European Business News (EBN), 96-10-31

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Page last updated October 31 1150 CET

CONTENTS

[01] French unemployment rises 0.9%

[02] Royal Dutch Shell posts eight percent rise in third quarter profits

[03] Dresdner Bank show 30% increase in nine-month profit

[04] Stakis buys Lonhro hotels

[05] UK's Body Shop first-half profit up 30%

[06] Pilkington six month profits fall 28% to 75 million pounds

[01] French unemployment rises 0.9%

The French National Employment Agency (ANPE) said those out of work rose by 27,700, or 0.9%, to 3,112,800 in September from August.

The unemployment rate worsened to 12.6%, rising 0.1 percentage point from a recalculated 12.5% in August, putting it even with its worst levels during the recession.

The data showed that the latest rise in unemployed affected all categories, with the biggest rise affecting men under the age of 25.

[02] Royal Dutch Shell posts eight percent rise in third quarter profits

Meanwhile in a separate development Shell China Ltd., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, signed a contract Thursday for oil exploration in the South China Sea with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), the official news service Xinhua reported. The 800 square-kilometer contracted area, Block 15-23, lies in the Pearl River Basin, about 100 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Shell will bear all costs and risks for exploratory work carried out in the zone, the report said. Shell has been conducting oil exploration operations in China since 1979 and signed earlier contracts with CNOOC for exploration in the South China and Bohai Seas, the report said. The contract is state-owned CNOOC's 121st signed with a foreign company.

[03] Dresdner Bank show 30% increase in nine-month profit

In the first nine months of 1996 operating profit after risk provisions rose 30% to 1.89 billion Deutsche marks compared to 1.46 biliion for last year. As expected, that was slower than the 44% first-half increase. The bank was also confident of achieving strong rading income in the fourth quarter, although income dropped in the first nine months. The bank expects the fourth quarter trading income to be ariound 200 million marks ($132.3 million).

[04] Stakis buys Lonhro hotels

Stakis said it expects profit for the year ended Sept. 30 to be not less than 30.6 million pounds before tax and exceptional items. That compares with 25.8 million pounds in post-exceptional pretax profit in the prior year. Stakis, which has been a front-runner to buy Lonrho's Metropole chain since rival Millennium & Copthorne Hotels withdrew from the race this month, said its year profit before tax and exceptionals would be not less than £30.6 million. The group, which has 46 hotels in Britian, forecast a final dividend of 1.2 pence per share, giving a total payout of 2.15 pence for the full year -- 23 percent more than last year. Lonrho, which shelved plans to float its hotels portfolio after receiving interest from potential buyers, said in a separate statement that the disposal would generate net proceeds of 316 million pounds in addition to payments of 63 million pounds in dividends and tax relief by the Metropole Hotels.

'The proposed sale of Metropole Hotels represents an important step in the separation of Lonrho's mining and non-mining assets...,' said Lonrho chairman John Leahy, adding that the board was making progress with the next steps of the separation process.

[05] UK's Body Shop first-half profit up 30%

The company also continued to increase it dividend, raising the interim payout to 1.5 pence from 1.08 pence in the first half last year.

In past years, Body Shop had suffered negative sentiment due to what was seen as a miserly dividend policy. The latest increase follows from a 55% boost in 1995's final dividend.

For the 26 weeks ended August 31, pretax profit was 11.8 million pounds, up from 9.1 million in the previous first half.

[06] Pilkington six month profits fall 28% to 75 million pounds

In a statement, Pilkington's Chairman Sir Nigel Rudd said prices and volumes strengthened toward the end of September and during October. Rudd said he expects to see an improvement in the second half of the year, due to firmer glass prices in Europe and the continuing strong performance of Pilkington's businesses outside Europe. 'The group's underlying strategy will continue to emphasize new product development, increased downstream processing, cost reduction and cash generation, clearly concentrating on the need to protect and improve returns,' said Rudd.

Pilkington's first-half results were distorted slightly by exceptional provisions based on the group's withdrawal from vision care, Rudd said. 'Shortly after the half-year end, the group completed the sale of the Barnes-Hind contact lens business,' Rudd said. 'Conditions imposed by U.S. regulators necessitated renegotiation of the sale and this, coupled with the resultant delay, led to an eventual loss on sale of seven million pounds, which has been included as an exceptional item in the interim figures.'

Analysts had been expecting Pilkington to report a first-half profit of 77 million pounds, with an unchanged dividend. The group issued a profit warning in July, warning that the figures would be below those achieved last year. Goldman Sachs Equity Securities (U.K.)'s building materials analyst Mike Betts said the rise in European glass prices is 'definitely' good news for Pilkington's share price. He said the rise wasn't a surprise, given that rival European glassmakers are also talking about the same thing.

Betts said the 'million-dollar question' is whether or not the rise will hold. 'I think that some of it will hold in the short term,' he said, adding that new factories being launched by rival glassmakers could threaten the stability of the price rise when they come onstream in 1997. In an interview with AP-Dow Jones, Pilkington's Chief Executive Roger Leverton said the group has seen European glass volumes increase steadily over the last three months. 'Volumes are equivalent to or better than last year,' said Leverton, adding that this will help underpin volumes. 'If there's a normal winter in Europe, we are hopeful that the second half will show an improvement over the first half,' said Leverton.

Rival companies Saint Gobain of France and Guardian of the U.S. are both building major float factories in continental Europe, which could threaten Pilkington's margins in the second half, Betts said. However, Leverton said Saint Gobain's plant in Poland won't come onstream until around March or April. Leverton said there are plenty of growth opportunities in Poland, making the plant less of a threat. 'Our Polish float plant is already working at full capacity,'he said. Guardian's plant in east Germany will come onstream at the end of the year. But, Leverton said it will replace another European plant undergoing repairs and will be used to ship glass to the U.S. 'In the U.S., capacity is barely able to keep up with demand,' said Pilkington's Chief Executive Leverton.

Indeed, Leverton said the group's businesses outside Europe generally 'look rosy,' especially in the Americas. 'There's good growth in South America,' he said. In the first half, Europe provided 59% of Pilkington's sales, while North America provided 26%. 'The results hide a good performance around the world, outside central Europe,' said Leverton. In order to improve its performance in its major market, Pilkington is currently restructuring its German operations. 'We believe we will see further improvements in Germany,' said Leverton, adding that the group is successfully cutting costs.

On the automotive side, Pilkington bought the remaining 50% stake in SIV in October 1995, funded by a 303 million pounds rights issue. SIV - which has a presence in the Italian and Spanish markets - supplies the automotive industry in Europe and is a leading flat and safety glass producer in Italy. Leverton said he's bullish on SIV's prospects.

The market welcomed the news that European glass prices seem to be holding firm. At 0917 GMT, Pilkington's shares were trading at 173 pence, up 3.5 pence on the day, on volume of 0.60 million shares. The shares closed Wednesday's session at 169.5 pence, their lowest level in a year. After July's profit warning, Pilkington's shares fell through a support level of 190 pence. They climbed back over the summer, reaching 200 pence in August, but started falling back sharply in anticipation of the results.

From the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/

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