AFP - Net profit at German utilities group RWE fell 48.5 percent in the first quarter on a writedown for its US unit American Water, regulatory measures and the weak pound, figures showed on Thursday.

AP - NEC Corp.'s profit for the fiscal year through March more than doubled from the previous year as the Japanese electronics maker's mobile phone and computer-chip businesses swung to profit.

AP - Sony shares jumped nearly 9 percent in Thursday trading in Tokyo, a day after the Japanese electronics and entertainment company released upbeat earnings that included a record fiscal year profit.

AP - Mizuho, Japan's No. 2 banking group, took a beating from U.S. subprime credit problems, reporting Thursday a 50 percent drop in profit for the fiscal year.

Reuters - Friedman Billings Ramsey said Freddie Mac will not realize meaningful earnings growth until 2012, at the earliest, and that the $5.5 billion capital raise it announced Wednesday will not be enough.

AFP - Europe's main stock markets diverged on Thursday as companies published mixed earnings news, and after share-price gains in Tokyo and overnight on Wall Street, dealers said.