LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets rallied on Monday following positive earnings from Dutch electronics giant Philips and news of plans by Britain to carry out a massive sell-off of state assets.
The FTSE 100 index rose 1.05 percent to 5,216.07 points approaching midday trading in London.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 1.40 percent to 5,791.84 points and in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 1.22 percent to 3,846.08 points nearing the half-way stage.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares grew 1.28 percent to 2,919.06 points.
Philips tripled its net profit to 176 million euros (260 million dollars) in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year, the Dutch group said in a surprise announcement.
Analysts' consensus forecast had been for a net loss of 45 million euros.
"The decisive action we took at the end of 2008 to focus on cost and cash management is increasingly becoming visible in our performance," said Philips chief executive officer Gerard Kleisterlee.
"I remain confident that Philips will come out of this recession as a stronger company and a leader in our field," he added.
Philips' share price surged 6.43 percent to 18.13 euros on the AEX-Index in Amsterdam, which grew 1.66 percent to 320.79 points.
Elsewhere, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a massive 16-billion-pound sale of state assets including the Channel Tunnel rail link, to cut soaring debt caused by economic crisis.
Brown, whose Labour Party faces a potential election wipeout next year at the hands of the main opposition Conservatives, wants to halve Britain's deficit in four years after it ballooned amid a deep recession.
The planned disposals, which also include the 33-percent stake in European uranium consortium URENCO, the Student Loan Company and the Tote bookmakers, would raise the equivalent of 25.4 billion dollars or 17.2 billion euros.
Also in London, Barclays fell 0.88 percent to 373.7 pence as a report said the British bank planned to spin off complex credit assets worth four billion under a clean-up of its balance sheet.
Barclays will shift the equivalent of 4.3 billion euros or 6.3 billion dollars from its balance sheet to ease shareholder concerns over its investments, according to people familiar with the matter, said the Financial Times.
The bank refused to comment on the report when questioned by AFP.
Any spin-off would echo a similar transaction undertaken by Barclays last month with assets worth 12.3 billion pounds, added the FT sources.
Reacting to the report, ETX Capital trader Manoj Ladwa said "Barclays plans to rid itself of a further four billion pounds of potentially toxic assets will be welcomed by the markets."
