Week Ahead: Sage, Aberdeen Asset, Smith & Nephew

Date: Friday 30 Apr 2010

It’s a shortened week next week thanks to the May bank holiday and as usual Wednesday and Thursday look like being the busiest days, with FTSE 100 companies Sage, Legal & General, Liberty International and Next reporting on Wednesday and Vedanta, Morrison’s, Schroders, Smith & Nephew and RSA Insurance declaring on Thursday.

Accountancy software giant Sage releases interim results with revenue expected to dip to £713.8m, down from £748.4m at the halfway stage last year. Panmure Gordon is predicting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £166.6m, adjusted pre-tax profit of £161m and earnings per share of 8.7p.

The broker thinks the key feature will be the expected continued profit recovery in the US, though it is also keeping an eye on debt reduction as that could lead to mergers & acquisition activity returning to the menu.

“We expect an optimistic outlook statement with Sage commenting that despite a fragile market it is seeing some signs of recovery,” the broker said.

Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management brings its interim results out on Tuesday. KBC Peel Hunt, which is forecasting profit before tax of £80.5m versus £33m a year ago, thinks the “focus will be on whether the slowdown in outflows has continued and by how much cash generation has improved.”

The company is a very different beast to the one it was a year ago, thanks to the acquisition of certain fund management assets and contracts of RBS Asset Management for £84.7m, announced back in January, and last year’s acquisition of Credit Suisse’s fund management business.

The group has already reported that AuM at 28 February stood at £161.4bn.

Thursday, May 6, is the date of the general election in the UK and also the day on which medical devices firm Smith & Nephew is set to release first quarter fugures.

Charles Stanley is predicting earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of $220m, up from $183m in the first quarter of 2009. Group sales are tipped to advance to $980m from $865m a year earlier, a 14% increase “of which about 5.5% may have been derived from favourable FX [foreign exchange] movements.”


Monday May 03

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Auto Sales (US) (15:00)
Construction Spending (US) (15:00)
House Price Index (AUS) (00:00)
ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00)
ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)
Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)
Personal Income (US) (13:30)
Personal Spending (US) (13:30)
PMI Manufacturing(EU) (09:00)
PMI Manufacturing(GER) (08:55)
PMI Manufacturing(FRA) (08:50)
Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)

AGMS
Globaltrans Investment GDR (Reg S), Greystar Resources

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Halifax House Price Index (09:30)
PMI Manufacturing (09:30)

Q1
Yamana Gold Inc

Tuesday May 04

INTERIMS
Aberdeen Asset Management

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Kier Group, Photo-Me International

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
ABC Consumer Confidence (US) (22:00)
Factory Orders (US) (15:00)
Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00)
PMI Construction (EU) (09:00)
PMI Construction (GER) (08:55)
Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)
Spring Economic Forecasts (eu)

GMS
Old Mutual

IMSS
Aer Lingus Group, G4S

EGMS
Maple Energy

AGMS
China Medical System Holdings, F&C Asset Management, Inmarsat, Lancashire Holdings, Norsk Hydro, RAB Capital, RPS Group

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
GEONG International

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Credit (09:30)
M4 Money Supply (09:30)
M4 Sterling Lending (09:30)
Mortgage Approvals (09:30)
Net Lending Secured on Dwellings (9.30)
PMI Construction (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Communisis, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Stadium Group, Ultra Electronics Holdings

Wednesday May 05

INTERIMS
Sage Group

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Next Fifteen Communications, Swallowfield

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
BP, GlaxoSmithKline, M Winkworth, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B'

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
ISM Non-Manufacturing (US) (15:00)
ISM Services (US) (15:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)
PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)
PMI Services (EU) (09:00)
PMI Services (GER) (08:55)
PMI Services (FRA (08:50)
Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

ANNUAL REPORT
CEPS

IMSS
JD Wetherspoon, Legal & General Group, Liberty International, Logica, Next, Petropavlovsk, Provident Financial, Rathbone Brothers, Rightmove

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Antofagasta

EGMS
Global Investment House KSCC GDR (Reg S)

AGMS
BAE Systems, Carillion, CRH, Dairy Farm International (Singapore), Dawson International, Dragon Oil, Global Investment House KSCC GDR (Reg S), Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Singapore), Johnson Service Group, JPMorgan American Inv Trust, Kerry Group 'A', Logica, Mandarin In.Sg, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, National Express Group, Provident Financial, Rathbone Brothers, Rightmove, Savills, Spirent Communications, WSP Group, Xstrata, Yamana Gold Inc

