Tuesday preview: IMPs, IHG, N. Brown

9th May 2011 20:00

Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco (IMPs) has already tipped the wink about revenue growth for the first half of its financial year back in March, so focus will be on earnings and current trading when it releases its interim results.Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation are expected to rise by around 1.9% to £1.48bn from £1.45bn a year ago. Earnings per share are tipped to climb by 5.5% to 87.8p."Spain remains extremely difficult, reflecting the impact of the weak economy, duty increases and the January smoking ban, the last of which prompted some significant de-stocking in the Horeca trade," broker RBS Hoare Govett said. RBS is forecasting normalised profit before tax of £1,193m and earnings per share (EPS) of 87.6p, up 8% on a constant exchange rates basis. Nomura Securities, meanwhile, forecasts EPS of 88.3p.Hotels group InterContinental (IHG) issues a first quarter trading update in which Credit Suisse anticipates Middle East North Africa (MENA) and Japan will be in focus, given the civil unrest in the former and the earthquake in the latter. The Swiss bank thinks full year earnings forecasts will be revised down by about 3% once IHG quantifies the MENA and Japan effects.Credit Suisse is forecasting revenue per available room (RevPAR) to have grown 7% year on year in the first quarter. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) are expected to be around $110m, some $4m above consensus, while it is also $4m above consensus with its forecast of profit before tax of $96m.Internet and catalogue home shopping company N. Brown had a backlog of orders it was working through when it gave its trading update on 12 January, as deliveries had been affected by the snowfall in the first month of 2011. RBS has factored in the bad weather and tweaked its forecast of like for like sales growth for the year to end-February 2011 by half a percentage point to 0.5%, "implying a -1.8% run rate in the final seven weeks of trading."The broker is going for profit before tax of £97.5m and EPS of 27.0p. Market consensus is for £98.49m and 26.70p, respectively.INTERIMS2 ergo Group, easyJet, Imperial Tobacco Group, TUI Travel, United DrugINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATENorthamber, Thorpe (F.W.)INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIndustrial Production (FRA) (07:45)Manufacturing Output (FRA) (07:45)NFIB Small Business optimism (US) (12:30)Import and Export Price Indexes (US) (13:30)Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)FINALSBrown (N.) Group, DCCIMSSG4SEGMSCatco Reinsurance Opps. Fd (DI)AGMSAegis Group, Akers Biosciences Inc. GDS (Reg S), Asia Ceramics Holding, Capita Group, Delcam, Fiberweb, Frenkel Topping Group, HGCapital Trust, Impax Environmental Markets, Informa, Kerry Group 'A' Shares, Macfarlane Group, Merchants Trust, Morgan Crucible Co, National Express Group, North River Resources, Pendragon, Rapid Realisations Fund Ltd., Spirax-Sarco Engineering, United Business Media Ltd., Viridas, Witan Inv TrustUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBRC Sales Monitor (00:01)RICS Housing Market Survey (09:30)Q1BG Group, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company SA, CSR, InterContinental Hotels Group, JSC KazMunaiGaz Exploration GDR (Reg S)---jh