Turkish central bank has independence in use of tools – governor

ANKARA, July 31 (Reuters) – Turkey’s Central Bank has independence in its use of tools to reach its inflation target and does not worry about independence when it is making decisions about that target, the bank’s governor Murat Uysal said on Wednesday.

Asked at a news conference about further potential rate cuts, Uysal said that current market pricing provides “considerable” room on rates. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Jonathan Spicer Writing by Dominic Evans)

Airbus second-quarter profits rise and beat analyst forecasts

Airbus on Wednesday posted stronger-than-expected core second-quarter earnings, led by the switch to efficient new single-aisle jets, and maintained its profit forecast for the year while warning of delivery challenges in the second half.

Europe's largest aerospace group said second-quarter adjusted operating profit rose 72% to 1.98 billion euros ($2.2 billion), led by a more-than-twofold rise at the main Airbus commercial planemaking arm. Revenues rose 23% to 18.317 billion.

Analysts were on average forecasting adjusted quarterly operating income of 1.774 billion euros on revenues of 17.824 billion, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Airbus is wrestling with industrial delays at a newly expanded plant in Hamburg, Germany, which is responsible for enhanced cabins for the in-demand A321neo, the largest version of the planemaker's best-selling single-aisle family.

Airbus said it was looking at unspecified options to increase the share of the A321neo in the wider A320neo family.

"The second half of the year in terms of deliveries and in particular free cash flow continues to be challenging," Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement.

Airbus meanwhile continues to wind down its A380 superjumbo after deciding to scrap output due to weak demand. Air France-KLM on Tuesday announced plans to retire the world's largest jetliner to concentrate on smaller models like the A350, which Airbus said was on track to break even this year.

U.K. retailer Next lifts profit, sales guidance

Next PLC (NXT.LN) said Wednesday that full-price sales rose in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 from a year earlier, and increased its profit guidance for the year.

For the 12 weeks to July 27, the clothing and home-furnishings retailer’s full-price sales increased 4%, which include online sales. Online sales alone rose 12% in the quarter compared with 11.8% in the first quarter.

Retail sales were down 4.2% in the quarter, compared with a fall of 3.6% in the first quarter of the year.

Finance interest income rose 8.3% in the period.

Next increased its full-year profit guidance by 10 million pounds ($12.2 million) to GBP725 million, which the company said is a rise of 0.3% on last year.

Full-year full-price sales are expected to rise 3.6% instead of 1.7%, the company said.

Devro HY Pre-tax Profit Rises

Devro plc (DVO.L), a manufacturer of collagen products for the food industry, reported that its profit before tax for the six months ended 30 June 2019 rose 25% to 13.6 million pounds from 10.9 million pounds last year.

Profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent was 10.8 million pounds or 6.4 pence per share, compared to 7.9 million pounds or 4.7 pence per share in the prior year.

Underlying profit before tax were up 4% to 14.9 million pounds from the prior year.

Revenue for the period declined to 119.2 million pounds from 120.2 million pounds last year.

The Board believes that Devro continues to be well placed to make good progress in 2019 and the full year outlook remains unchanged.

The Board announces a maintained interim dividend of 2.7 pence. The interim dividend will be paid on 4 October 2019 to shareholders on the register at 23 August 2019.

Chunghwa Telecom Q2 Profit Down On Weak Revenues

Taiwanese telecom services company Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (CHT) reported Wednesday that its second-quarter net income attributable to stockholders of the parent decreased 13.1 percent to NT$8.57 billion. Basic earnings per share were NT$1.10.

Income from operations fell 14.5 percent from the prior year to NT$10.30 billion. The operating margin was 20.6 percent, compared to 22.5 percent a year ago.

Chunghwa Telecom’s total revenues for the second quarter decreased 6.6 percent year-over-year to NT$50.11 billion.

Mobile communications revenue fell 11 percent to NT$22.90 billion.

Mizuho Financial Q1 Profit Edges Up; Backs FY View For Significant Profit Growth

Mizuho Financial Group (MZHOF.OB,MFG) reported Wednesday that its first-quarter net income attributable to owners of parent was 162.44 billion Japanese yen, up 0.8 percent from last year’s 161.02 billion yen.

Earnings per share were 6.40 yen, higher than 6.34 yen last year.

Ordinary profits grew 5.1 percent from last year to 219.85 billion yen.

Ordinary income was 988.83 billion yen, up 3.2 percent from 957.67 billion yen a year ago.

Looking ahead, for fiscal 2019, the company continues to expect attributable profit of 470 billion yen or 18.52 yen per share, a growth of 386.7 percent from the previous year.

Air France-KLM profit down on fuel and tax bill

(Adds A380 retirement cost)

Air France-KLM said Wednesday that net profit fell despite a better operating performance, partly due to a higher tax and fuel bill in the second quarter.

Net profit fell almost 30% to 80 million euros ($89.2 million) compared with EUR110 million for the same period the year earlier, partly due to higher income taxes, the Franco-Dutch airline said.

Revenue came in at EUR7.05 billion, up 6.4% from EUR6.63 billion a year earlier, while operating income rose to EUR400 million, up from EUR346 million. Operating income was supported by a lack of strikes, which in the same period last year cost the company an additional EUR260 million, Air France-KLM said.

Air France-KLM said that its fuel bill sharply increased to EUR1.4 billion, up EUR220 million from a year earlier, mainly due to a lower hedge gain and negative currency effect.

Looking ahead into 2019, the group expects to reduce its unit costs by 1% to 0% at constant currency rates and fuel costs, while the fuel bill should increase by EUR550 million to reach EUR5.5 billion for the full year.

The company said in a call Tuesday that the retirement of its A380 planes from Air France fleet by 2022 will cost roughly EUR400 million.