Pan European Weekly News

Week ended 4 May 2012

Basic Resources: In quarterly earnings news, lower oil output dragged down BP’s profits, but its new exploration projects and divestment programme appear to be progressing well. BG Group’s major projects are also moving smoothly; it reported solid results that were driven primarily by its LNG business. AMEC won a contract from BP to provide engineering services for its deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Consumer Goods: Imperial Tobacco reported healthy half-year profits that were driven by robust performances from its key brands.

Industrials: Chemring’s trading update highlighted new contract wins, notably from the US army; Rolls Royce announced that trading since the start of the year was in line with expectations; the company expects good underlying growth with cashflow around breakeven. Atlas Copco reported healthy first-quarter results, helped by strong demand from the mining and automotive industries. Weir launched five new products, in keeping with its strategy of being an innovative supplier to the upstream oil and gas markets.

Real Estate: Development Securities’ full-year results showed steady progress being made in several of its projects despite the difficult market backdrop.

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