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BRC Shop Price Index (00:01)
Nationwide Consumer Confidence (00:01)
Halifax House Prices
PMI Composite (09:30)
PMI Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
FBD Holdings, Rank Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
AG Barr, Anglo Pacific, Antofagasta, Biocompatibles International, Bunzl, CBG Group, Chaucer Holdings, Collins Stewart, G4S, Glanbia, GlobeOp Financial Services, Graphite Enterprise Trust, H & T Group, Henderson Group, Highcroft Investment, JD Sports Fashion, KBC Advanced Technologies, Kingfisher, Laird, M. P. Evans Group, Maven Income and Growth VCT 3, Maven Income and Growth VCT 4, Maven Income and Growth VCT 4 'S' Shares, Michael Page International, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Morson Group, Neptune-Calculus Income & Growth VCT, Northbridge Industrial Services, Raven Russia, Rexam, Straight, Tomkins, Weir Group, Win

Q1
CSR, Lancashire Holdings, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Wolfson Microelectronics

Thursday May 06

INTERIMS
Allied Healthcare International, Minorplanet Systems

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Telefonica SA

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (AUS) (00:00)
BoJ Intrest Rates Minutes (JPN) (23:50)
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
ECB Interest Rate (EU) (12:45)
Factory Orders (GER) (11:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
Unit Labour Costs (US) (13:30)
Leading Indicator Index (JPN) (05:00)
Retail Sales (AUS) (00:00)
Non-farm Productivity (US) (13:30)

GMS
Ventus 3 VCT

FINALS
Vedanta Resources

IMSS
Arriva, Cobham, Computacenter, Mondi, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Resolution, Restaurant Group, Rexam, RSA Insurance Group, Schroders, Schroders NV, Tomkins, Yule Catto

AGMS
Arriva, Atlantic Global, Bovis Homes Group, Brit Insurance Holdings NV, Catlin Group, Cobham, Costain Group, Devro, F&C Inv Trust, Fisher (James) & Sons, GKN, GlaxoSmithKline, Grafton Group (Units), Hygea VCT, Inditherm, Jardine Matheson (Singapore), Jardine Strategic (Singapore), Lloyds Banking Group, Mondi, Morgan Sindall, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Restaurant Group, Rexam, Schroders, Schroders NV, Smith & Nephew, Sweet China, Yule Catto

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Official Reserves (09:30)
PMI Service Sector Survey (9.30)
UK General Election Results (23:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
British American Tobacco, Davis Service Group, First Quantum Minerals, JPMorgan American Inv Trust, Lavendon Group, Logica, SEGRO, Spirent Communications

Q1
Endeavour International Corp, RSA Insurance Group, Smith & Nephew, Talvivaara Mining Company

Friday May 07

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
F&C Private Equity, F&C UK Select Trust, Octopus Eclipse VCT 1, Octopus Eclipse VCT 3, Octopus Eclipse VCT 4

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)
Industrial Production (GER) (11:00)
Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)
Average Hourly Earnings (US) (13:30)
RBA Statement of Monetary Policy (AUS) (00:00)
Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)
Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)
Trade Balance (FRA) (07:45)
Monetary Base (JPN)

FINALS
Carpathian, Tanfield Group

ANNUAL REPORT
Crawshaw Group, Peel Hotels

IMSS
Catlin Group, IMI, T Clarke

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
F&C Private Equity Restricte 'D' Shares

AGMS
Aga Rangemaster Group, Anglogold Ashanti, Colgate Palm., Development Securities, DM, European Islamic Investment Bank, Guinness Peat Group, Hill and Smith, IMI, ITV, Nestor Healthcare, Niger Uranium, Oxford Catalysts, Psion, RCG Holdings, Smurfit Kappa Group, SPARK VCT, Standard Chartered, Sterling Energy, STM Group, T Clarke, Telef O2 GDR (Reg S/144a), The Hotel Corporation

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Car Registrations (09:30)
Producer Price Index (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Bodycote, F&C Asset Management, Forth Ports, Holidaybreak, Meggitt, Octopus IHT AIM VCT 'A' Shares, Pearson, Rotork

Q1
Anglogold Ashanti, Cryptologic Ld, Smurfit Kappa Group

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