Thursday preview: Sports Direct, Premier Farnell, BoE rate

9th Dec 2009 18:02

Back in October, sportswear retailer Sports Direct was confident it would achieve underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of at least £150m this financial year, but the caveat was that exchange rates had to remain at October's levels. In the meantime sterling has fallen back, which means the company may be a bit behind schedule when it announces the half-time score on Thursday, but against that, trading has been on an upward trend of late.Electronic components distributor Premier Farnell releases third quarter results, and it looks likely that the best the shareholders can hope for is continued stabilisation in the company's markets.In the second quarter the company said 'the rate of sales decline has abated in MDD [marketing and distribution division] Europe and Asia Pacific, despite market conditions having shown little improvement,' but the maintenance, repair and operations division continued to find things tough in North America.Less than a month ago sector peer Electrocomponents said that the impact of the global recession had eased across all regions, and that it was encouraged by the sales trend, and similar noises may be made by Premier's management on Thursday.Broker Panmure Gordon is predicting profit before tax of £12.8m, versus market consensus of £11.2m. Revenue is forecast by Panmure to be £192.5m, versus market expectations of £193.7m. On the economic front, the Bank of England announces its interest rate decision and quantitative easing (QE) policy statement on Thursday. The smart money is on the status quo being maintained after the £25bn boost to QE in November.INTERIMSAPI Group, Consort Medical, DS Smith, International Greetings, Mulberry Group, Sports Direct International, Titon Holdings, Tricorn GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEC&C Group, Stobart Group, Victoria, Walker Crips Group, Wynnstay PropertiesQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATECanaccord Financial Inc., Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Trade (US)ECB Report (EU) (09:00)Gross Domestic Product (EU) (10:00)Industrial Production (EU) (09:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Manufacturing Production (EU) (07:50)Unemployment Rate (AUD) (00:00)AGMSBowLeven, Centaur Media, Glisten, Preston North End, Quadrise Fuels International, Rambler Metals and Mining, Tottenham HotspurUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBoE Interest Rate Decision (12:00)Q1Premier FarnellFINALSForeign & Colonial EurotrustTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSEaga