Thursday preview: Upbeat Dixons statement expected

20th Jun 2012 15:58

Thursday's results from electrical goods retailer Dixons will be the first on the watch of new Chief Executive Officer, Seb James."Consensus expects pretax profits to be in the range £65m to £70m and we are at the top end," notes Panmure Gordon."We expect that the numbers and accompanying presentation will provide significant support for the UK profit recovery story. This means that the focus will shift towards the underperforming businesses (Southern Europe and PIXmania), which are major contributors to our forecast of £100m profit improvement over the next three years," the broker added. All eyes will be on guidance for 2013 when rental equipment firm Ashtead releases its full year results, according to US broker Jefferies. The broker is expecting Ashtead to report a pre-tax profit of £121.1m for the year ended March 31st 2012, based on the fourth-quarter assumptions of US rental revenue growth of 13% year-on-year. "Given sector peer United Rentals reported April 2012 rental revenues up 19.2% year-on-year, we believe these Ashtead 4Q12 assumptions are conservatively set," analysts said. "We see upside risk to FY13 forecasts from 1) ongoing structural shift to increased rental & less equipment ownership in North America 2) Pricing recovery in rental rates and 3) Ashtead gaining market share from smaller, more financially constrained peers."The market consensus is for Ashtead to unveil profit before tax of £122.4m on revenue of £1.12bn. QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATERoyal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B', Total SAINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)Current Account (EU) (09:00)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)House Price Index (US) (15:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)Q4Ashtead GroupFINALSAshtead Group, Dixons Retail , Micro Focus InternationalANNUAL REPORTAPI GroupAGMSArgo Real Estate Opportunities Fund, GoIndustry-DoveBid, Hampden Underwriting, Henderson Private Equity Inv Trust, Heritage Oil, Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber, International Public Partnerships Ltd., Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd., Premier Gold Resources, Tawa, Telit Communications, TLA Worldwide , Toye & Co, Vimetco NV GDR (Reg S), VolvereTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSGo-Ahead GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)Internet Retail Sales (09:30)Retail Sales (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECapital & Counties Properties , Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., M. P. Evans Group, Martin Currie Global Portfolio Trust, Networkers International, Provident Financial, Severfield-RowenJH