By Samuel Indyk LONDON (Reuters) – European companies haven’t had such a low bar to clear in terms of earnings expectations in years, not least because of the highly complex geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop, yet investors may only reward those that can protect their margins. Bank of America analysis found in the three months to end-December more companies had their earnings estimates downgraded than upgraded than at any time in the last three years, with this ratio firmly in “net downgrade territory”. The pandemic and Ukraine war and the havoc both wreaked on global trade flows and raw …