European stocks set to open lower amid Trump's tariff rejig
The German firm now expects full year adjusted profit of between 3.6 and 4.1 billion euros ($4.7 billion), reflecting a drop of as much as 23 percent.
The group also lowered is sales volume outlook for the North American market.
The stock is down 4.7% in pre market.
— Ganesh Rao
Good morning from London, and welcome to CNBC's live blog covering all the action and business news in European financial markets on Friday.
Futures data points to losses at the open for European indexes, with London's FTSE 100 expected to open 0.2% lower, France's CAC 40 unchanged, Germany's DAX down 0.6%, and Italy's FTSE MIB 0.1% lower.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index and Euro Stoxx 50 index are expected to open 0.3% and 0.5% lower, respectively.
AXA , Daimler Truck , Melrose Industries , Saint-Gobain , Euronext , IAG , Pearson and Engie are among the heavyweight regional companies reporting their results today.
— Ganesh Rao
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4 hours ago
- NBC News
CEOs globally brace for tariff turmoil with a new game plan
Trade tensions are rising, forcing top executives to rewrite the rulebook on how their companies operate, where they invest and what customers buy. In interviews with CNBC this earnings season, CEOs across industries — from aluminum and aerospace to chocolate, banking, telecoms, and energy — sent a clear message: tariffs are no longer just a political tactic. As trade rules grow more uncertain and tariffs resurface in policy discussions, business leaders say they're rethinking everything from where factories are located to how products are priced. The old 'just in time' model is giving way to something more cautious: make goods closer to the buyer, ask for exemptions where possible, and stay alert to shifting consumer habits. This earnings season has been marked by currency swings, inflation, and political uncertainty. And in that environment, tariffs are no longer background noise. They're front and center in how companies are managing risk. For many in the C-suite, the threat isn't just about short-term costs — it's about staying competitive for the long haul. Build local, think political 'We are concerned about the competitiveness of aluminum compared to other materials,' Hydro Chief Financial Officer Trond Olaf Christophersen told CNBC earlier this week. The company is already passing U.S. tariff costs onto customers. But the deeper worry is how, 'some customers in packaging are already testing steel and plastic alternatives. That's the long game we're watching.' For Christophersen, it's not just a quarterly issue — it's a warning sign. And Hydro's concern reflects a broader shift: tariffs are speeding up lasting changes in how companies do business. One of the most common responses is moving production closer to customers. Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm told CNBC the company's North American factory, opened in 2020, was a forward-looking move. 'We've had that 'Made in America' stamp for some time,' he said. The facility now helps protect the company from shifting global politics. Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson is also focused on the U.S. 'We want to fill our factory in South Carolina,' he told CNBC, noting that the company is breaking operations into more independent regions so local teams can respond quickly to new trade policies. Pharma giant AstraZeneca is also pivoting its footprint, rapidly shifting manufacturing to the U.S. and planning a $50 billion investment in local operations. 'We have lots of reasons to be here,' CEO Pascal Soriot said on the company's earnings call. For others, localization is as much about sovereignty as it is about logistics. 'We are building data centers for American hyperscalers in Europe, but also for Europeans in the U.S. It's a conscious decoupling,' Skanska CEO Anders Danielsson told CNBC. 'Sovereign tech is a real priority.' Not every company can shift where things are made. Some are relying on diplomacy. Rolls-Royce CFO Helen McCabe told CNBC the aerospace firm worked with U.K. and U.S. governments to win exemptions for key parts. 'It's not just about tariffs,' she said. 'It's about aligning our industrial footprint to minimize any friction.' That kind of behind-the-scenes outreach points to a bigger change: trade policy has become a key part of business planning. More companies are factoring in government relations and political risk when making decisions. Price hikes, policy risk and volatility Even the most proactive companies can't prepare for everything. Some are eating the higher costs. Others are raising prices — carefully. Lindt & Sprüngli, the premium chocolate maker, raised prices by 15.8% this year to offset soaring cocoa costs, driven partly by export restrictions in West Africa. 'We saw only a 4.6% decline in volume mix,' CEO Adalbert Lechner told CNBC. But he admitted that U.S. consumers are becoming more price-sensitive. Givaudan CEO Gilles Andrier shared a similar view. 'Some of our natural ingredients come from Africa and Latin America,' he told CNBC. 'So we're exposed to some tariffs there.' Even companies with local factories can't avoid all trade impacts when raw materials come from abroad. For companies tied to commodities, the trade duties are just one piece of a bigger puzzle: unpredictability. 'The tricky thing was, it was non-fundamentals-based volatility,' Shell CEO Wael Sawan told CNBC, describing recent swings in the oil market. 'This wasn't a change to physical commodity flows. This was really sort of paper-induced volatility.' That, he said, makes it harder to plan investments or manage price risk. Even in banking, where the direct impact of tariffs might seem small, the consequences are showing up. 'When you price risk now, you can't just look at credit or liquidity. You have to model policy unpredictability,' UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel told CNBC. That includes trade tensions, regulatory surprises, and election-related gridlock. This quarter makes one thing clear: policy is now a core business risk, not background noise. With elections ahead and industrial policy shifting, companies are localizing, diversifying, lobbying, and repricing faster than ever. Tariffs aren't just a cost — they're reshaping industries. When customers trade aluminum for steel or chocolate for cheaper treats, the threat isn't just margins. It's market share. So yes, leaders are building closer to home, pricing smarter, negotiating harder as they scramble to stay ahead of the next curveball.
