Wednesday preview: British Airways, Northumbrian Water, Sportingbet

2nd Jun 2009 17:13

It’s not been a good week for the airline industry and there is more potential for gloom on Wednesday when British Airways publishes its May traffic figures. Just over a week ago British Airways announced it had slipped into the red in the year to March 31 as conditions continued deteriorating towards the end of the period. The company’s chief executive officer Willie Walsh admitted that the board’s focus on first class and business class passengers had not paid off in the current environment, while chief financial officer Keith Williams said the impact of the financial crisis on BA has been ‘brutal’.Since March confidence has returned to the stock markets but equity markets are forward looking entities, and most companies are still looking to contain costs, among them expensive business trips.Northumbrian Water is the latest water company to publish full-year figures, following in the damp foot-steps of Dee Valley, Pennon, Severn Trent and United Utilities. The market is expecting pre-tax profit of £150m on revenue of £686m, with the full-year dividend predicted to rise to 12.64p from 12.07p last year.The share price of online sports bookmaker Sportingbet has been accelerating like a thoroughbred since early April, and it’s unlikely to be because the company announced a sponsorship deal round about that time with Wolverhampton Wanderers, although the subsequent promotion of Wolves to the Premiership shows that, like most bookies, Sportingbet can spot a winner.The company provides a third quarter update on Wednesday. Stockbroker Numis Securities is forecasting £10.6m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.INTERIMS Sarantel Group 'A' INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE AI Claims Solutions, Albion Income & Growth VCT, Associated British Foods, Cardiff Property, Connaught, Daily Mail and General Trust, F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., Greencore Group, Majedie Investments, Marston's, Matchtech, Narborough Plant, Northern Venture Trust, Northern Venture Trust 'C' Shares, Renew Holdings, RM Group, Standard Life Equity Income Trust QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Premier Energy & Water Trust FINALS B.P. Marsh & Partners, Hampson Industries, Iomart, IS Pharma, Northumbrian Water Group AGMS Adventis Group, Alexander Mining, Ashley (Laura) Holding, Camellia, Cryptologic Ld, Datang Intl H, Downing Protected VCT IX, Downing Protected VCT VIII, Eastern Platinum, Hiscox, Kingfisher, Petroceltic International, Severfield-Rowen UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BRC Shop Price Index (10:30) Nationwide Consumer Confidence (00:01) PMI Service Sector Survey (09:30) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite Survey (US) (15:00) Factory Orders (US) (15:00) PMI Service Sector Survey (FRA) (08:50) PMI Service Sector Survey (GER) (08:55) PMI Service Sector Survey (EC) (09:00) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE H & T Group, Highcroft Investment, InterQuest, Motivcom, Mount Engineering, Total Produce FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Aberdeen New Thai Inv Trust, Billington Holdings, BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Brammer, Cable & Wireless, Capital Gearing Trust, Cryo-Save Group, First Derivatives, Getmobile Europe, Havelock Europa, Hill and Smith, Hilton Food, International Power, Intertek Group, IRP Property Investments, Judges Scientific, Keydata AIM VCT 2, Laird, Lees Foods, London and Associated Properties, Management Consulting Group, Marshalls, Morgan Crucible, Mothercare, Narborough Plant, National Grid, Pace, Pinewood-Shepperton, Rexam, Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, Securities Trust of Scotland, Sinosoft Technology, Slingsby H.C, Spectris, Staffline Recruitment, Ukrproduct Group, Vindon Healthcare, Visonic, Vodafone Group, Win, WPP Group TRADING ANNOUNCEMENT Sportingbet