European shares slip back, Novozymes slumps

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - European shares retreated on Thursday, with some weak corporate results hitting the shares of enzyme company Novozymes (Other OTC: NVZMF - news) and Deutsche Post (Other OTC: DPSGY - news) .

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen 1.3 percent in the previous session, fell back 0.4 percent while the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index declined by 0.2 percent.

Novozymes slid 9.2 percent after the company reported second quarter earnings below expectations, while Deutsche Post's shares also fell after the German company cut its 2015 profit outlook.

However, there were some better results elsewhere, with Belgian financial company KBC rising 3.5 percent after it posted higher profits.

According to data from Thomson Reuters StarMine, 59 percent of companies on the European STOXX 600 index have beaten or met market expectations with results this quarter. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alistair Smout)