LONDON/FRANKFURT: From advertising and luxury goods to cars and heavy engineering, European industry is retrenching and abandoning its already modest growth targets, a worrying sign for investors who bought into the summer stock market rally.
…
Top German grocer Metro turned in a 35 percent plunge in profits and warned of worse to come, and even luxury clothing group Gucci’s previously insatiable Chinese customers are curbing their appetites. “We’re seeing evidence of a weak economy all around us,” Royal Dutch/Shell’s Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry told reporters.
…
Thomson Reuters Starmine data shows that out of the 53 percent of leading European companies outside the energy sector that have reported earnings so far, 44 percent undershot forecast profits. More worryingly, as an indicator of future earnings growth and the robustness of demand, 53 percent missed expectations for revenue.
Full article: Corporate Europe in pain as Q3 warnings pour in (The Peninsula)
Global Geopolitics 