LONDON, July 31 - European blue-chip share prices stayed steady in midmorning trade on Thursday as investors absorbed the latest round of corporate results and sold shares in German drug maker Schering after a profit warning. But British chemicals firm Imperial Chemical Industries soared 14 percent after beating market expectations for its first half profit and saying it planned to cut a further 1,400 jobs to reduce costs. "On the whole there have been more positives than negatives in the earnings but it is still all about reducing costs," one London-based trader said. "There are plenty of companies missing sales expectations but coming out ahead at the bottom-line by reducing costs. That's fine for this quarter but you can't keep trimming fat forever." A lack of top-line growth at BT worried some analysts and sent the stock down 3.4 percent despite a rise in the former state-owned telecommunications company's first-quarter profit. By 0900 GMT, the DJ European Stoxx 50 index was flat at 2,484 points while the broader pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300 was 0.6 percent weaker at 873 points. Around Europe, Paris and London's held steady, Frankfurt dipped 0.2 percent, while the Swiss blue chip index was down 0.2 percent.
MIXED REPORTS
Drugmaker Schering's stock slumped seven percent after it said it expected 2003 earnings to come in below last year's level due to the appreciation of the euro, but that explanation failed to placate some analysts. "What I cannot understand is the downgrade in the outlook for the full year as there's no dramatic difference between the exchange rate now and when they issued their earlier outlook," said Merrill Lynch analyst Andreas Schmidt. On the upside, shares in BNP Paribas rose 1.7 percent after the Paris-based bank, the eurozone's largest by market value, posted a 10.4 percent drop in quarterly profit. BNP made fewer investment sales but it beat forecasts on a surge at its investment bank and said it would buy back stock. Among other banks, Germany's Deutsche Bank eased 2.6 percent after it missed analysts forecasts for second quarter results, despite the group posting a profit after three straight quarterly losses. Dutch trading company Hagemeyer was another to disappoint the market after posting a bigger than expected first-half loss, pushing its shares down almost 10 percent. Swiss engineering firm ABB continued to power ahead, driven by a steady stream of upbeat analyst assessments. The stock was up 8.5 percent, taking gains to the week to more than 30 percent. Buyers also pushed up the share price of Britain's largest insurer Aviva , the stock rallying 3.8 percent after a stronger than expected profit and increased dividend. And among the smaller cap stocks, Finnish chemicals and food group Raisio also slumped after it warned 2003 would be in the red instead of an earlier anticipated profit. Its shares were down 8.5 percent.