Wednesday preview: Glaxo, Shell, Home Retail, RBS, Croda

27th Apr 2010 16:55

In what is sure to be a very busy day for corporate announcements pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline and Anglo-Dutch oil titan Royal Dutch Shell are likely to be two of the biggest, though press coverage of the AGM for part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland may consume an equal amount of newsprint.Glaxo will release its first quarter results at midday. Market consensus is for group sales of £7,117m, with Citigroup tipping operating profit will be £2,327m and earnings per share will be 29.1p. Charles Stanley predicts profit before tax will be £2,130m and is expecting a quarterly dividend payment of 15p.Royal Dutch Shell follows in BP's footsteps with first quarter figures. Net income is forecast to lag BP's, at about $4.2bn. but the dividend will be far more generous, as the company has committed to paying quarterly dividends of 42 cents this year.Homebase and Argos owner Home Retail Group issues results for the year to the end of February, with the market holding out for pre-tax profits of £286.6m on sales of around £5,919m. Sales guidance has already been released with like for like (LFL) sales at Argos down 2.1% year on year while LFL sales at Homebase were up 2.7%, so UBS thinks the focus "is likely to be on Argos's attempts to defend its leading multi-channel position against a chasing pack, whether mass market furniture is recovering, and whether EBIT [earnings before interest and tax] margin momentum at Homebase can be sustained."Charles Stanley expects annual cost savings of £35m to have been delivered during the period, "driven by lower staff costs in stores, distribution centres and at head office." The annual general meeting (AGM) of part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland figures to be a milder affair than it might otherwise have been after the company confirmed it will impose stricter criteria on its long-term bonus scheme for bosses. Shareholders will be asked to vote in favour of the new scheme, which will raise the target price that triggers payments from 50p, the bank said."An extensive consultation has been undertaken and the remuneration committee will give close consideration to the range of shareholder views before reaching a final position," read a statement.Shares in speciality chemicals supplier Croda are at a 52-week high, helped by a boost in sentiment at the end of February when the company said it lifted underlying profits by more than 10% in 2009 after a strong fourth quarter that has continued into the current year.Broker Charles Stanley expects Croda's first quarter numbers "will emerge very much at the top end of consensus range or even above it." The broker's own forecast is for pre-tax profit of £37.5m on group revenue of £245m. "We believe that Croda could report sales in excess of our £245m estimate although how the shares respond is likely to depend on the nature of the accompanying outlook statement, specifically, the company's ability to recoup higher input costs through higher product prices (in the wake of a pre-emptive move back in January)," Charles Stanley said."At this stage we do not expect much progress on net debt reduction (gearing 180%) reflecting the timing of pension fund top ups, however, investors may be interested to here the company's views regarding industry consolidation," the broker added. Charles Stanley casts Croda in the role of predator in the event of industry consolidation.INTERIMSFenner, Superglass HoldingsINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEF&C UK Select Trust, Mcbride, Mouchel GroupQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECity Merchants High Yield Trust, City of London Inv Trust, JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Price Index(AUS) (00:00)Consumer Price Index(GER) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)FOMC Interest Rate (US) (19:15)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Retail Sales (JPN)FINALSCorac Group, Dyson Group, Fortune Oil, Gresham Computing, Home Retail Group, HydroDec Group, M. P. Evans Group, Oakley Capital Investments Ltd., Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group, REA Holdings, Tandem Group, Vero SoftwareIMSSBodycote, British American Tobacco, Informa, Law Debenture, Morse, Novae, SVG SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEEmerging Metals LimitedEGMSPangea DiamondFieldsAGMSAdmiral Group, Aggreko, Alkane Energy, Allied Irish Banks, Altin (Reg S), Aviva, Bank Pekao GDS (Reg S), Bodycote, British American Tobacco, Croda International, Economic Lifestyle Property Inv Co, EP Global Opportunities Trust, European Assets Trust, Greenwich Loan Income Fund Limited, Invista Real Estate Investment Management Holdings, Media Corporation, Melchior Japan Inv Trust, Mercator Gold, NeutraHealth, Novatek GDR (Reg S), Rolls-Royce Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Stanley Gibbons, XCounter ABTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSCarpetright, Stagecoach, Stanley GibbonsFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBlackRock World Mining Trust, Stobart Group Ltd.FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAnglo-Eastern Plantations, ARM Holdings, British Smaller Technology Companies VCT 2, Centrica, Croda International, Delcam, Drax Group, Elementis, Ferrexpo, Hellenic Carriers, Hochschild Mining, Hydro International, IS Solutions, Lincat Group, North Midland Construction, Northern 2 VCT, Playtech, Portmeirion, Porvair, Reed Elsevier, Regus, Senior, Tesco, Total Produce, Tullett PrebonQ1888 Holdings, GlaxoSmithKline, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', PartyGaming, SEGRO, Virgin Media Inc.