Thursday preview: Kingfisher, Halma, Marstons

2nd Dec 2009 17:57

DIY group Kingfisher, owner of the B&Q brand, gives an update on Thursday on third quarter sales. The situation at the half-year stage was not as bad as might have been expected given the moribund state of the UK housing market. Indeed, the company may have benefited from the trend for householders to improve their pad rather than moving on to a new one.Despite a sharp improvement in profits at the interim stage, however, revenues were up by just 1.4% excluding the impact of currency movements and were down 2% on a like for like basis. The company's Chinese operations have been a disappointment but there were signs of stabilisation towards the end of the summer and shareholders will be hoping that stabilisation can be converted into modest improvement.Engineering conglomerate Halma has a proud record of raising its dividends every year for thirty years and is generally regarded as a well run company. In its first quarter update at the end of July it said weekly revenues were averaging 3% below last year's levels but that order intake was lightly ahead of revenue in absolute terms. Analysts expect the sensors company to post pre-tax profits of between £33.6m and £38.7m.Brewing and pub group Marstons operates on a similar model to Greene King, which declared impressive interim figures on Tuesday. Marstons has what it calls an 'F-plan,' focusing on food, families and forty/fifty somethings, and as with Greene King, Marstons will be looking to food sales to drive growth. Like for like sales were up 2.7% in the nine weeks to October 3, with food sales up 5.7%. The group's emphasis on value for money offerings suggests it is possible that its pubs have continued to pick up trade from customers who would normally dine out in a restaurant.The service sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) for November should show its seventh successive monthly improvement, and may even grow at its fastest rate since August 2007. Expectations are for a November value of 57.1, up from 56.9 in October. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. INTERIMSACM Shipping, Ashtead Group, Findel, HalmaINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSECB Interest Rate (EU) (00:45)GDP (EU) (10:00)Government Expenditure (EU) (10:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite (US) (15:00)Labour Cost (US) (13:30)Non-Farm Productivity (US) (13:30)PMI Services (EU) (09:00)PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)PMI Services (FRA) (08:50)PMI Services (GER) (08:55)Retail Sales (AUS) (01:30)Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)Unemployment Rate (FRA) (07:45)FINALSAsset Management Investment, Local Shopping REIT, Marstons, RedhallTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBritish Airways, KingfisherAGMSSportswinbet, Yangtze China Investment Ltd.UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Services (09:30)