Tuesday preview: Ofcom, Domino's, Babcock

29th Mar 2010 15:10

Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, will release its review of the pay-TV market on Tuesday, with industry insiders expecting the watchdog will require British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) to cut the price of its premium sport and film channels by as much as 20%, though broker Nomura Securities thinks the regulator may go further and demand a 25% cut. Any move by the regulator to force BSkyB to cut its charges will not only attract the ire of Sky but is also likely to face a legal challenge from sporting bodies such as the Football Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Rugby Football Union.Conversely, to misquote the late lamented BBC rugby commentator Bill McLaren, they'll be dancing in the corridors at the offices of rival subscription TV operators BT, Virgin Media and Top Up TV, all of which have found it hard to compete with Sky for big sporting events and have therefore been forced to be customers of Sky.On the corporate front, KBC Peel Hunt is expecting the astonishing success of pizza delivery firm Domino's Pizza to continue. 'We expect the initial double-digit LFL [like for like] growth to be sustained, demonstrating further outperformance from this strong and assured retail leisure brand,' the broker said.In the first six weeks of 2010 the company saw an 11% year on year improvement in LFL sales, though that was against weak comparative figures for 2009.Numis Securities also thinks the company is unlikely to run out of steam. 'There are plenty of levers to drive sales higher, including more advertising and extended trading hours,' the broker said.Support services group Babcock has had a busy month, sealing a successful takeover of rival VT Group with a 735p per share offer. As part of its pursuit of VT it indicated that trading so far this fiscal year has been in line with expectations, so there should not be too many surprises in Tuesday's trading update. Sales volumes at dairies operator Robert Wiseman have been running ahead of expectations with milk volumes up around 10.5% compared to the previous year on a like for like basis in the 17 weeks to 23 January.Supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury have upped their orders, while the Co-op also became a customer after rival outfit, the Dairy Farmers of Britain, went under in June last year. Shifting to the economy, with the starting pistol for the next election expected to be fired next month the second revision to the fourth quarter 2009 gross domestic product (GDP) figures may be of as much interest to political pundits as economists.The previous revision nudged up the quarterly gain to 0.3% from an initial estimate of a 0.1% gain, and there is a chance of a further small upward revision, helped by the car scrappage scheme and a spurt in spending ahead of VAT moving back to its previous level of 17.5% at the end of 2009.The Nationwide Building Society is expected to bring out its house price index for February and the expectation is that prices will have remained flat. However, if the index shows a rise in house prices that could prove to be embarrassing to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who added fuel to the lower end of the market with his Budget proposal to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties worth up to £250,000.INTERIMSBank of Ireland, Leed Petroleum, Nanoco GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEFairpoint Group, Haynes Publishing Group, Keystone Inv TrustQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEFrontlineINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence (EU) (10:00)Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00)Industrial Production (JPN) (05:30)PMI Retail (EU) (09:00)PMI Retail (GER) (08:55)FINALSAer Lingus Group, Asterand, Bloomsbury Publishing, IFG Group, JKX Oil & Gas, JSC VTB Bank GDR (Reg S), Kazakhmys, McInerney Holdings, Proximagen Neuroscience, Public Power GDR (Reg S), Robotic Technology, Rugby Estates Investment Trust, Symphony Environmental Technologies, Toumaz Holdings LimitedANNUAL REPORTCobham, Macfarlane Group, Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen GDR (Reg S), RPS GroupIMSSDomino's Pizza UK & IRLAGMSAegon , Blue Star Capital, Domino's Pizza UK & IRL, Electrolux AB, Kumho GDR, Mobile Doctors Group, Phytopharm, RCM Technology Trust, United Bank GDR (Reg S)TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBabcock International Group, Cobham, Future, Macfarlane Group, Robert Wiseman, RPS GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Payments (09:30)Current Account (09:30)GDP (quarterly national accounts) (09:30)PMI Retail (09:30)Nationwide House PricesFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBeazley Group, Caledonia Investments