Unibet surges as European stocks edge up off 2-year lows

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - European shares rebounded back up on Wednesday from two-year lows reached in the previous session, helped by some solid corporate earnings and signs of corporate takeover activity.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had fallen 1.6 percent to its lowest point since September 2013 in the previous session, recovered slightly to rise 0.4 percent.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index gained 0.5 percent, while Britain's FTSE 100 (NasdaqGS: Z - news) advanced 0.6 percent.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in gambling group Unibet surged 12.6 percent after the company's fourth quarter underlying profit rose more than expected.

Norwegian mobile software company Opera also jumped 41.2 percent after a group of Chinese firms made a cash offer for the company, valuing it at 10.5 billion crowns, or $1.23 billion.

However, shares in Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk slumped 9 percent after the company reported a fourth-quarter net loss after booking impairments of $2.6 billion on its oil assets.

According to Thomson Reuters StarMine data, roughly half of the companies in the pan-European STOXX 600 index have reported fourth quarter results, and 52 percent have beaten or met expectations while 48 percent have missed. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Atul Prakash)