EARNINGS AND THE ECONOMY-CEOs give mixed 2009 outlooks
LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Company executives in Europe and Asia gave mixed outlooks for 2009 when reporting earnings on Tuesday.
Following is a compilation of their comments:
"Our positive scenario -- group sales and earnings on the same level as in 2008 -- has become less likely in the light of the further deterioration of the economic outlook," said Wolfgang Reitzle, CEO of German industrial gases maker Linde (LING.DE).
"The second half should be noticeably better for us, overall," Herbert Ortner, chief executive at Austrian crane maker Palfinger (PALF.VI) told Reuters.
"We expect demand for our products to remain weak and we will therefore continue to curtail production to match supply with demand," said Ralph Boettger, chief executive of Sappi (SAPJ.J), the world's biggest maker of fine paper.
"We have become a bit more cautious because we see the capital markets more pessimistically than before," said Roland Vogel, chief financial officer of German reinsurer Hannover Re (HNRGn.DE).
"It's harder to get new customers than it was," Neil Berkett, chief executive of Virgin Media Inc (VMED.O), told Reuters. "Because there's less people entering the market, but we've got a stronger product set than we ever had."
"While expected, given seasonality and tough market conditions, we are not pleased with the operating loss incurred in the first quarter," the CEO of French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA), Ben Verwaayen, said. "Our guidance for the year remains unchanged and we are taking appropriate actions."
"Despite earlier apprehension that our core businesses would already be negatively impacted by the global recession, we are pleased by our strong performance in the first quarter; activations for the period were the highest in recent history and revenues continue to grow," Napoleon Nazareno, CEO of Philippines-based telecom PLDT (TEL.PS) said.
(Compiled by Simon Jessop; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