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7 hours ago
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The Rolls-Royce share price smashed its own record this week. Is it too late to buy?
Well, it turned out that I was right about Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR). I had previously written that the already-soaring Rolls-Royce share price might go even higher if the aeronautical engineer announced it was performing well and raised its targets yet again. Hey presto, in its interim results over the past week the company did just that. The Rolls-Royce share price jumped to a new all-time high. Its rise has been staggering. Up 80% already this year, the FTSE 100 share is now 1,234% higher than five years ago. Compare that to the 55% gain in the index over that period and the scale of Rolls' achievement comes clearly into view. I have missed out on the recent gains after selling my Rolls shares a while back. Might now be the time to add them back into my portfolio? Strong business performance The share price jump did not come out of nowhere. For the first six months of the year, Rolls reported a pre-tax profit of £4.8bn. That represented a massive jump from £1.4bn for the equivalent period last year. The company's own measure is underlying pre-tax profit, which came in at £1.7bn. That was much smaller than the statutory figure, but still significantly higher than the prior year figure of £1.0bn. Either way, Rolls' profitability leapt. In the company's own words, the period saw 'significant year on year improvement across all key financial metrics'. But the Rolls-Royce share price did not leap to a new all-time high just because of strong performance to date, some of which I think was already priced in. Part of the surge reflected what I had previously identified as a possible driver for the share price – another hike to the company's performance targets. It lifted this year's underlying operating profit goal from £2.7bn-£2.9bn to £3.1bn-£3.2bn. Free cash flow for the year is now forecast to come in at £3.0bn-£3.1bn, up from £2.7bn-£2.9bn previously. This company's on fire! I must admit, I am impressed. Under its current management, Rolls-Royce has not only set challenging financial targets, it has also been able to deliver on them – and raise them. Can it keep doing so? The wind is in Rolls' sails. As its results demonstrated, civil aviation demand is high both for initial sales and servicing. Power systems demand is also high, with revenues in that division growing by a fifth year-on-year. Meanwhile, while the firm's defence division reported year-on-year revenue growth of only 1%, demand from Western governments is high and I expect that business to grow more in coming years. Still, the surging Rolls-Royce share price means the firm now commands a market capitalisation of £90bn. To me that looks high. The company's performance has transformed – but some of its underlying market dynamics have not. In the key civil aviation market, we know from experience that a sudden unexpected event like a pandemic or terrorist attack can see demand collapse overnight. I do not think that risk is reflected in the current Rolls-Royce share price so will not be investing. The post The Rolls-Royce share price smashed its own record this week. Is it too late to buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool C Ruane has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Rolls-Royce Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025
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Prediction: check out the eye-popping NatWest share price and dividend forecast
The NatWest Group (LSE: NWG) share price has had a stellar run. Given the misery inflicted on investors in the 15 years after the financial crisis, its return to form is frankly eye-popping. Shares in the FTSE 100 bank are up 43% over the last 12 months. Over five years, they've grown a fabulous 363%. Investors have pocketed dividends too, with a trailing yield of 4.13%. That figure actually underrates the generosity, since the yield has been squeezed by the share price growth. Profits, guidance and buybacks So what's driving this? NatWest has been helped by solid earnings, the sale of the government's final stake and a broadly supportive environment. Other high street banks have enjoyed a strong run too. In May, the government finally sold the last of its stake in the bank, ending one of the most expensive bailouts in UK corporate history. That's made for a clearer future. On 25 July, NatWest posted better-than-expected interim results and threw in a new £750m share buyback. Pre-tax operating profits rose 18% to £3.6bn for the half-year, comfortably ahead of expectations. The dividend was raised a mighty 58% to 9.5p. It also bumped up guidance. Return on tangible equity is now forecast to hit 16.5%, with full-year income above £16bn. That's up from earlier guidance of £15.2bn to £15.7bn. The bank's structural hedge is also playing its part. With low-yielding assets being reinvested at 3.7%, it's expected to deliver £1bn of income this year alone. Risks and realism Despite the recent surge, there are risks. NatWest shares dipped slightly after the results as Shore Capital warned on 28 July that strong recent returns will be hard to sustain. The UK economy is proving sticky, house prices aren't exactly booming and profit margins on mortgages are being squeezed. If the Bank of England cuts interest rates later this year, margins could be squeezed too. And the government is coming under pressure to hit banks with fresh taxes in the autumn Budget. Growth and income forecast With the stock trading around 521.4p, analysts have a median 12-month price target of 588.8p. That's a potential rise of nearly 15%. Pretty good given the strong recent run. The dividend forecast is just as interesting. The projected yield for this year is 5.76%. Add that to a possible share price gain, and total returns could be north of 20%. The yield is forecast to hit 6.46% next year. So is NatWest expensive as a result? No. The current price-to-earnings ratio is just 10.04, with a forecast P/E of 8.7. The price-to-book ratio has risen to around 0.96, from about 0.6 last year. It's no longer a bargain-bin share, but still not overpriced either. Of the 20 analysts covering the stock, 15 rate it a Buy and five say Hold. No sellers. I'm always cautious about chasing a share after a strong run. But given the outlook, I think NatWest is worth considering today. If the market wobbles in August, as many suspect it might, it could become even more tempting. The post Prediction: check out the eye-popping NatWest share price and dividend forecast appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Harvey Jones has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
