European Stock Futures Fall; Lufthansa, Carnival May Decline

By Adria Cimino

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- European stock-index futures declined as higher oil prices hurt the profit outlook for airlines, travel companies and carmakers.

Lufthansa AG, Europe's second-biggest airline, Carnival Plc and Daimler AG may follow their U.S.-traded securities lower as oil rose for a third day. Baloise Holding AG, Switzerland's third-biggest insurer, may be active after profit missed analysts' estimates. Taylor Wimpey Plc, the U.K.'s largest homebuilder, may slip after booking a first-half loss of $2.62 billion and saying it's still in talks with lenders to avoid breaching loan agreements.

Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, slipped 11, or 0.3 percent, to 3,299 at 7:29 a.m. in London. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index may open unchanged, according to Cantor Index, a betting firm.

``European equities are looking at a broadly unchanged to slightly softer start to the session,'' Matthew Buckland, a trader at CMC Markets in London, wrote in a note to clients. ``Oil prices remain high with the threat that hurricane Gustav could impact production.''

U.S. stocks advanced yesterday, rebounding from the biggest drop in a month, as higher oil prices boosted energy shares and analysts said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have enough capital to last the year. Asian stocks gained today.

The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which provides cover for U.S. bank deposits, may have to tap Treasury Department funds to carry it through an anticipated wave of bank failures, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing chairman Sheila Bair. Bair told the Journal the borrowing wouldn't be to cover any FDIC losses, instead it would provide short-term liquidity to cover bank failures.

Lufthansa, Carnival

American depositary receipts of Lufthansa lost 0.9 percent from the stock's close in Germany. ADRs of Carnival, the world's largest cruise-line company, retreated 0.4 percent from the share's close in the U.K. Daimler, the world's second-biggest maker of luxury cars, ended 0.5 percent lower.

Crude oil rose in New York as meteorologists forecast that Tropical Storm Gustav will enter the Gulf of Mexico, home to more than a fifth of U.S. oil production. The contract for October delivery rose as much as 0.7 percent to $117.12 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil gained 1 percent to $116.27 yesterday.

Baloise reported a 42 percent drop in first-half profit to 268.2 million Swiss francs ($244.9 million) after income from its life business and investments fell. That missed analysts' estimates.

Taylor Wimpey

Taylor Wimpey booked a first-half loss of 1.42 billion pounds ($2.62 billion) after writing down the value of land and said it's still in talks with lenders to avoid breaching loan agreements.

Taylor Nelson Sofres Plc may be active after Manager Magazin reported GfK AG, Germany's biggest market research company, withdrew from the bidding for the company.

GfK withdrew after Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, the company it was planning to make a combined takeover bid with, wanted various controlling rights over Taylor Nelson, the magazine said in an article on its Web site, without saying where it got the information.

Fortis might gain after Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China's second-largest insurer, bought shares in the company. Ping An paid 10 euros for each share of Fortis in a June share sale by Belgium's biggest financial-services company, spokesman Sheng Ruisheng said.

``Ping An's investment in Fortis is a long-term one,'' Sheng said on a Web cast today. ``Although its share price has fallen a lot this year due to various factors, we're still confident in its future development.''

Heineken, Allianz

Heineken NV, the biggest Dutch brewer, may be active after first-half profit jumped 35 percent to 407 million euros after the purchase of Britain's Scottish & Newcastle Plc.

The brewer in total had 134 million euros of one-time costs, including 59 million euros of reorganization expenses in France. Excluding the one-time costs, analysts had estimated first-half profit of 540 million euros, according to the median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Allianz SE, Europe's largest insurer, may decide this week whether to sell Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank AG or China Development Bank, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Spokesmen at Commerzbank, Dresdner and Allianz declined to comment. China Development Bank spokesman Xu Fei didn't answer a call to his mobile phone.

Scor, Antofagasta

Scor SE, France's biggest reinsurer, said first-half net income rose 24 percent to 225 million euros, surpassing analysts' estimates, as it used deferred tax assets to offset costs related to the acquisition of Switzerland's Converium Holding AG.

Antofagasta Plc, the copper producer controlled by Chile's Luksic family, said first-half profit rose 8.8 percent to $792.8 million after output advanced and prices increased.

CNP Assurances SA, France's largest life insurer, said first-half net income rose 1.1 percent to 574 million euros. The company reiterated its forecast for 2008 current net income to rise at least 10 percent.

National Grid Plc, the manager of Britain's power- transmission network, had its recommendation cut to ``equal weight'' from ``overweight'' at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Seadrill Ltd., the Norwegian oil-rig company set up by billionaire John Fredriksen, was upgraded to ``buy'' from ``hold'' at RBS.

Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co., the world's two biggest makers of mobile phones, gained market share in the second quarter as global handset sales rose 12 percent, Gartner Inc. said.

Nokia raised its market share by unit sales to 39.5 percent from 36.7 percent a year earlier, the market research company said. Samsung increased its share to 15.2 percent from 13.3 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.