Wednesday preview: Mothercare, Experian, Britvic

19th May 2009 15:28

Back in the last century Mothercare was an ailing brand, lumbering along as part of Storehouse, the group which also included British Home Stores. Since returning to the stock market as an independent entity the babycare products retailer has transformed itself into a high flyer, with the shares trading around eight times the 50p level they were trading at circa January 2001.The company releases full-year results on Wednesday in which pre-tax profits are expected to rise to £37.2m on sales of £731.3m, helped by a contribution from last year's acquisition, the Early Learning Centre.Sales growth has continued to outstrip the sector average, and broker KBC Peel Hunt, a fan of the stock, is expecting UK like-for-like sales to have remained positive since the retailer's last trading update at the beginning of April.Credit checking specialist Experian has seen its share price weighed down by an assumed close correlation with the performance of the housing market, both here and in the USA. That view is beginning to change, however, and the stock was one of a handful of FTSE 100 constituents to show a rise on the year in 2008.Profit before tax in the year to end-March is expected to slide to £521.6m from £549m a year earlier. In its mid-April trading update covering the second half of its financial year (from October to March) the company said that revenue from continuing activities increased by 5% at constant currency rates, with organic revenue growth of 4%, though this disguised a slowing in the rate of organic growth in the Jan-Mar period to 3%, from 5% in the Oct-Mar quarter.Soft drinks company Britvic is expected to report a rise in sales at the interim stage. With the British summer this year forecast to be much better than the wash-outs suffered in 2007 and 2008, analysts will be looking for any excuse to upgrade full-year earnings estimates; market consensus is currently for full-year pre-tax profit of £75.7m, up from £51.8m last year.INTERIMS 2 ergo Group, Britvic, Future, Grainger, GW Pharmaceuticals, Local Shopping REIT, Optos INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Aero Inventory, Bellway, Freshwater UK, Noble Investments, WH Smith QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Caterpillar, Quorum Oil and Gas Technology Fund Ltd. QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Prodesse Investment Ltd., Thomson Reuters INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) Minutes of 29 April FOMC Meeting (US) (19:00)Producer Prices (GER)Convenience Store Sales (JPN)FINALS Canaccord Capital, Experian, Mothercare AGMS 888 Holdings, Cryo-Save Group, Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust, Energetix, European Goldfields Limited, French Connection, Hardy Underwriting Bermuda, Hellenic Carriers, ISIS Property Trust, Just Car Clinics Group, Lombard Medical Technologies, Martin Currie Portfolio Trust, Nichols, Raymarine, SQS Software Quality Systems, Surgical Innovations, Symphony Environmental Technologies, Trafficmaster, Vphase UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30) CBI Industrial Trends Orders (11:00)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Aberdeen Growth Opportunities VCT 2, Amlin, ARM Holdings, BrainJuicer Group, Chesnara, Glanbia, Goldenport, Invista Foundation Property Trust, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Mondi, Serco Group, Shore Capital FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Ambrian Capital, Amec, Bloomsbury Publishing, C&C Group, Cello Group, China Medical System Holdings, Cineworld Group, Derwent London, Genetix Group, Home Retail Group, Invesco Perpetual European Absolute Return Trust, JPMorgan Elect Managed Growth Shares, Lamprell, M. P. Evans Group, Martin Currie Portfolio Trust, New Europe Property Investments, Pacific Assets Trust, Quarto Group, Robinson, Sainsbury (J), Share Plc, Stobart Group, Unilever, Wellstream Holdings QUARTERLY RESULTS Canaccord Capital, MirLand Development Corporation