By Adam Haigh March 3 (Bloomberg) -- European stock-index futures advanced as companies from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV to Adecco SA reported earnings that topped analysts’ estimates, reassuring investors that rising profits can push equities higher. U.S. futures and Asian shares rose. AB InBev, the brewer of and Stella Artois and Bud Light, and Adecco, the world’s largest supplier of temporary workers, may advance. ARM Holdings Plc, which designs semiconductors used in smartphones including Apple Inc.’s iPhone, may be active after Apple unveiled its new iPad tablet computer. Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index expiring this month gained 0.7 percent to 2,982 at 7:22 a.m. in London. Contracts on the FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent and those on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.6 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.7 percent. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index has declined 2.9 percent since peaking at a 2 1/2-year high on Feb. 17, trimming this year’s advance to 2.5 percent, as opponents of Libya’s ruler Muammar Qaddafi took over large parts of the country, sending the price of oil soaring. Still, the gauge remains 79 percent higher than when the rally in equities began in March 2009 amid better-than-estimated corporate earnings and a return to growth in the U.S. economy. Oil Falls Oil today dropped from the highest close in 29 months in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today after the Wall Street Journal reported that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Qaddafi and offered to help create a multinational mediation commission. The European Central Bank will announce its latest interest-rate decision at 1:45 p.m. Frankfurt time and ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet will hold a press conference 45 minutes later. The central bank is the first of the world’s five biggest central banks to announce a policy decision since crude oil surged over $100 a barrel last week. Fifty-six percent of Stoxx 600 companies that have announced earnings since Jan. 10 have beaten the average analyst estimate for per-share profit. The gauge is valued at about 13 times the reported earnings of its companies, close to the cheapest since March 2009, when the measure reached its lowest level in more than 12 years. AB InBev said fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, excluding some items, was $3.9 billion, beating the median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News for profit of $3.4 billion. Adecco, ARM Adecco reported fourth-quarter net income of 141 million euros ($196 million), beating the average analyst estimates of 115 million euros. ARM may move after Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave yesterday to introduce a new version of the iPad, aiming to stay ahead of a stampede of tablet- computer rivals. Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer, posted 2010 net income of 433 million euros, after a one-time charge. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected net income of 695.5 million euros. Chief Executive Officer Lars Olofsson pledged to inject “new momentum” into the retailer by accelerating store openings in 2011. Royal Ahold NV, the owner of Stop & Shop supermarkets, raised its dividend by 26 percent and said it plans to buy back 1 billion euros in stock after fourth-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates. --Editor: Andrew Rummer. To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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