Investing.com -- Earnings season in Europe started in earnest on Tuesday with more bad news than good, as blue chips spanning health, tech, finance, transport and finance all managing to disappoint the market somehow.
Software maker SAP (DE:SAPG), Germany’s most valuable company, set the tone with a sharp slowdown in new cloud bookings in the fourth quarter. It will take a hit of up to 950 million euros this year as part of what it called a “fitness program”.
Siemens Healthineers (DE:SHLG), one of last year’s biggest European IPOs, fell 4.8% after saying the roll-out of diagnostics business Atellica is costing more than expected.
The U.K.’s Royal Mail (LON:RMG) fell over 11% after reporting a collapse in snail-mail volumes despite a 10% annual rise in parcel deliveries over the Christmas period.
Bankia (MC:BKIA) - Spain’s fourth-largest bank – swung to a loss in the fourth quarter as it hurried to get bad loans off its books. The Spanish government had to put on ice its plans to sell down its 64% stake last month, given the stock’s low valuation.
Norwegian Air Shuttle (OL:NWC) plummeted another 11% after announcing a $350 million capital increase and abandoning its short-term growth plans. Its shares have fallen nearly 30% in the last week after IAG, (LON:ICAG), the owner of British Airways and Iberia, said it wouldn’t make a bid for the struggling low-cost carrier.
Somewhat surprisingly, given all of the above, the Euro Stoxx 50 benchmark is in positive territory. At 05:30 AM ET (10:30 GMT), it was up 0.4% at 3,149.55, driven by Dutch conglomerate Philips (AS:PHG), one of few companies to beat earnings expectations, and a surprisingly strong January consumer confidence report in France. That was at odds with the ongoing negative publicity generated by the "yellow vests" protest movement.