Thursday preview: Diageo, ASOS, Booker

13th Oct 2010 16:33

Guinness brewer Diageo will give a trading update at its annual general meeting on Thursday covering the first quarter of its trading year.Emerging markets are likely to be the feel good story while Europe is expected to be a drag on performance. Online clothes retail ASOS is the sort of high flying stock that cannot afford to have a "merely good" trading update to preserve its high rating.Panmure Gordon is expecting the group to announce sales growth for the six months to end-September of 45% compared to the corresponding period of last year. "We continue to see ASOS as a world class online fashion retailer in one of the few forecast double digit growth areas of the UK economy. UK growth underpins the story, and we note the good news on online retail sales from the BRC [British Retail Consortium] September retail sales survey ... , but we think that most potential upside surprise exists in tapping into similar or more marked trends, particularly in the US, Germany and France," the broker said. The company may give a progress report on how its US web site is doing, though it is still very early days for the operation; the site only went live on 29 September. Singer Capital Markets expects Ashmore to announce increased assets under management (AUM) in its update for the July to September quarter. The investment management group reported AUM of $35.5bn for the year ended June, and the broker anticipates that the update will reveal an increased figure by 10% to £39bn, following a strong three months for the company."Both dollar debt and local currency funds appear to have been performing strongly during the past three months with Ashmore's 'emerging markets liquid investment portfolio' [(debt fund)] up some 10.2% since the end of June," the broker said. "Our published estimates assume net inflows of $4.4bn for the year to June 2011. We forecast within this, that net new money in Q1 will amount to $1bn. Any material deviation from this (on the upside we would expect) could result in positive earnings momentum notwithstanding the strong performance run rate mentioned above," the broker added. The same broker has been gazing into its crystal ball ahead of interim results for cash and carry wholesale group Booker and sees some "some positive surprises on EBIT [earnings before interest and tax] margins, given product mix enhancements and economies of scale, and there may be scope for the interest line to improve quicker than currently assumed."Singer is predicting adjusted headline profit before tax of £35.1m. "Assuming a similar tax charge year on year (i.e. less than 17%), this represents EPS [earnings per share] growth of 15.5% year on year, on the back of 6.1% sales growth. The bottom line growth would be higher but for the investment going into India. On a full year basis, we expect losses to be in the order of £1.0-1.5m in the Indian start-up, similar to last year," Singer added. Also out on Thursday are updates from mining giant Rio Tinto, which will give a third quarter operations review, and retailers Mothercare and WH Smith.INTERIMSBooker GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEDavis Service Group, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Macfarlane Group, Molins, United Business Media, ZotefoamsQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEYamana Gold IncINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Goods Price Index (JPN)Machine Tool Orders (JPN)ECB Report (EU) (09:00)Balance of Trade (US) (13:30)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Producer Price Index (US) (13:30)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Q3Rio TintoQ1DiageoGMSCoal of Africa Limited, HydroDec GroupFINALSClinton Cards, WH SmithANNUAL REPORTClinton CardsIMSSAshmore Group, ASOS, Eaga, RenishawAGMSCoal of Africa Limited, Diageo, Eaga, Electric & General Inv Trust, Encore Oil, Mattioli Woods, Monitise, RenishawTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSMothercare, Rio TintoUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSNationwide Consumer Confidence (01:00)