Tuesday preview: Tesco, Chloride, Northern Foods

5th Oct 2009 16:46

UK supermarket giant Tesco issues interim results on Tuesday which will be complicated by the inclusion for the first time of Tesco Personal Finance as a consolidated entity.Broker Charles Stanley is forecasting profit before tax of £1,450m on sales of £28,250m, versus comparative figures from a year earlier of £1,453m and £25,638m respectively.It expects like for like sales in the 6 months to 21 August to have grown by 4%, a sub-par performance in comparison with its major sector peers, which Charles Stanley puts down to a slow-down in non-food sales growth and Tesco's aggressive price cuts, which have had a deflationary effect on sales value.Other brokers are more bearish, with Jefferies forecasting like for like sales growth of 3.5% (excluding VAT and fuel), down from growth of 4.3% in the first quarter, while UBS goes for growth of 3.25% and Numis 3%.UBS expects lower losses at Tesco Direct in the second quarter than were seen in the first quarter, and this, coupled with 'a stringent approach on costs' and lower fuel prices could see first half earnings rise by around 7%.Shore Capital is not expecting any adjustment to full-year consensus earnings estimates as a result of Tuesday's trading update. Electrical components maker Chloride issues a pre-close period update ahead of its interim results on 2 November. The weakness of sterling and contributions from acquisitions should ensure that revenues are likely to be only marginally lower at around £149m, but profit before tax could be down by as much as 15%. Normalised profit before tax is tipped to be around £15.8m.Marks & Spencer accounts for around 27% of sales at Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuit maker Northern Foods, so improving like for like food sales trends at M&S could be a positive omen for the food producer's trading statement on Tuesday.The warm weather may also have given a boost to sales of the company's sandwich and salad lines. INTERIMSTescoINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHiscox, Holders Technology, XP PowerFINALSEpistemTRADING STATEMENTSChloride, Northern FoodsAGMSEquest Investments Balkans Ltd., Namibian ResourcesFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAirsprung Furniture, Synergy HealthcareUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIndustrial Production (09:30)Manufacturing Output (09:30)NIESR GDP est.