Friday preview: Marston's, Consumer Confidence

28th Jan 2010 16:50

After the high drama and board room power struggle at the annual general meeting (AGM) of pubs group Mitchells & Butlers on Thursday, the AGM of fellow pubs operator Marston's should be a lot more sedate.Not that the board of Marston's is a total stranger to controversy, with the company attracting some criticism last year for electing to spend the proceeds of a cash call on expansion plans rather than reducing its huge debt.Since the middle of last year fears about excessive debt on company balance sheets have receded, though that is largely because most heavily indebted companies have bent over backwards to reduce debt.Marston's expansionist backing of its 'F-plan,' focusing on food, families and forty/fifty somethings, has been out of step with its peers, notwithstanding the opportunistic purchases of pubs by the likes of Greene King and Fullers from the cash strapped pure pub operators; Marston's has preferred to invest its money on new pubs with ample kitchen and dining space, rather than buy up other companies' cast offs.Though it is early days yet, the increased focus on food seems to be paying off. At pubs that are managed by the company itself, like-for-like sales fell by 0.6% in the year to 3 October from the previous year, but were up by 2.7% in the final nine weeks of the financial year. Like-for-like food sales were up 2.8% over the whole year and by 4.4% over the final nine weeks.Pubs that are leased to landlords outperformed the market and have seen trading improve recently, the company said at the beginning of December, while the brewing division has increased market share, revenue and profits.On the economic front, the GfK/NOP consumer confidence index for January is expected to have resumed its upwards trend after easing back in November and December, when confidence took a knock from the UK economy's failure to emerge from recession in the third quarter. INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEArtemis Alpha Trust, Atkins (WS), Dart Group, Experian Group, F&C Global Smaller Companies, Foresight 3 VCT, Greene King, IFG Group, Micro Focus International Plc, Monks Inv Trust, Northern Foods, Northumbrian Water Group, Schroder UK Growth Fund, Sky HighQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEHenderson Financial Opportunities Limited, Schroder Income Growth FundINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBoJ Interest Rates Minutes (JPN) (23:50)Chicago PMI (US) (14:45)Consumer Price Index (JPN) (23:30)Employment Cost Index (US) (13:30)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)Gross Domestic Product (US) (13:30)Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)Consumer Prices Indices estimate (EC) (10:00)Q3ToshibaFINALSSafestoreAGMSCaledonian Trust, Marston'sUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGFK Consumer Confidence (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBlackRock Commodities Income Inv Trust, Character Group, Education Development International, F&C Commercial Property Trust, Gartmore European Inv Trust, Henderson High Income Trust, JPMorgan Income & Capital Inv Trust, Puma VCT I, Puma VCT II, SatCom Group, Schroder Asia Pacific Fund, Schroder UK Mid & Small Cap Fund, Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust, Shires Smaller Companies Trust, Standard Life European Private Equity Trust