European shares are recovering some of yesterdays losses, with banks on the rise after UK sector peer Lloyds reported full year figures.

Lloyds Banking joined sector peers Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland in reporting better than expected full-year figures. The part-nationalised lender reported a pre-tax loss of £6.3bn in the year ended 31 December compared with £6.71bn last time. Total income rose to £23.96bn from £21.36bn last time.

Investment analysts were expecting Lloyds to announce a pre-tax loss of £7.4bn on revenue of £22.6bn. However, total impairments were significantly higher at £23.99bn compared with £14.88bn in 2008, but the figure was still slightly better than the £24.2bn Japanese broker Nomura expected.

Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and UBS are all in demand.

Spain's Telefonica after posting full year figures that were in line with expectations.

Across the markets, the German DAX is up 46 points at 5,579, with the French CAC 32 points higher at 3,672. The Swiss market has gained 44 points to 6,688.

German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer reported a lower than expected 44% rise in fourth-quarter net income and said it would increase sales and earnings through 2012.

The Aspirin maker's net profit rose to €153m in the quarter ended December compared with €106m a year earlier, though that was just half of the €303m analysts were expecting.

Revenue also missed forecasts, falling to €7.87bn from €7.92bn a year earlier. The dividend is unchanged at €1.40. Bayer expects core earnings per share to improve by about 10% in 2010.


CAC 40 - Risers
Saint Gobain (SGO) € 33.72 +5.38%
Air Liquide (AI) € 85.93 +3.47%
Credit Agricole (ACA) € 10.74 +2.33%
EADS (EAD) € 14.80 +1.86%
Vallourec (VK) € 138.75 +1.72%
Technip (TEC) € 51.55 +1.26%
BNP Paribas (BNP) € 52.10 +1.15%
Societe Generale (GLE) € 40.22 +1.08%
Vivendi (VIV) € 18.36 +1.02%
France Telecom (FTE) € 17.17 +0.97%

CAC 40 - Fallers
Accor (AC) € 36.74 -0.89%
Suez Environnement Company (SEV) € 15.94 -0.75%
Veolia Environnement (VIE) € 23.66 -0.19%

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