs to be material.

On November 19, Sky News reported that Babcock is expected to take £100 million write-downs in its half-year results on November 21, the value of its helicopter business related to Avincis operations that it bought for £1.6 billion in 2014.

Babcock said it plans to exit from smaller and low-margin businesses including Appledore shipyard to restructure its oil and gas business.

easyJet Plc jumped 2.7% to 1,193 pence ahead of the U.K.-based low-cost airline services provider’s scheduled release of its annual financial results on November 20.

In a trading update in September, the airliner narrowed profit forecast to between £570 million and £580 million from the earlier estimate of £550 million to £590 million and passenger numbers to jump 5.4% to 84.6 million and total revenue per seat to soar 6.5%.

Eutelsat S.A, the France-based satellite operator and the Netherlands-based Airbus SE signed a multi-million pound deal to build two HOTBIRD new generation telecommunication satellites to replace the current spacecraft and launch into service in 2022, serving Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Eutelsat Communications said that the procurement is fully covered by its existing capital expenditure budget.

Ineos, the privately owned chemicals and energy producer said it is in exclusive talk to buy North Sea oil and gas fields from the U.S.-based ConocoPhillips worth about $3 billion.