Wednesday preview: UBS upgrades Northgate ahead of results

26th Jun 2012 16:23

Final results from commercial vehicle hire specialist Northgate are due on Wednesday morning, with the focus likely to be on the final few months of trading.The firm announced in mid-March that tough economic conditions in both the UK and Spain would mean that the results for the 12 months to the end of April would be "towards the lower-end of the range of market expectations".Since then, the stock has tanked, from the 250p mark to 175.75p as of Monday's close.UBS on Tuesday upgraded its rating on the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', providing a small boost the shares. The broker said that Northgate's stand-alone UK business is worth 186p per share which leaves Spain currently being priced at a small negative per share value - "We think this is too harsh even in spite of the fairly dire macro outlook there."Analysts suggest that with the macro outlook in Spain getting worse, not better, management could look to ("or be forced to") run down its fleet significantly. "Given asset sales are crystallising book value but the stock trades well below book, this should release value in our view."UBS is forecasting Northgate to have generated £676.9m in revenues in the year to end-April, down from the £715.5m reported the year before. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) are expected to fall from £105.6m to £103.9m, while earnings per share are predicted to rise from 28.94p to 31.63p.INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Majedie Investments INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Compass Group, Jupiter Green Inv Trust, Octopus Titan VCT 1, Octopus Titan VCT 2, Octopus Titan VCT 3 QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE BP QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Africa Opportunity Fund Ltd., Dow Chemical Co, Molex Inc., Molex Inc. 'A' Shares, Yamana Gold Inc. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00) GMS Hampson Industries FINALS Northgate, Plastics Capital, Sutton Harbour Holdings ANNUAL REPORT Pennon Group AGMS Aberdeen New Thai Inv Trust, BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Brightside Group, C&C Group, Forum Energy, Global Energy Development, Herencia Resources, IFG Group, Invista Real Estate Investment Management Holdings, JSC Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant GDR (Reg S), Lukoil 'B' GDR (Reg S), Martin Currie Pacific Trust, Natasa Mining Ltd. (DI), NBNK Investments, Nostra Terra Oil & Gas Co, Octopus VCT 2, Sovereign Mines of Africa, Viridas, Walker Greenbank, Westminster Group, Yujin International Ltd. (DI) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS CPP Group UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30) CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Fortune Oil, Share Plc FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Aberdeen All Asia Inv Trust, Aurora Investment Trust, Brown (N.) Group, Caffyns, Chamberlin, Charles Stanley Group, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'D' Shares , Ensor Holdings, Helical Bar, Hogg Robinson Group, Homeserve, ICAP, IFG Group, KCOM Group, MDM Engineering Group Ltd. (DI), Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust, Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Next, Norcros, Northern 2 VCT, Octopus Apollo VCT 1, Octopus Apollo VCT 2, Octopus Apollo VCT 3, PayPoint, Petropavlovsk, Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd., Restaurant Group, Tate & Lyle, Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust, Trifast, UK Mail Group , Vislink, Wynnstay PropertiesBC