** EU WRAP **
February 27th, 2006| ** EUROPEAN MARKETS ** | ||||||
| S&P future 0,12%; Bund future -0,11%; Crude future 62,07; €/$ 1,1849; Gold 556,65 | ||||||
** HEADLINES **
- National Grid to Buy KeySpan for $7.3 Billion, Doubling Its U.S. Customers
- Suez, Gaz de France to Merge, Form Company With $76 Billion Annual Sales
- Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom May Say Earnings Rose on Wireless Purchases
- BMW, Audi Lure Europe’s Aging Drivers With Infrared Beams, Radio Signals
- BASF’s Hambrecht Seeks to Steady Earnings Growth With Two Acquisitions
- Solar Power, Mining, Oil Companies Have Fastest Share Gains So Far in 2006
** IN PLAY TODAY **
- Earings of note: Air Liquide, TNT, Pearson
- Degussa will conclude a deal to sell its construction chemicals
unit to BASF AG within 10 days, agreeing on a price of about 2.8 billion euros.
- Endesa SA told investors that further takeover bids to those already made by
Gas Natural SDG SA and E.ON AG are possible.
- Gaz de France SA and Suez SA said on Feb. 25 they plan to merge in a combination that
will create the world’s second-biggest power and gas supplier.The stock merger is taking place on a 1-for-1 basis.
- Air Liquide SA, the world’s largest maker of industrial gases, said that full-year profit rose 20
percent, helped by increasing demand for hydrogen. Net income climbed to 933 million euros, or
8.66 euros a share, from 780 million euros, or 7.23 euros a share, a year earlier Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg forecast earnings of 936 million euros.
- Vodafone Group Plc cut its growth forecast and said it plans to take a goodwill charge of as much as 28 billion pounds ($49 billion), mostly to reflect the lower value of its German unit. The company expects to report “an impairment of the group’s goodwill in the range of 23 billion pounds to 28 billion
pounds in respect of reductions in the aggregate goodwill for Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Italy and, potentially, Vodafone Japan”. Overall proportionate mobile revenue growth, on an organic
basis, will be in the range of 5 percent to 6.5 percent for the year ending March 2007, the company forecast today. The lower growth rate compared with the current financial year reflects “the increasingly intense competitive environment, continuing regulatory reductions in termination rates and the one-off beneficial impact in the year ending 31 March 2006 of the introduction of mobile to mobile termination rates in France”.
- TNT NV said fourth-quarter profit fell 48 percent after a 102 million-euro charge at the
unprofitable French unit that TNT finished selling this month. Net income dropped to 108 million euros, or 23.8 cents a share, from 209 million euros, or 44.1 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.2 percent to 2.78 billion euros from 2.69 billion euros. The company restated sales figures to remove discontinued operations. TNT said in January it would book a pretax charge of as much as 140 million
euros, mostly in 2005, because of divestments and a reorganization in France. Net income was less than the 164 million-euro median analyst estimate.
- Pearson Plc Monday posted full-year pretax profit of GBP466 million compared with GBP325 million the previous year. Sales were GBP4.10bn compared with GBP3.70bn. The company said: “We expect 2006 to be another good year for Pearson as we continue to increase margins and grow ahead of our markets. We expect to achieve strong underlying earnings growth, good cash generation and a further
significant improvement in return on invested capital.” The results came in above the median consensus.