Thursday preview: Burberry, Daily Mail, Man Group

25th May 2011 17:25

Burberry is undoubtedly one of Britain's gilt-edged brands and it is amazing to recall that it was once thought in some circles that the popularity of the Burberry check baseball cap with "chavs" in the previous decade had fatally undermined the value of the brand.More recently, the shares have come under pressure following the Japanese earthquake tragedy, on fears that the disaster could hit Burberry's sales in Japan, which is one of its key markets.Charles Stanley thinks Thursday's results will reveal another very strong performance from the company. The broker is going for profit before tax of £295m, up from £215m the year before, on sales of £1.55bn (2010: £1.28bn). Market consensus is for profits of £287.8m on sales of £1.5bn. Charles Stanley is forecasting earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) of £295m, and earnings per share of 47.2p. The broker predicts the full year dividend will be lifted to 18.9p from 14.0p last year.Interim results from Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) should see the newspaper publisher and exhibitions organiser unveil adjusted profits before tax of £117m, up from £102m last year, according to Panmure Gordon.The broker will be looking for pointers to the current business-to-consumer (B2C) outlook, newsprint cost trends and the recovery potential of DMGT's assets.Man Group "has fared reasonably well during the last financial year in what has been a period of transition," opined Charles Stanley, ahead of the hedge fund group's full-year results on Thursday. "It seems that in the final quarter, the group recorded positive net fund inflows with positive inflows from open ended alternatives and long only funds and although there was a decline in net management fee income there was an increase in net performance fees," the broker added.The board of Man has already said it will declare a full-year dividend of at least 22 cents, so there are unlikely to be any surprises on that front. Charles Stanley forecasts earnings per share will just about cover its dividend pay-out, at 25 cents. INTERIMSDaily Mail and General Trust, Invista European Real Estate Trust, Local Shopping REIT, Phytopharm, Renovo GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATERedefine InternationalINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence Indicator (FRA) (7:45)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)GDP (Preliminary) (US) (13:30)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)GMSSyndicate Asset ManagementFINALSBurberry Group, HarbourVest Global Private Equity Ltd., Helical Bar, London & Stamford Property Ltd., PayPoint, QinetiQ Group, Scapa Group, Shanks Group, United Utilities GroupANNUAL REPORTHarbourVest Global Private Equity Ltd.SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEDensitron TechnologiesAGMSAir China Ltd., Alliance Pharma, Antrim Energy Inc., Centamin Egypt Ltd., City Merchants High Yield Trust, Eruma, F&C Private Equity Trust, Ferrexpo, Hydro International, ING UK Real Estate Income Trust Ltd., IRET Securities Ltd Zero Div Pref, Lombard Medical Technologies, Morson Group, North Midland Construction, Northbridge Industrial Services, ProStrakan Group, Scisys, Sunkar Resources, Travis PerkinsFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAfrican Barrick Gold , Blackstar Group, Collins Stewart, GlobeOp Financial Services SA (DI), Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Maven Income & Growth 3 VCT, North Midland Construction, office2office, Prudential, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Resolution Ltd., SQS Software Quality Systems AG, Total Produce, Total SAFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEKakuzi Ltd.Q1Antofagasta, London Mining, National Bank of Greece ADR, Public Power GDR SA (Reg S), Signet Jewelers Ltd.