Tuesday preview: Persimmon, G4S

22nd Aug 2011 15:06

House builder Persimmon was trading close to its 52-week high of 502.5p at the beginning of July, but has plummeted since then to around 380p, as it got caught up in the global sell-off of equities. Tuesday's interim results are expected to show an improvement in both profitability and net margin, which may give respite to hard-hit shareholders."Unit completions are likely to be 4.9% lower YOY [year-on-year] following the difficult trading conditions seen in the second half of 2010 (and therefore the lower number of units carried into this year). Average selling prices are likely to be 4% lower on mix, but net margins are likely to be 100bps [i.e. one percentage point] ahead as recovery continues," Panmure Gordon said. The broker is forecasting a 23.6% increase in interim headline profits before tax to £48.7m.Security services provider G4S is tipped to show 4% underlying sales growth at the interim stage. Analysts are looking for 8% growth in emerging markets and nearer 2% in mature ones like Britain. INTERIMSAntofagasta, Cairn Energy, Capital & Regional, Chime Communications, Corin Group, G4S, H&T Group, John Wood Group, Pendragon, Persimmon, Severfield-Rowen, Source BioScience, Spectris, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Summit Corp., UK Coal, UK Commercial Property TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)ZEW Survey (EU) (10:00)ZEW Survey (GER) (10:00)SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEeServGlobal Ltd.AGMSLivermore Investments Group Ltd., Omega Diagnostics GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)