Yahoo Finance What to Watch: European banks, Ford and Renault's Brexit warning, and Airbus scraps superjumbo
Here are the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and abroad:
European banks report results
Three major European banks delivered fourth quarter trading numbers on Thursday.
Credit Suisse (CS) reported “widespread volatility and lower activity levels across the market” but said “this has improved so far this year.” The bank reported a SwFr 2bn ($2bn) net profit for 2018, its first annual profit since 2014.
Commerzbank (CBK.DE) also reported a tough fourth quarter, with underlying revenues at the end of the year more or less flat. Despite that, the German lender beat forecasts with its fourth quarter operating profits, which stood at €240m. Revenues for the year rose by 5% to €8.6bn.
Credit Agricole (ACAEW.PA) posted a net profit of €1.1bn for the fourth quarter, which marked a more than 100% improvement on the same quarter a year earlier. The strong performance came despite the lender reporting a “less favourable environment in Q4, primarily for activities related to financial markets.”
Ford and Renault warn on hard Brexit
Renault (RNO.PA) has joined Ford in warning that a hard Brexit could hit its business in 2019.
Renault said it will only be able to hit sales targets for the year ahead if the UK manages to secure a deal to leave Europe in an orderly manner, Bloomberg reported.
The warning to investors follows reports on Wednesday that Ford (F) told UK prime minister Theresa May a hard Brexit would seriously disrupt car production in the UK and risk jobs. Ford did not comment directly on the report in The Times but said in a statement that a hard Brexit would be “catastrophic.”
Renault’s Brexit comments came as it reported a 2.3% fall in revenues to €57.4m and a 6.2% fall in operating profit to €3.6m.
Airbus scraps superjumbo
Airbus (AIR.PA) has announced it will cease deliveries of its flagship A380 superjumbo passenger jet in 2021.
The firm took the decision after Emirates chose to pare back its A380 order book from 162 to 123 aircrafts, 14 of which are yet to be delivered.
Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said: “The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full year results.”
The model was conceived as a rival to Boeing’s iconic 747 plane and the first superjumbo flight took off in 2007.
AstraZeneca profits dip
Drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN.L) has reported a 17% fall in core operating profits to $5.7bn (£4.4bn) for 2018, but said performance in the final quarter confirmed a return to growth.
Total revenues rose 11% at actual exchange rates to $6.4bn (£5bn) in the three months to December 31, while core earnings lifted 23% to $2.2bn (£1.7bn).
Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said: “Closing the year with another strong quarter, our performance confirmed that AstraZeneca has returned to growth.
“Our strategy and plans remain unchanged, with sales growth and a focus on cost management anticipated to drive growing operating profit.”
Energy switching boosts Moneysupermarket.com
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY.L) reported a double-digit increase in profits due to higher sales from energy switching.
Pre-tax profit for 2018 increased by 11% to £106.9m as revenue rose 8% to £355.6m. The company said trading in the first six weeks of the new year has been “encouraging” and it expects to meet market expectations for 2019.
The company also announced that chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown will step down at the company’s annual general meeting on May 9. Carnegie-Brown, who has been chairman of the price comparison website since 2014, will be replaced by Robin Freestone. Freestone has been a non-executive director of Moneysupermarket.com since 2015 and was previously chief financial officer of Pearson.
European markets
European stock markets were in the green as “the lingering effects of the week’s trade war optimism continued to just about push Europe higher,” Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx, said.
Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was up by 0.4%, Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was up by 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) was 0.6% higher, and the Euronext 100 (^N100) was 0.5% higher.
Asian markets were weaker overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) closed down 0.02%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index (^HSI) was down by 0.2%, and China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was down by 0.05%.
What to expect in the US
US stock futures were pointing to a higher open later today. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were up by 0.2%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were up by 0.3%, and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were up by 0.4%. The VIX volatility-tracking index (^VIX) was up by 1.3%.
Companies reporting later today in the US include:
Avon Products (AVP)
Six Flags Entertainment (SIX)
Coca-Cola (KO)
CBS (CBS)
NVIDIA (NVDA)
Manchester United (MANU)
