Airbus shares skyrocket, stocks in Europe recover

A recovery rally in European stocks gathered pace for a second day on Thursday after investors brushed off a spike in U.S. inflation, turning their focus back to strong company earnings from heavy hitters including Europe’s largest aerospace firm, Airbus.

Airbus shares were up 8.1 percent at 91 euros in early session trading, close to their earlier record high of 94 euros reached last month. The stock was also the top performer on France’s benchmark CAC-40 index. Company however booked a new 1.3 billion euro charge on its A400M military plane.

Airbus took a new 1.3 billion euro ($1.62 billion) hit on its A400M military transport plane, but also posted adjusted 2017 operating profit of 4.253 billion euros on revenues of 66.767 billion euros and predicted a 20 percent rise in the widely watched core profit item. Airbus reported strong 2017 numbers for adjusted EBIT, net income and free cash flow which were clearly ahead of our estimates.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.5 per cent by 0824 GMT, hitting its highest level in a week. The main European stock index was still down 6.5 per cent from its 2 1/2-year peak hit as recently as January 23rd. Earnings took center stage once more, with strong results driving the top gainers, with already mentioned Airbus, and Ipsen, Aegon, and Schneider Electric (PA:SCHN) following.

Source:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbus-results-stocks/airbus-shares-rise-as-higher-profits-cash-flow-offset-impact-of-new-a400m-charge-idUSKCN1FZ0RM

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43069630

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/airbus-takes-1-3bn-charge-on-a400m-jet-as-profits-rise-57lgb6cgl

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/markets/european-shares-build-on-recovery-rally-airbus-shines-1.3393187

https://www.ft.com/content/17258d16-1229-11e8-8cb6-b9ccc4c4dbbb

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/european-shares-build-on-recovery-rally-airbus-shines-1251033