Nov. 25, 2005 -- European markets ended little changed overall in quiet
trading, with Wall Street open for only a shortened session. Shares in food
ingredients group Tate & Lyle outperformed after it said it would introduce
measures to mitigate the impact of the European Union's new sugar regime.
Elsewhere, WPP also gained after it announced that it would not bid for Aegis.
On a weaker note, shares in eircom fell heavily on fears that talks with
Swisscom might fall through after the Swiss government said its board
representatives would block any overseas takeover by the company. U.K.
supermarket group Tesco also declined after its third quarter sales growth
slowed.
London's FTSE-100 Index rose by 12.80 points or 0.23% to 5523.80, while
Paris's CAC-40 Index climbed by 13.64 points or 0.30% to 4600.48. Frankfurt's
DAX Index crept up by 6.29 points or 0.12% to 5194.27 and Milan's S&P MIB
Index added 76 points or 0.22% to 34,436. The pan-European blue chip Dow Jones
Stoxx 50 Index ended up by 8.79 points or 0.27% to 3311.52.
* U.K. supermarket operator Tesco said third quarter group sales grew by
13.9%, with like-for-like U.K. sales growing by 7.9% and by 5.5%
excluding petrol -- although last year, sales growth excluding petrol
rose by 7.5%. Meanwhile, international sales were up by 23.3% and by 16%
at constant exchange rates, with the group saying it was on track to
open almost 150 international stores in the second half of the year.
* U.K. group Tate & Lyle said the European Union's decision to lower sugar
prices, would have a significant long-term impact on the company, but
that the decision to lower the sugar reference price by less than had
been expected meant that the financial impact would be lower than it had
previously forecast. Moreover, the company moved to mitigate this impact
through projects that would replace earnings and increase efficiency.
* Soft drinks group Britvic set a price range for its flotation of 210-250
pence, implying a market capitalisation of 451-537 million pounds and an
enterprise value of 771-857 million pounds. The company added that it
expected pricing and conditional trading to take place on 9 December.
* Shares in Aegis fell after WPP said it would not be bidding for the
company, confirming an earlier press report. WPP said it had submitted
an indicative proposal, but that it had been rejected by Aegis's board.
* Shares in eircom fell heavily after the Swiss government said it would
block all foreign takeovers by Swisscom -- which recently announced that
it was in talks with eircom -- as it deems them to be too risky. The
Swiss government -- which owns 66% of Swisscom -- said on Thursday that
it wanted to exit Swisscom as a shareholder, to allow the company
increased freedom to take on risk to achieve growth.
Olivier.Masson@Thomson.com; Thomson Financial
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Europe Market Commentary. The
information herein is believed to be true and accurate. If you have any
questions please e-mail James Sang at james.sang@tfn.com. For more information
about Thomson Financial, please visit our web site at
http://www.thomsonfinancial.com. For more financial information at your
fingertips, please visit http://www.irchannel.com.
SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
back to top
