Tuesday preview: DMGT, Euromoney, Close Brothers ...

24th Sep 2012 18:18

Publisher and exhibitions organiser Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) issues a pre-close statement on Tuesday, and Peel Hunt thinks the resilience of the business-to-business (B2B) side will balance the more volatile consumer markets side."We anticipate a mixed performance from Consumer, with Associated relativelystable as the Daily Mail continues to gain market share. Northcliffe has experienced volatile advertising trends in the regional markets, and we anticipate a 14% revenue decline, although cost cuts should maintain margins of over 10%," the broker forecast.Sector peer Euromoney is also issuing a pre-close period statement and Peel Hunt says that although there are always worries relating to the group's key September profit month, this year the concerns are heightened, what with Iranian scandals and LIBOR issues "muddying the water for a key advertising sector the risk is greater than normal.""A second issue will be the company comment, if any, on the subscription outlook. This represents more than half group revenue and is slow to both accelerate/decelerate, and so any adverse comment will [have an] impact [on] 2013 forecasts," the broker reckons.Westhouse Securities believes "characteristically strong cash generation should also be evident," in Euromoney's trading update. "We estimate year end net debt of £65m (versus £119m at end FY11A [fiscal 2011] and £89m at the half year), creating a strong platform for acquisition activity - although management indicated earlier in the year that valuation levels were proving prohibitive in this regard," Westhouse said. "From a trading perspective, we expect a robust performance from subscription revenues (c.53% of group total), but would be surprised if the pressure on sponsorship and advertising activities reported in July's IMS [interim management statement] has abated," Westhouse suggested. Full year results from finance house Close Brothers will probably be a mixed bag, with strong growth in the banking division offset by the Winterflood broking operation. Market forecasts are for profit before tax of £132.22m.Results from Britain's biggest veterinary chain, CVS Group, should contain few surprises as the company revealed most of the good stuff in its July trading statement. Market expectations are for revenue in the year to the end of June of £107.80m, leading to profit before tax of £01.92m. Earnings per share are seen edging up to 14.1p with the full-year dividend tipped to rise by a generous 52% to 1.52p."Good progress is also anticipated in EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] and we are forecasting £15.1m vs. £14.5m YOY [year-on-year]," Panmure Gordon said, "We believe the market will be looking for evidence that LFL [like-for-like] growth is sustainable in the current macro environment. This will ultimately come from core veterinary practices, which stood at 231 at the year end. In addition, online operation Animed Direct is growing rapidly and generated £3.5m of revenue during the year vs. £2.0m last year and should continue to play a larger role in future LFL progress albeit at lower gross margin," the broker continued. The company announced LFL growth of 3% for the group in its July trading statement. Peel Hunt believes "the key number is the practices as these are the profit driver. Animed Direct is growing rapidly and provided around 2% of the LFL growth, however direct sales are low gross margin," Peel Hunt notes."Balance sheet is in good shape - we are estimating net debt to have fallen from£33.5m to £30.6m, which includes £3.5m spend on acquisitions," the broker added.On the economic front, mortgage lending figures are out in the UK at 9:30 while in the afternoon we get to take the temperature of US consider confidence."US consumer confidence is released on Tuesday and will provide an early read on how the Fed's delivery of QE3 has impacted upon the mood of the US consumer," says Ian Williams at Peel Hunt.INTERIMSAugean, Bond International Software, InternetQ, Judges Scientific, KBC Advanced Technologies, Photonstar LED Group, Silence Therapeutics, TotallyINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATETaylor WimpeyQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEBPINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence (US) (15:00)House Price Index (US) (15:00)FINALSAlbemarle & Bond Holdings, Close Brothers Group, CVS Group, Hargreaves Services, Netcall, RegenersisEGMSEastern European Property Fund Ltd.AGMSBraveheart Investment Group, Daisy Group, Downing Structured Opportunities VCT 1, Downing Structured Opportunities VCT 1 'B' Shares, Downing Structured Opportunities VCT 1 'D' Shares, Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd. (DI), Private Equity Investor, Terra Catalyst Fund (DI), Zoo Digital GroupTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSDaily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V)UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBloomsbury PublishingQ1Immofinanz AGJH