Continental, Philips, Fortis, EADS: European Equity Preview

By Nadja Brandt

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in European trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 fell 2.7 percent to 270.36. The Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index dropped 2.7 percent to 2,756.09. The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the nations using the euro, decreased 2.6 percent to 3,197.78.

BP Plc (BP/ LN): Europe's second-largest oil company failed to reach an agreement with its Russian partners over the management of their Moscow-based TNK-BP venture at a meeting in Cyprus, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The stock declined 1.5 pence, or 0.3 percent, to 538.75.

Continental AG (CON GY): Schaeffler Group, a closely held German car-parts maker, held talks with Continental about taking the company private and may spin off Continental's tire business to help finance the transaction, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said, citing unidentified people.

Hannes Boekhoff, a spokesman for Hanover, Germany-based Continental, and Detlef Sieverdingbeck, a spokesman for Herzogenaurach, Germany-based Schaeffler Group, both said their companies don't comment on speculation.

The shares slumped 4.44 euros, or 7.6 percent, to 53.96 euros.

E.ON AG (EOA GY): Shares of the world's largest utility by sales, RWE AG (RWE GY) and Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (EBK GY) may move after Chancellor Angela Merkel told Bild am Sonntag she will stand up for prolonging the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants beyond their scheduled permanent shutdown.

E.ON shares retreated 2.38 euros, or 1.9 percent, to 122.39 euros. Shares of RWE, Germany's second-largest utility, slipped 1.02 euros or 1.3 percent to 77.81 euros.

European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EAD FP): The company's Airbus unit, the world's biggest maker of commercial jets, may announce about $60 billion of orders at this week's Farnborough air show, Le Figaro said, without citing anyone.

EADS separately said as much as one third of its order book is at risk of deferral or cancellation as spiraling oil prices wipe out airline earnings.

Airbus's revenue is also being hurt by the weakness of the dollar, the denomination for plane sales, and the U.S. currency may also scupper its plans to sell a U.K. factory to bring to down costs, EADS Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois said.

Shares of EADS fell 1.29 euros, or 11 percent, to 10.74 euros.

Fortis (FORB BB): Belgium's biggest financial-services company ousted Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Votron after the 24 billion-euro ($38 billion) purchase of ABN Amro Holding NV depleted capital and forced him to cancel a dividend. Fortis lost 41 cents, or 4.2 percent, to 9.45 euros.

ITV Plc (ITV LN): The U.K.'s biggest commercial broadcaster has talked to strategic investors who want to buy British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc's 18 percent stake, the Observer reported, without saying where it got the information.

BSkyB will be told soon whether it has won an appeal against a ruling by the Competition Commission that it must reduce its stake in ITV to at least 7.5 percent, the newspaper reported. The stock declined 1.8 pence, or 4.5 pence, to 38.3.

Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA NA): Europe's largest consumer-electronics maker plans to report second-quarter results. The company may say profit plunged as U.S. television prices fell and after selling a semiconductor stake a year earlier, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The shares fell 1.23 euros, or 6 percent, to 19.42 euros.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at nbrandt@bloomberg.net