European Stocks Little Changed After Mixed Earning

Roche dropped 9 percent after the Swiss group posted a 5 percent drop in 2008 profit.

European stocks were little changed in early trade on Wednesday as results news pushed drugmaker Roche down sharply but gave a boost to telecoms gear maker Alcatel-Lucent.

Roche dropped 9 percent after the Swiss group posted a 5 percent drop in 2008 profit, missing expectations, and said it sees growth slowing this year.

Alcatel-Lucent gained 7 percent after it posted forecast-beating quarterly sales and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, while booking a fresh impairment charge of 3.91 billion euros, reflecting a "drastic deterioration" of the global outlook.

"It looks like the results are well received by the market, which focuses on the operational side. The big impairment charge had been expected," one trader said.

At 0815 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.02 percent at 792.17 points. The index gained 1.9 percent on Tuesday, boosted by Vodafone's reassuring update.

"We're getting a breather after a series of negative sessions. Overall, corporate results are not as bad as people had feared. But that doesn't mean the bear market is over," said Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets, in Paris.

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, rose 1.3 percent after posting a 2.2 percent increase in first-half profits, boosted by a last burst of Chinese demand growth.