Imported beer, including Heineken, for sale at a store in New York City on April 10, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
European equities edged lower on Wednesday, as regional investors assessed another flurry of corporate earnings.
By 9:10 a.m. in London (4:10 a.m. ET), the pan-European Stoxx 600 was around 0.2% lower, with most major bourses in negative territory. London’s FTSE 100 bucked the trend, rising 0.3% as the risk-off sentiment saw investors pivot to mining and energy stocks.
Wednesday is another busy day for corporate earnings, with TotalEnergies, Ferrari, and Essilor among those updating investors on their finances.
Reporting on its full-year earnings before the opening bell, Dutch brewer Heineken said it would cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs over the next two years. The company, which cited “challenging market conditions”, is currently in the midst of a turnaround strategy to accelerate growth by 2030. Total production volumes fell 1.2% over the course of the 2025, Heineken said, while operating profit was up 4.4% from the previous year.
It said it expects operating profit to grow in the range of 2% to 6% this year. Shares of Heineken were 4% higher in early trade.
Meanwhile, shares of French software giant Dassault Systèmes plunged 19.6% after the company’s full-year earnings report was published, putting the stock on track for its worst trading day ever.
Dassault Systemes share price
Total revenue for the year was flat at a weaker-than-expected 6.24 billion euros ($7.43 billion), and software revenue also showed little growth at 5.64 billion euros.
Elsewhere, Siemens Energy posted an earnings update for its fiscal first quarter Wednesday morning. The firm said net profit almost tripled to 746 million euros ($889 million), with data center expansion driving “robust demand” that saw orders hit a record high. The company’s Frankfurt-listed stock jumped 6%.
German lender Commerzbank also had a good year, announcing Wednesday that it achieved a record operating profit of 4.5 billion euros, driven by net commission income and a strong performance in its Polish subsidiary mBank. The bank’s net profit came in at 2.6 billion euros, exceeding its 2.5-billion-euro target. Commerzbank shares were last seen down 4.2%.
Commerzbank said that in 2026, net profit would likely be above its original target of 3.2 billion euros.
In other corporate news, German airline Lufthansa‘s shares lost 3.3% in morning dealmaking, with the firm set to be hit by staff strikes on Thursday. Pilots’ union VC (Vereinigung Cockpit) called for a 24-hour strike on Feb. 12 in both the main airline and Lufthansa’s cargo division over a pensions dispute.
Global investors will also be monitoring U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for January, which is due to be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Overnight in Asia, stocks edged higher as investors assessed weaker-than-expected Chinese inflation data. On Wall Street, stock futures made gains as investors awaited the jobs report.
