Wednesday preview: Tullow, Britvic, Renishaw

26th Jan 2010 15:52

Oil company Tullow Oil, due to make a fourth quarter update on Wednesday, will be in celebratory mood after Heritage Oil shareholders rubber-stamped Tullow's purchase of Heritage's 50% stake in Blocks 1 and 3A in Uganda.Italian oil giant Eni agreed in November to buy Heritage's Ugandan interests for $1.35bn in cash and a deferred consideration of $150m, but Tullow Oil gatecrashed the deal last week, exercising a pre-emption right to snap up the holding for the same price. The company will also be celebrating another oil strike in Uganda announced this week, this time at the Kasamene-2 appraisal well 1km north-east of the Kasamene-1 discovery.Chelmsford-based soft drinks firm Britvic issues a first quarter trading update and broker Nomura is expecting the company to 'show a robust start to the year and continued strong performance in line with our medium-term GB revenue growth target of 5%.'The core UK market is expected to see volumes rise 3.9% and revenues advance 5.9%, according to the Japanese broker. Total sales across the group are tipped to rise 2.2%. On the downside, the broker sees sales pressure in Ireland continuing.Newsagent WH Smith is a bit late to the party with its Christmas trading update. Its mid-November trading update belied some trepidation about the prospects for the festive season, even though trading in the 10 weeks to 7 November were in line with expectations, with group sales down 1%. FTSE 250 engineering company Renishaw should provide a 'relatively upbeat announcement' when it issues an interim update, according to Numis Securities. 'Leading indicators, in particular Japanese machine-tool orders, have pointed to improving trends and recent data would suggest stronger revenues for Renishaw through its second quarter,' the broker notes. Numis is forecasting interim pre-tax profit of £3m.On the international results front, tech stocks Lam Research (wafer fabrication for the semiconductor industry) and Qualcomm (mobile technologies) will struggle to wrest attention away from media darling Apple, which is widely expected to announce details of its latest product, believed to be a touch-screen tablet computer. Switching to the economy, the CBI distributive trades survey for January may go some way to make up for Tuesday's announcement of anaemic gross domestic product numbers. The balance of retailers reporting a year on year increase in sales is expected to improve from December's +8% to +13%, despite January's bad weather and the rise in VAT.INTERIMSBest of the Best, Renishaw, System C Healthcare INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBrulinesINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAnite Group, DS Smith, Hartest Holdings, IG Group Holdings, NCC GroupQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEStobart Group IncQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEEquity Partnership Income Shares, Quorum Oil and Gas Technology Fund Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Price Index(AUS) (00:00)FOMC Interest Rate (US) (19:15)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)Consumer Confidence Indicator (FRA) (07:45)Consumer Prices Index (GER) Jobseekers Net Change (FRA) (18:00)Retail Sales (JPN) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCBI Distributive Trades Survey (11:00)Q3Indian Hotels GDR (Reg S)FINALSGalleon Holdings, Throgmorton TrustEGMSAl EZZ Steel Rebars GDS (Reg S), Global MENA Financial Assets Ltd.AGMSBritvic, Capcon Holdings, Finsbury Growth & Income Trust, Petmin, Standard Life European Private Equity Trust, Tracsis, WH SmithTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBritvic, Gottex Market Neutral Trust Ltd., Tullow Oil, Vedanta Resources, WH SmithFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAlbemarle & Bond, ATH Resources, Majedie InvestmentsFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish Portfolio Trust, City Merchants High Yield Trust, Compass Group, Jupiter Dividend & Growth Trust, Shaftesbury, SpaceandPeople, Treatt