Iseq slips as European investors fret over bank stress tests

The Iseq slipped 0.6 per cent, helped by falls at Fyffes and C&C related to their respective takeover stories, on an otherwise uneventful day.

European stocks fell generally, paring their biggest weekly jump of the year, after a draft communique showed 25 lenders are set to fail the European Central Bank’s euro-zone bank health check.

DUBLIN

C&C was the biggest story on the Iseq yesterday, after it emerged that the company is trying to gatecrash Greene King’s takeover of UK group the

Spirit

pub company with a potential €1 billion offer. An initial approach has already been rebuffed. Investors were sceptical on the merits of the bid, however, as

C&C

finished the day down over 10 per cent to €3.53.

Fyffes spent most of the day in positive territory until word filtered in from the US that Chiquita shareholders had voted down their proposed $1 billion merger. The stock lost as much as 9 per cent, before closing down 5.15 per cent, at 93.9 cents.

Datalex, the travel software company backed by Dermot Desmond, fell more than 5 per cent in the final hour or so. The company, traders say, is sensitive to changes in the airline industry, which was affected yesterday by fears over the effect of Ebola on world travel.

LONDON

Shire

climbed 4 per cent to 4,050 pence after reporting third-quarter revenue and profit that beat estimates. The drugmaker also said it expected 2014 earnings growth in the high 30 per cent range, from a previous forecast of low- to mid-30 per cent.

InterContinental Hotels lost 1.8 per cent to 2,219 pence. The top travel and leisure companies fell in the UK and Europe after a New York City doctor, who had returned from aid work in Africa, tested positive for Ebola, which could potentially hit transatlantic travel.

Pearson was down 2.6 per cent after saying chief financial officer Robin Freestone would step down next year, while Tesco declined 1.3 per cent after Moody's said the grocer's debt rating may be cut to junk.

EUROPE

Volvo

rallied 6.9 per cent to 83.30 kroner for the biggest gain in almost three years. The Swedish truckmaker said it would cut costs by 3.5 billion kroner by the end of 2015, in addition to the 6.5 billion kroner already planned to be saved.

Belgacom added 6.3 per cent to €29.50 after the Belgian state-controlled phone company said it expected slightly positive adjusted Ebitda for 2014, from a previous estimate of a decline of as much as 2 per cent.

It also posted third-quarter net income of €156 million, exceeding the €127 million-euro average analyst estimate.

BASF lost 3.4 per cent to €68.63 as the biggest chemical maker said it would not achieve its 2015 financial targets, calling them "ambitious."

BASF said it now expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of €10 billion to €12 billion next year, from a previous forecast of about €14 billion.

NEW YORK

Microsoft

climbed 2.5 per cent to $45.13. Revenue at the ailing

Nokia

handset business, which

Microsoft

acquired earlier this year, also topped projections, while sales of Azure cloud software and web-based versions of Office programs more than doubled.

UPS advanced 0.11 per cent to $100.59. The company said it expected shipments during December to climb 11 per cent.

FedEx this week forecast record shipments of packages between Black Friday (November 24th, the day after Thanksgiving) and Christmas Eve, up 8.8 per cent on last year, as ecommerce hits a peak.

Amazon shares lost 8.3 per cent to $287.06, the lowest since May. The online retailer forecast sales and profit for the fourth quarter that missed analysts' projections.

That puts Amazon on track to lose an estimated $40.5 million for the year, which would be the company's largest annual loss in 12 years. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg/Reuters)