Tuesday preview: Mitchells & Butlers, Severn Trent, De La Rue

22nd Nov 2010 18:04

Pubs group Mitchells & Butlers, which issues full-year results, in its recent nine week trading update highlighted a 3.6% like-for-like sales improvement on last year.Food sales were, as usual, the driver of growth but even the "wet" side of the business saw a pick-up. Brokers now expect the All Bar One and Harvester owner to post profits of £166m this year, but this figure could be conservative.Other big hitters to post results include water group Severn Trent, which broker Charles Stanley expects Severn Trent to report pre-tax profits of £169m and EPS of 51.2p with a dividend 10% lower at 24p.De La Rue's interim results will be keenly watched in view of the problems the banknote printer has been having lately. The company lost its chief executive earlier this year amid problems over production quality at one of its sites and said that some of its employees had been deliberately falsifying paper specification test certificates for banknotes, which will hit pre-tax profits by at least £35mPerhaps the most exciting news of the day could come from the US though, with GDP data for the third quarter due. Consensus forecast are for the US economy to have grown by 2.4% over the past three months, up from 2% in the previous quarter.A higher figure could trigger a bullish reaction in the dollar as the economic outlook looks to improve, a more sluggish growth rate could prompt a quick sell-off in the greenback.Minutes to the Federal Open Market Committee will also be released Tuesday and are expected to reveal the committee's growth projections in light of its much-criticised $600bn bond-purchasing programme.INTERIMS Assura Group Ltd., Bango, Caledonia Investments, Carclo, De La Rue, Digital Marketing Group, Hamworthy, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Homeserve, Intermediate Capital Group, KCOM Group, Renold, Severn Trent, Telecom Plus INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ABC Consumer Confidence (US) (22:00) Gross Domestic Product (US) (13:30) Q3 Alpha Bank GDR (Reg S) USD, Espirito Santo Financial Group SA, Signet Jewelers Ltd. GMS Clipper Windpower (Reg S), Proventec, Sylvania Resources Ltd. (DI) FINALS Armour Group, Education Development International, GW Pharmaceuticals, Mitchells & Butlers, Renew Holdings ANNUAL REPORT Greencore Group, JSC Acron GDR (Reg S), Uranium Resources IMSS Clinton Cards EGMS Berkeley Technology Ltd. AGMS Alternative Asset Opportunities PCC Ltd., Aquarius Platinum Ltd., BlueBay Asset Management, Clinton Cards, Discovery Metals Ltd. (CDI), Ruffer Investment Company Ltd., Scotgold Resources (DI), ZCCM Investments Holdings 'B' Shares