MW: European shares in tight range as earnings eyed
BT Group, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Aegon, EdF in focus
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares traded around three-week highs on Thursday, with the broader market stuck in a tight range while BT Group and insurer Aegon were active after a slew of corporate updates.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 246.36, +0.16, +0.07%) traded up 0.1% at 246.52, building on small gains made Wednesday.
There were several companies in Europe reporting results, BT Group (UK:BT.A 147.40, +5.50, +3.87%) (BT 23.44, +0.12, +0.51%) rising 3.7% as it reported a second-quarter net profit rise of 13.2% to 428 million pounds ($710 million), helped by a tax gain, as it also lifted its outlook for revenue and cash flow.
Autos were also performing well in Europe, with PSA Peugeot Citroen (FR:UG 24.88, +1.09, +4.59%) shares up 4.9% after it raised its full year guidance.
The firm said that it now forecasts break-even recurring operating profit in the second half of 2009 and full-year cash flow will be positive. The automaker had previously forecast an operating loss of 1 billion euros for 2009.
On a regional level, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,277, +9.81, +0.19%) rose 0.3% to 5,279.69, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 5,668, +0.37, +0.01%) traded flat at 5,666.72 and the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,813, -0.94, -0.02%) declined 0.1% to 3,841.04.
Asian shares traded mostly lower on Thursday while U.S. stock futures were mildly lower.
While BT and Peugeot rose after updates, other companies were lower in Europe after updating on third-quarter progress.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (BE:ABI 31.20, -0.93, -2.88%) shares fell 1.9% after it reported third-quarter earnings reached $1.55 billion, from $690 million last year. On an organic basis, beer volume fell 3.3%.
Aegon (NL:AGN 5.29, -0.18, -3.30%) (AEG 8.13, +0.23, +2.91%) shares were down 3.3% as it said underlying pretax earnings fell 30% to 351 million euros.
Utilities were also under pressure, with EDF (FR:EDF 37.58, -0.38, -0.99%) shares down 1.3%.
The firm trimmed its 2009 outlook due to expected lower nuclear output and now expects adjusted earnings, before, interest, tax, amortization and depreciation "close to that achieved in 2008." Previously the firm had expected moderate organic EBITDA growth.
Nine-month sales rose 6.7% to 48.3 billion euros, as weaker sales in Italy were offset by strong growth in the U.K.
