Europe Inc heads for second-best earnings season since 2022

Oct 29 (Reuters) - European blue-chips are set to deliver their second-best quarterly earnings in four years, an LSEG I/B/E/S report showed on Thursday, buoyed by energy companies reporting stellar profit growth.

Companies on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index are expected to report quarterly earnings ​growth of 23.6% on average, according to the LSEG data based on results from 144 companies and market estimates for those that are yet to report.

That is just a notch under the previous quarter's 23.9% increase.

Most of that growth is due to the energy sector's big profit jump, with the LSEG report showing earnings rising 139% compared with the previous year thanks to energy prices driven higher by the Iran war, and record refining margins.

Still, excluding the energy sector, the rest of the companies in the STOXX 600 index are expected to post a 9.8% growth in third-quarter earnings, on aggregate, which is above the average of 7.1% over the previous 16 quarters.

The third-quarter revenue outlook for European blue-chip companies has also improved and is now seen growing at 13.6% from a year ago, which would mark the best showing since the third quarter of 2022.

According to the report, 8 out of 10 sectors are expected to post profit growth in the quarter, while real estate firms and consumer cyclicals - auto, retail and entertainment companies - are seen delivering shrinking earnings.

Earlier on Thursday, the STOXX 600 index touched over one-month highs as a slew of strong earnings reports lifted sentiment, with defence and energy companies among the top gainers.

(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga in Gdansk; Editing by Devika Syamnath)