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Earnings Season: Unilever and SAP disappoint as all eyes on Europe

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Disappointing news for Unilever as its revenue fell 2.7% year-on-year. The company has highlighted its European exposure as one reason why results have been dragged down. Company growth slowed to 2.1% in the 4th quarter of 2014.
Saxo's Peter Garnry says there was some better news in some emerging markets although China and Thailand were worse than expected. Garnry says the most disappointing part was that the outlook for 2015 was 'dim'.

Meanwhile German software provider SAP reported better than expected Q4 results. But the company reduced its profit target and shares have fallen in early trading. Garnry says SAP is trying to navigate from its so-called 'on-premise' software to the cloud which is stretching out the cash flow. That's despite the cloud business being up 45% year-on-year, jumping 72% in Q4.

In terms of European equities in general, Garnry says all eyes are on the ECB meeting this Thursday. If QE is launched, it could be very positive. However, he warns that earnings expectations are flat in Europe with structural issues across the continent. He says like the US, expectations will fuel gains rather than hard data.