European blue chips edged towards 18-month highs on Thursday morning as the market digested a feast of upbeat results from such marquee names as financial conglomerate Royal Bank of Scotland and drinks giant Diageo . Other firms reporting results above expectations included Swiss-based Zurich Financial and the global leader in diversified mining, BHP Billiton . "On balance the results this morning have been solid, reinforcing the view that corporate profitability is improving as companies cut costs," said Nigel Cobby, a managing director of European Equities at JP Morgan. The world's largest steel maker Arcelor reported pleasing results after the market close on Thursday, reducing its debt by more than double its target. By 0813 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index <.FTEU3> was up 0.27 percent at 1,006.6 points, just below the 18-month high of 1,007 hit on Thursday.
ROYAL BANK PLEASES
Royal Bank of Scotland was the region's top blue-chip gainer, up 1.7 percent, after Britain's second-biggest bank reported annual profit up 29 percent on Thursday, at the top of expectations, on the back of strong revenue growth. Total fell 0.5 percent after a weaker dollar weighed on the world No. 4 oil firm's results. ING dropped 1.3 percent after the Dutch bancassurer reported embedded value, or ING's overall value, and new life insurance business both fell last year and gave no indication of when it aimed to return to a pure cash dividend. Zurich Financial climbed 3.8 percent after the Swiss-based insurer said it swung to net profit of $2.1 billion in 2003 after completing a divestment and streamlining push, raising its payout to investors to 2.50 Swiss francs. Arcelor was 1.8 percent higher after the world's largest steel maker topped analysts' estimates for 2003 underlying earnings and reduced debt by more than double its target as it prepares to resume growth by acquisition. BHP Billiton added two percent after the miner said its second-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by surging sales in China and rising metals prices.
Leading drinks group was 0.8 percent stronger after it posted a rise in first-half sales of its key spirits and said it expected a similar picture in the second half, despite uneven economic recovery in Europe.//www.reuters.com