European Q1 corporate profits expected to grow 4% helped by booming energy sector

April 2 (Reuters) - European blue chip companies are set to deliver growing profits in the first quarter, the latest forecasts showed on Thursday, thanks to strong expectations for energy companies.

STOXX 600 .STOXX companies are expected to report growth of 4% in first-quarter earnings, on average, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data, compared to the 2% year-on-year decline the previous quarter.

• That is mostly due to a windfall blessing for energy companies as the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised crude prices by 50% to 70%

• Earnings of energy companies are expected to rise by 24.9% according to LSEG's report, while other sectors are set to deliver a 1.5% increase on average

• Revenues are also seen growing compared to the same period last year, albeit at a slower rate —compared to earnings— of 1.7%, the data showed

• Revenues have lagged earnings in seven of the past eight quarters, showing that companies efforts to cut costs and restructure businesses could be paying off

• Estimates for European companies' earnings have considerably improved in the past months, especially after the conflict began

• Profits of European majors were expected to grow at a very modest 0.9% at the beginning of the year, but estimates have consistently improved in recent weeks

• Investors say the reverberations of the conflict will take a while to feed through the economy