European stocks closed in positive territory on Thursday as investors pored over earnings reports for clues about business activity and confidence in the region.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed the session up 0.4%. The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 0.7%, France's CAC 4 gained 0.2%, and Italy's FTSE MIB also posted a 0.4% gain. Germany's DAX index also edged higher, closing up 0.3%.

It was a busy day for earnings reports in Europe, with Kering, Roche Holding, Unilever, Vinci, Thales, LSEG, Dassault Systemes, Antofagasta, Swedbank, Nokia, and Lloyds Banking Group among the big names reporting third-quarter figures.

Enterprise software company SAP released its earnings report late Wednesday, which missed analyst expectations. The German company reported a 7% increase in third-quarter revenue of 9.08 billion euros ($10.53 billion), below expectations of 9.15 billion euros ($7.96 billion), according to consensus figures compiled by LSEG.

However, the company recorded a 22% increase in cloud revenue, with CEO Christian Klein attributing this to increased market share in AI and cloud data. "For the fourth quarter, we executed on a strong strategy—which gives us confidence in our accelerated total revenue growth ambitions for 2026," he said in a statement. SAP shares ended the session up 2.2%.

Gucci owner Kering also reported results after the closing bell on Wednesday. The group's revenue reached 3.4 billion euros in the quarter, down 5% compared to the same period, but surpassing expectations of 3.31 billion euros, according to consensus figures compiled by FactSet. Gucci sales—which typically account for nearly half of Kering's total revenue—were only slightly below estimates, at 1.3 billion euros, down 14% compared to the same period last year. Its shares closed 8.7% higher.

In the financial services sector, Lloyds Banking Group on Thursday reported a pre-tax profit of nearly £1.2 billion, slightly higher than the consensus estimate of around £1 billion, but down from £1.8 billion in the same period last year. This comes after the British bank announced earlier this month an additional £800 million charge related to customer compensation arising from a car loan fraud scandal in the UK. Its shares rose 1.2% at the close of trading.

Shares of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) fell 0.1% as its net interest income reached 10.4 billion Swedish kronor during the third quarter, surpassing the 10.2 billion Swedish kronor expected by analysts. The bank's quarterly earnings report showed a net profit of 7.68 billion Swedish kronor for the three-month period, missing analysts' estimates of 7.86 billion Swedish kronor, according to LSEG estimates. (alg)

Source: CNBC