Markets
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TELEFONICA:

Shares down 2.65 percent to €11.02 (0830 GMT)

Spain's biggest telco missed Street estimates with a 54 drop in first quarter net profit. Flat sales of €15.5bn and a €337m markdown of its 10.5 percent stake in Telelcom Italia dragged the bottom line down to €748m.

Latin American operating earnings, which grew by 0.8 percent to €2.55bn, offset a marked slowdown across Europe, where they plunged more than 15 percent to €2.51bn

IAG

Shares down 1.6 percent to 160.4 pencent (0830 GMT)

The carrier formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberian Airlines posted a hefty €249m operating loss as soaring fuel prices and the ongoing economic turmoil in Spain offset rising passenger volumes.

First quarter revenues rose 7.8 percent to €3.9bn but the growth was submerged by a 24.9 percent spike in fuel costs which took the tab to €1.4bn.

CREDIT AGRICOLE

Shares down 2.2 percent in early trading to €3.42 (830 GMT)

France's third-largest bank said first quarter profits fell a steeper-than-expected 75 percent to €252m as writedowns on Greek debt hammered the bottom line. Group revenues rose 2.3 percent to €5.3bn but the improvement was overshadowed by a €940m charge linked to Emporiki Bank, the Greece-based lender it purchased in 2006. Around €373m of that charge was related to the so-called PSI contribution to Greece's larger €174bn EU/IMF bailout.

AXA

Shares down 2.5 percent to €9.67 (0830 GMT)

The second-largest insurance group in Europe posted a 0.8 percent rise in first quarter sales, taking them to just over €28bn. Sales from its casualty unit were up 3.3 percent on a like-for-like basis, while life insurance revenue fell 0.2 percent. The biggest decline, however, was in it asset management unit, where record-low interest rates around Europe lopped 9.6 percent for the unit's top line.

CENTRICA

Shares down 0.4 percent to 309.8 pence (0830 GMT)

The British utility and owner of British gas said first quarter trading improved thanks to higher wholesale gas and power prices. The group is likely to report half-year earnings of around 14 pence per share from sales of around £11bn, it said in an interim statement Friday.

IMF