Traders work at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 closed up 0.68% to 9,970.40 points yesterday.
AFP
London
Europe’s main stock markets climbed yesterday, extending its winning streak to a fourth straight session, as shares of the world’s major brewers rise on a takeover battle for some brands.
The world’s biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev raised yesterday its offer for British rival SABMiller to £68bn (€92bn, $103bn), or £42.15 per share, only to be told it was still too low to achieve one of the largest ever corporate takeovers.
The deal sought by Belgian-Brazilian AB InBev would create a global “megabrewer” that would bring together internationally famous brands such as Budweiser and Stella Artois with Grolsch and Foster’s.
But the board of Britain’s SABMiller, which has already rejected two previous bids from its rival “unanimously rejected” the third offer as “substantially” too low.
A combined new group would be worth around €220bn ($250bn), and analysts think a fresh fourth offer is likely.
Jeremy Cunnington at Euromonitor International said that “AB InBev’s bid for SABMiller is the inevitable conclusion of over a decade of consolidation within the brewing industry.”
“We should not be surprised to see a slightly raised offer over the next week,” added Simon Davies of Canaccord Genuity in London in a note.
SABMiller shares in London closed up 0.30% at 3,633 pence, while AB InBev gained 0.60% to finish at €98.65 in Brussels after earlier pushing through the €100 barrier.
German shares rose despite the country’s industrial output unexpectedly slumping in August, the economy ministry said yesterday, as Europe’s top export power feels the pinch of slowing growth in China and other emerging markets.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 closed up 0.68% to 9,970.40 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 0.14% to 4,667.34 points compared with Tuesday’s close.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index finished up 0.16% to 6,336.35 points, in a market where rising heavyweight mining stocks were offset by declines in airline shares.
In foreign exchange, the euro fell to $1.1250 from $1.1271 late on Tuesday in New York.
Wall Street stocks were mixed yesterday as stronger oil prices lifted petroleum-linked shares while some company earnings disappointed.
Dow member ExxonMobil gained 0.27% near mid-day deals as US oil prices moved up toward $50 a barrel.
But Yum Brands, which owns the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains, sank 18.5% as it lowered its earnings forecast due to sluggish sales in China.
Near mid-day in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.24% higher at 16,830.58.
The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.03% to 1,980.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.10% to 4,743.56.
Back in Europe, Britain’s biggest retailer, supermarket group Tesco, said it had fallen into a net loss during its first half, partly on costs linked to an accounting scandal.
Losses after tax stood at £365mn in the six months to the end of August, compared with a net profit of £6.0mn during the corresponding period a year earlier, Tesco said in an earnings statement.
“Tesco results ... highlighted the problems that the sector as well as the group have had over the past two years,” said Graham Spooner, analyst at online trading firm The Share Centre.
“However, the retailer did beat analyst consensus expectations... in what is proving to be a challenging turnaround.”
Tesco shares soared 2.52% to close at 197 pence, reversing early losses.
