Rolls-Royce shares soar 9% on bumper profit and sales

As major firms consider shifting their primary listings away from London, concerns grow over the future of the U.K.’s capital markets. Julianna Tatelbaum and Karen Tso asked Shell CEO Wael Sawan and LSEG CEO David Schwimmer to weigh in on the debate.

Market uncertainty amid the introduction and rollback of U.S. trade policies remains “obviously very high in the horizon,” British lender Standard Chartered’s chief financial officer told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”

He noted the impact that volatility has had on investment decisions and deal-making.

“You might see some strategic activity being postponed, we have some anecdotical evidence of that,” Diego De Giorgi said Thursday.  

The bank reported its second-quarter results at the start of the session, announcing a further share buyback of $1.3 billion and a 31% jump in pre-tax profit.

— Ruxandra Iordache

It’s been a busy morning here at CNBC — a very C-suite-heavy one, with some big hitters weighing in on everything from U.S. tariffs to aerospace carve-outs and London listings.

Let’s start with tariffs. With President Donald Trump’s new round of levies looming, we’ve had strong commentary across the board.

Anglo American‘s CEO reacted to Trump‘s surprise decision to pare back copper tariffs by exempting “input materials” — a major signal for miners trying to gauge how the move plays out globally.

Over in aerospace, “exemptions” are the word of the day. Rolls-Royce CFO Helen McCabe addressed the U.S.-U.K. and U.S.-EU trade deals, flagging the importance of shielding aerospace components. Both the EU and U.K. deals secured zero-for-zero tariffs on aircraft and related parts, a crucial win for the sector on both sides of the Atlantic.

Investors clearly liked what they heard from the engine-maker’s half-year results — Rolls stock is up 9% today, notching a latest record high in its massive rally over the last five years.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury weighed in on the same issue. That conversation continues the theme: aerospace leaders want clarity and protection in this tariff chess game.

On the energy front, Shell‘s CEO discussed the tough macro backdrop and said clearly: M&A is tricky right now — “nothing is cheap.” He also addressed a question that’s been getting louder in the City of London: could Shell shift its listing away from London? That led to a fascinating follow-up with the LSEG CEO, who discussed whether the U.K. capital is still an attractive destination for listings.

That’s not all — more of our executive and earnings coverage to follow.

— Spriha Srivastava

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said the aviation industry is facing a better-than-expected trade environment, after the company reported aircraft delivery delays in its half-year results on Wednesday.

“We see an environment that on the trade side looks to be better than what we could have feared,” Faury said on “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday morning. “We’re happy to see that the agreement between the U.S. and the U.K. and the more recent one between the U.S. and the EU provide a safe environment for the aerospace business.”

The company delivered 306 aircraft in the first half of the year, with a full-year target of 820 commercial aircraft. The company reported that aircraft delays were due to engine supply issues.

“We need to deliver more in the second half, and what we have done in the first half, but indeed we have a good momentum. We have wind in our sails,” Faury said.

“We’re working closely with our engine partners to get those engines in the second half of the year … We know what we have to do, and we think we will deliver on it,” Faury added.

— Sawdah Bhaimiya

Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to pare back copper tariffs comes at a time of heightened market volatility.

The U.S. president on Wednesday said the White House would impose a 50% tariff on copper prices and wiring, falling short on expectations of sweeping restrictions.

“Certainly, a lot of volatility in markets around tariffs generally and particularly as they flow through to metals,” Wanblad told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.

“And I think we’re finding ourselves in a place, which is what the market is reacting to right now, where we have quite a material dislocation of where certain inventories are in the world at this particular point in time.”

Anglo American, a global mining company that holds a significant portfolio of copper assets, said the demand fundamentals for copper look “great” over the long term, underpinned by robust demand amid the energy transition. Supply, however, continues to look constrained, Wanblad said.

— Sam Meredith

Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce shares soared 10% after the company raised its full year underlying operating profit forecast to more than £3.1 billion to £3.2 billion ($4.1 billion to 4.2 billion), compared to the £2.8 billion expected by the market.

— Ganesh Rao

Consumer goods giant Unilever on Thursday posted second-quarter sales that beat expectations, as shoppers lapped up its suite of products spanning Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and Dove soap, despite price hikes.

Underlying sales growth ticked up 3.8% in the three months to June 30, ahead of the 3.6% forecast in a company-compiled poll.

More than half of that was driven by price rises, primarily in the Vaseline maker’s personal care and beauty and well-being businesses. Prices hikes were also most prevalent in the Americas but less so in Europe.

Unilever said that its ice cream business, known as The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which began operating independently on July 1, is on track for full demerger in mid-November.

The company also reported underlying operating profit of 5.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) for the first half, slightly ahead of forecasts of 5.7 billion, and it retained its full-year guidance for underlying sales growth of 3% to 5%.

— Karen Gilchrist

Britain’s Shell on Thursday reported better-than-expected second-quarter profit, amid a drop in global oil and gas prices.

The energy giant posted adjusted earnings of $4.26 billion for the three months through June, beating analyst expectations of $3.87 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

A separate, company-provided analyst forecast had expected Shell’s second-quarter profit to come in at $3.74 billion.

Read the full story here.

Profits at the world’s largest brewer AB InBev rose ahead of expectations in the second-quarter as sales in its key U.S. market ticked up during the approach to summer.

Operating profits at the Budweiser maker climbed 6.5% over the three-month period to $5.3 billion, ahead of analyst expectations for a 5.7% rise.

Revenues were up 3% to $15 billion, even as volumes declined by a more-than-expected 1.9%, led by weakness in China and Brazil. It also flagged an 2.1% uptick in U.S. sales over the period following declines in the prior quarter.

“The resilience of the beer category and the continued momentum of our megabrands delivered another quarter of profitable growth,” CEO Michel Doukeris said in a statement.

The company maintained its 2025 outlook for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to grow in line with its medium-term outlook of between 4% and 8%.

— Karen Gilchrist

Good morning from London, and welcome to CNBC’s live blog covering all the action and business news in European financial markets on Thursday.

Futures data from IG suggest a broadly positive open for European indexes, with London’s FTSE 100 seen opening 0.1% higher, France’s CAC 40 unchanged, Germany’s DAX up 0.2%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB 0.3% higher.

European markets closed in mixed territory Wednesday, with sectors diverging as second-quarter earnings season ramped up.

There will be more earnings today, with Unilever, Shell, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, London Stock Exchange Group, BMW, Anglo American, SocGen, Renault, AF-KLM, Euronext, Sanofi, Credit Agricole and ArcelorMittal among the heavyweight regional companies that are due to report.

On the data front, French, German and Italian inflation data is due, as are the latest German and EU unemployment figures.

— Holly Ellyatt