Europe open: Shares higher as Eventim, Richemont cheer investors

by | May 21, 2021

European shares were higher at the opening on Friday, led by Swiss luxury goods maker Richemont after the company said it planned to double its dividend.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.3% in early trading, with UK stocks struggling despite a much bigger than expected jump in UK retail sales.

Figures released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales surged in April as non-essential stores reopened.

Retail sales jumped 9.2% on the month following a 5.1% increase in March and versus expectations for a 4.5% rise. The largest contribution came from non-food stores, with sales at clothing stores up 69.4%.

Compared with April 2020 – during the first national lockdown – retail sales were up 42.4%, exceeding expectations for growth of 36.8%.

Sales volumes are now 10.6% higher than in February 2020, before the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Investors were also waiting on the latest flash purchasing managers indices for May, from France, Germany, the UK and the US.

In equity news, shares in German concert promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim topped the Stoxx as it reaffirmed its view that the European live events market will restart in 2021 as more people were vaccinated against Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Cartier maker Richemont gained 4.6% as its net profit rose by a third in fiscal year 2020/21 and it proposed to double its dividend.

German car manufacturer BMW was also higher after the company said it would have to set aside 1bn less than initially feared, for expected European antitrust fines for alleged collusion with rivals.

Lufthansa AG fell 5.5% as the Thiele family, the second-largest shareholder in the German airlines, sold more than half of its stake.

Trainline lost further ground after Thursday’s slump on news the UK government was planning to launch its own online rail ticketing service.

B&Q owner Kingfisher was in the red, having rallied a day earlier on the back of its first-quarter update.

(Michele Maatouk also contributed to this report)

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