Thursday preview: Mitchells & Butlers, Utd. Utilities, mortgage approvals

22nd Sep 2010 17:07

The acquisition of the Ha Ha Bar and Grill chain from The Restaurant Group could be a sign that food-orientated pubs group Mitchells & Butlers has regained the spring in its step.On Thursday it issues a trading update that should be upbeat, according to Numis Securities. The broker is expecting like-for-like sales growth to have quickened to 1.8% from 1.6% at the 42-week stage.KBC Peel Hunt is a fan of the stock, and notes that it is "the cheapest of the pubcos [pub companies] on 7.6x EV:EBITDA [enterprise value:earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] against an average of 8.3x. It is also the fastest changing as it gets seriously into the growth side of its strategy. We believe it is likely to continue delivering positive newsflow on openings and acquisitions. We also expect the dividend to be restored at the finals in November," it said, in a note following the Ha Ha acquisition.Utility company United Utilities is a bit like ol' man river, it just keeps rolling along. The firm, which revealed a drop in full-year profits in May due to high borrowing costs, said at its AGM in late July that everything is going as expected. Lower prices for 2010/11, revenue pressures from reduced water volumes, bad debt and an anticipated rise in property rates are being partially offset by a decline in power costs, plus the company's own programme of efficiency and performance improvement measures.If there are to be any surprises in the pre-close trading statement they could come in the form of an update on the company's proposed disposal of its remaining non-regulated businesses, in which some companies have expressed an interest. Brtiain's perennial interest in the housing market will be catered to by the British Bankers' Assocation's report on mortgage approvals for August. Pundits suspect the number for August will have remained at an historically low level but should show an improvement on July's 33,698, perhaps rising as high as 34,500. Such a figure would represent a 15.1% fall on the level seen in August of last year and would be well below the average monthly level of 59,221 seen since 1997.Although interest rates remain low, the spectre of unemployment for many people has not gone away while even those who feel confident enough to consider moving to a bigger house are finding it difficult to raise the level of deposits now being demanded by many lenders. INTERIMSGoIndustry-DoveBid, Inditherm, S & U, Scisys, Songbird Estates, Treveria, Westminster GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEJohn Wood Group, PrudentialQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEVirgin Media Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSContinuing Claims (US) (13:30)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)Production Outlook Indicator (FRA) (07:45)Business Confidence Indicator (FRA) (07:45)PMI Manufacturing Survey (FRA) (08:00)PMI Service Sector Survey (FRA) (08:00)PMI Manufacturing Survey (GER) (08:30)PMI Service Sector Survey (GER) (08:30)PMI Manufacturing Survey (EU) (09:00)PMI Service Sector Survey (EU) (09:00)GMSORA Capital, Renewable Energy HoldingsFINALSGleeson (M J) Group, Group NBTAGMSAEA Technology, Downing Distribution VCT 1, Fletcher King, Harvard International, Maxima Holdings, Micro Focus International Plc, New India Inv Trust, NWF Group, Scientific Digital Imaging, Supergroup, VietNam Holding Ltd.TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSLuminar Group, Mitchells & Butlers, United Utilities GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)