Thursday preview: TUI Travel, Mothercare

30th Mar 2011 17:12

TUI Travel is the second big tour operator to give a trading update this week, following on from Thomas Cook's announcement on Tuesday.TUI shareholders will have been heartened that Thomas Cook felt no need to revise upwards the amount of money it expects to lose as a result of disruption from the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. The company also said it is performing well, though bookings, capacity and booked load factors across all markets are lower than previously reported for winter season holidays, mainly due to cancellations following the unrest in North Africa.TUI Travel, the operator of brands such as Thomson and First Choice, said in early February that the problems in North Africa could hit its results for the current quarter by £25m to £30m. Repatriation and cancellation costs in Tunisia are estimated to have cost £5m.Broker Numis Securities forecasts that despite all the troubles in some popular hotspots the group's passenger numbers will still be around 3% higher than a year ago.Thursday sees mother and toddler outfit Mothercare bring out a fourth quarter trading statement. Peel Hunt thinks Mothercare should report a notable improvement in its fourth quarter UK sales "with a weak snow comparative and the benefits of January stock clearance". "We are leaving our full-year profit before tax expectations unchanged at £32.5m; they sit c5-7% below consensus. We had taken a dim view of the sales environment over the first quarter of 2011 and forecast only a two percentage point improvement in quarter on quarter sales performance," Peel Hunt said.INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE BHP Billiton, Cash Converters International Ltd. Units, Downing Distribution VCT 1, Hansard Global, Jupiter Primadona Growth Trust, Sportingbet QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE MedicX Fund Ltd. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Construction Orders (JPN) GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00) Producer Prices (FRA) (07:45) Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55) Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00) International Reserves (EU) (11:00) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Chicago PMI (US) (13:45) NAPM Milwaukee (15:00) GMS Fortune Oil, Hawtin, John Wood Group, Managed Support Services, Metals Exploration, SerVision, Spitfire Oil Ltd. (DI) FINALS 888 Holdings, Aveva Group, Chesnara, Empresaria Group, Evraz Group SA GDR (Reg S), Hilton Food Group, International Public Partnerships Ltd., JKX Oil & Gas, Mam Funds, Mariana Resources Ltd., Medicsight, Optimal Pay, Petropavlovsk ANNUAL REPORT Macfarlane Group SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares EGMS JSC KazMunaiGaz Exploration GDR (Reg S) AGMS Aukett Fitzroy Robinson Group, Capcon Holdings, ECR Minerals, Formation Group, IRF European Finance Investments Ltd. (DI), JSJS Designs, Lonrho, Low & Bonar, MCB Bank Ltd. GDR (Reg S), Mission Capital, Resaca Exploitation Inc. (DI), SVG Capital, Turkiye is Bankasi GDR (Reg S) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Booker Group, Compass, Dairy Crest Group, Future, Mothercare, TUI Travel UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01) Nationwide House Prices (07:00) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Chrysalis VCT, Domino's Pizza UK & IRL, Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Capital Shares, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Income Shares, Rio Tinto, Temple Bar Inv Trust---jh