By Mike Gavin
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- German stocks advanced for the first time in four days after results from Henkel AG and Deutsche Boerse AG eased concern the recession will erode profits.
Henkel, the maker of Persil detergent, jumped 6.7 percent as fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates. Deutsche Boerse added 5.7 percent after the operator of the Frankfurt bourse said 2009 costs will be lower than anticipated. Deutsche Bank AG rose 9.1 percent as speculation the U.S. government may not have to take control of America’s biggest banks lifted financial shares.
The benchmarkDAX Index gained 0.6 percent to 3,920.35 as of 2:14 p.m. in Frankfurt, rebounding from the lowest level since October 2004. DAX futures expiring in March advanced 0.3 percent. The broader HDAX Index increased 0.5 percent.
“Henkel was a surprising exception,” said Philipp Musil, Vienna-based head of equities at Constantia Privatbank AG. “It’s good to see some companies delivering good figures, but this is more the exception than the reality.”
The DAX Index has fallen 18 percent this year on concern companies may not be able to weather the crisis that pushed Europe, the U.S. and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II. A report today showed German exports slumped in the fourth quarter, causing Europe’s largest economy to contract the most in 22 years.
Henkel gained 6.7 percent to 19.04 euros. Profit, excluding proceeds from a unit sale, rose to 249 million euros ($319 million) from 247 million euros a year earlier, the company said. The result had been expected to fall to 197 million euros, according to the average estimate of five analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Henkel’s sales rose 11 percent to 3.54 billion euros.
Deutsche Boerse
Deutsche Boerse climbed 5.7 percent to 38.01 euros. The company said expenses will be no higher than the 1.28 billion euros it spent last year after earlier predicting an increase of about 5 percent. Fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates.
Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest, surged 9.1 percent to 19.80 euros, while Commerzbank AG added 2.7 percent to 2.89 euros. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers yesterday the government would use supervision instead of shareholder control to guide major banks, and warned against dismantling their franchises.
E.ON AG, the country’s largest utility, dropped 2.2 percent to 21.16 euros and RWE AG slipped 0.8 percent to 53.44 euros. German electricity for next-day delivery dropped to its lowest price this year as forecasts showed growing wind-energy capacity could boost supplies in Europe’s biggest power market.
The following stocks also rose or fell in German markets. Symbols are in parentheses.
Fresenius Medical Care AG (FME GY) declined 2.5 percent to 33.73 euros. Finance chief Lawrence Rosen is the favored candidate to succeed John Allan as chief financial officer at Deutsche Post AG, Handelsblatt reported, citing unidentified people close to the situation. Deutsche Post (DPW GY) dropped 1.5 percent to 8.42 euros.
H&R Wasag AG (WAS GY) added 2.3 percent to 8.18 euros after Commerzbank raised its recommendation on shares of the specialty chemicals maker to “hold” from “reduce.”
MLP AG (MLP GY) climbed 2.4 percent to 6.54 euros, snapping a six-day decline. Germany’s third-biggest financial-services broker was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” at Equinet AG.
Q-Cells SE (QCE GY) slipped 6.3 percent to 13.55 euros. Commerzbank lowered its share-price estimate 12 percent to 15 euros after Germany’s largest solar company reported earnings yesterday. Solon SE (SOO1 GY), a solar-power company, fell 6 percent to 7.75 euros as UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking cut its price projection on the shares 50 percent to 7.50 euros.
Roth & Rau AG (R8R GY) increased 5 percent to 11.69 euros. The world’s largest maker of equipment used to coat solar panels said it exceeded sales and earnings targets for the 2008 financial year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Gavin in Frankfurt at mgavin2@bloomberg.net
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