Wednesday preview: HMV, Northgate, house prices

29th Jun 2010 15:47

HMV, the favourite haunt of last minute present buyers, issues full year results on Wednesday. The shares are yielding an improbable 13.9%, suggesting that the market thinks the company will not be able to sustain that level of payments; HMV management thinks it can, while boosting dividend cover at the same time. Nomura Securities expects the full year dividend to be maintained at 7.40p and the company's profit before tax to be in line with market consensus of £74m to £75m. "With no current trading update, we expect little new news, except an update on initiatives such as the rollout of the fashion offer across the portfolio and Paperchase concessions within larger Waterstones stores," Nomura said."The new fashion offer and live music ventures will be key in 2010/11 to show HMV can diversify its offer away from core categories," the broker added.Vehicle hire group Northgate is forecast to bounce back into the black with its full year results, although last year's pre-tax loss of £195.6m included exceptional charges of £217.9m.Market consensus is for pre-tax profit of £35.37m on revenue of £741.8m, up from £609.7m the year before. UBS expects the picture in the UK to be a lot brighter than it is in Spain, with the former seeing utilisation rates returning to historic levels, allowing the company to edge up prices. "Spain on the other hand is likely to show weaker utilisation and stable pricing," said UBS analyst Alex Hugh.The company is not expected to return to paying dividends at this stage.On the economic front, data for UK Balance of Payments, Current Account and Gross Domestic Product had been expected to be released on Wednesday but publication has been delayed until 12 July while the number crunchers look at some "potential errors" in previously published data."It is important to ensure the national accounts are right, rather than disseminate statistics that might be subject to question over their quality. We are really sorry that we have had to do this and apologise for the inconvenience," said Stephen Penneck, director general of the Office for National Statistics. The Nationwide building society is expected to release its house price index for June shortly after midnight. In view of the cautious outlook on trading announced by carpets seller Carpetright on Tuesday the suspicion is that the housing market recovery may be running out of steam.Economists expect the index to rise 0.3% in June after rising by 0.5% in May and 1.1% the month before that. On a year on year basis the rise is expected to narrow to 9.1% from 9.8% in May.Also due for release on the stroke of midnight is the GfK/NOP consumer confidence index for June, and the hope is that the figure will be a sight better than the US consumer confidence figure which rattled the markets on Tuesday.Economists are braced for the UK index to fall for the fourth month in a row, however, with the index expected to dip to its lowest level since August 2009.Dr. Howard Archer of the I H S Global Insight forecasting unit expects the "confidence index to have retreated to -20% in June from -18% in May and the 2010-high of -14 in February." The consumer confidence index is appreciably below its long-term average of -8, Dr. Archer notes.INTERIMSATH Resources, Galleon Holdings, LookersINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEA&J Mucklow, Jersey Electricity 'A', Local Shopping REIT, Majedie Investments, Marston'sINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATECompass Group, Electronic Data Processing, Paragon Group Of CompaniesQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEMedicX Fund Ltd., Premier Energy & Water TrustQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEMercantile Inv TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSChicago PMI (US) (14:45)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)International Reserves (EU) (11:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)Consumer Prices Index (EC)Housing Starts (JPN)Construction Orders (JPN)GMSCentral African Gold, eServGlobal, Merchant Securities, The Capital Pub Company, Transense TechnologiesFINALSGem BioFuels, HMV Group, Northgate, Worldspreads GroupANNUAL REPORTGem BioFuels, North American Banks Fund Ltd.SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATELibertyEGMSFrench Connection, Telefonica SAAGMSAEC Education, Air China, Alpha Pyrenees Trust Ltd., Archial Group, Astaire Group, Atlantic Coal, Cadogan Petroleum, Caledon Resources, Carador EUR Shares, Cavanagh Group, Chaarat Gold Holdings, China Western Investments, CSS Stellar, Densitron Technologies, Energiser Investments, Equatorial Palm Oil, Eruma, Eurasia Mining, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2, Hawtin, Home Retail Group, IFG Group, Kazakhstan Kagazy GDR (Reg S), Kiotech International, Kryso Resources, Landore Resources, Manx Financial Group, Maypole Group, Mobile Tornado, Netplay TV, Northern Petroleum, Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company, Noventa Ltd., OJSC LSR Group GDR (Reg S), Oxus Gold, PetroLatina Energy, Proteome Sciences, Puricore, Rurelec, Shed Media, Silanis International, Strategic Thought Group, Taihua, Telit Communications, Titan Europe, Transense Technologies, ValiRx, Vimetco GDR (Reg S), Vyke Communications, Yinggao Holdings, Yujin InternationalUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)Index of Services (09:30)Nationwide House Prices (07:00)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEChina Shoto, Pacific Assets Trust, Puma VCT V, Vindon HealthcareFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAberdeen All Asia Inv Trust, Ashley (Laura) Holding, Bisichi Mining, Braemar Shipping Services, Brown (N.) Group, BSS Group, Cranswick, Dee Valley Group, Fuller Smith and Turner, Halfords Group, Hogg Robinson, Homeserve, Kiotech International, Man Group, Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust, Puma VCT III, Puma VCT IV, Velosi, Ventus 1 VCTQ1Tanjong