Wednesday preview: J. Sainsbury, Michael Page

6th Oct 2009 16:07

Though still a long way from reclaiming its position as Britain's biggest supermarket in terms of sales, J. Sainsbury has been enjoying a renaissance in recent years and has certainly been enjoying faster sales growth than sector leader Tesco this year.Recent figures from TNS Worldpanel indicated Tesco's market share had dropped to 30.9% from 31.1% in the 12 weeks to 6 September, while Sainsbury's share rose to 15.8% in September.Numis Securities is predicting Sainsbury will announce second quarter year on year like for like (LFL) sales growth of around 5.5%, including VAT but excluding fuel. If achieved, that would compare very favourably with Tesco's second quarter LFL growth of 2.1%.Recruitment firm Michael Page has, ironically, been shedding staff at a rate of knots in the UK, reducing its workforce by around one third over the last year or so, much of it through natural attrition. It reports on third quarter trading on Wednesday. 'We anticipate a challenging third quarter as we enter into the seasonally quieter summer period, both in Continental Europe, which was later into the downturn, and in the UK,' said chief executive Steve Ingham back in August.Nevertheless, shareholders will be hoping that trading in the UK, at least, is showing signs of stabilising.INTERIMSWalker GreenbankINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAbbey Protection, Drax Group, Lancashire Holdings, Randall & Quilter Investment, Rathbone BrothersINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAdmiral Group, Adventis Group, AG Barr, Amiad Filtration Systems, Balfour Beatty, Braime Ord, Brammer, Cello Group, Cenkos Securities, Charles Taylor, Dealogic, Dillistone, Fisher (James) & Sons, Forth Ports, Gaming VC Holdings, Hydrogen Group, Judges Scientific, Keller Group, Kingfisher, M. P. Evans Group, Martin Currie Portfolio Trust, Matrix Income & Growth 4 VCT, Motivcom, Nationwide Accident Repair Services, Octopus Apollo VCT 1, Octopus Apollo VCT 2, Octopus Eclipse VCT 2, Octopus Protected VCT 1, office2office, Pinewood-Shepperton, Primary Health Properties, Public Service Properties Investments, S & U, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, StatPro Group, Ukrproduct Group, Weir Group, WPP GroupQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEAfrica Opportunity Fund Ltd.QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEHenderson Global Property Companies Ltd., Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares, Investors Capital Trust 'B' Shares, Merchants TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGross Domestic Product (EU) (10:00)Household Consumption (EU) (10:00)Gross Government Spending (EU) (10:00)Factory Orders (GER) (11:00)Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)FINALSCoburg Group, Imperial Innovations, SportingbetTRADING STATEMENTSJ. Sainsbury, Michael PageEGMSHawtinAGMSM&G Equity Inv Trust Capital Shares, M&G Equity Inv Trust Income Shares, M&G Equity Investment Trust UnitsUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBRC Shop Price Index (10:30)Nationwide Consumer Confidence (00:01)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEGartmore Fledgling Trust, Pennon Group, PZ CussonsFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAdmiral Group, Advance Developing Markets, Close Brothers Group, Daejan Holdings, Glasgow Income Trust, JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust, Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Shires Smaller Companies Trust, System C Healthcare, TR European Growth Trust