Week ahead: Resources results dominate

16th Aug 2013 14:00

Next week in London should be dominated by the natural resources and construction and engineering industries, with a host of blue chip half-year updates. The building sector figures in macro economic data too, with the British Bankers' Association unveiling the latest UK mortgage numbers and the US Census Bureau lifting the lid on resales and new home sales.Also of major importance, the first revisions of UK second-quarter GDP figures and July's public sector borrowing data will be published. Economists at Investec are looking for a small upward revision to GDP to plus-0.7% quarter-on-quarter from plus-0.6% and for underlying government borrowing to stand flat on the year. Across the Atlantic, the publication of the Fed's July meeting minutes follows the annual Jackson Hole Central Bank Symposium, which may be lower-key than usual due to the absence of Fed head Ben Bernanke and European counterparts Mark Carney and President Draghi.Over in the company scene, the European company reporting season comes to an end with barely one third of results updates remaining. Analysts at Deutsche Bank (DB) note that EPS and sales beats (improvements) this season remain below historic averages at 54% and 57% versus long-term averages of 57% and 59% respectively, with the season "belonging squarely to Financials so far", with healthy beat proportions across regions.Next week it looks unlikely the lately beleaguered resources and associated sectors will eclipse their number-crunching cousins. The mighty BHP Billiton will see results hungrily devoured for cost and capex cuts. DB expects $700m of further cost reductions in the second half, taking full year cost cuts to $1.1bn. "Capex guidance for FY14 could be as low as $16bn," the German banks posits, but is modelling $17.4bn of capex and recommends 'buying'.A range of analysts are positive on is oil & gas support services provider Wood Group, where continued strong growth is expected with earnings up 16% (Numis) to 19% (DB). Among the FTSE 250 producers, Numis expects a recent pick-up in Cairn Energy share price to continue in the short term ahead of a very material Morocco exploration programme and positive newsflow on the development of both Catcher and Kraken, while at Kazakhmys it expects to see further writedowns, especially on the ENRC stake, and net cash costs and capex to be up.In the construction and engineering sectors interims include those due from FTSE 100's building materials group CRH, housebuilder Persimmon and FTSE 250 housebuilder Bovis Homes. Deutsche foresees a 2.0% year-on-year decline in CRH's first-half like-for-like sales "as positive growth in the Americas divisions should be more than offset by the decline in European operations". Numis largely agrees and adds, "We continue to believe that shares are too highly rated reflecting limited recovery profile rather than a depressed earnings base and favour other stocks as better US and European recovery plays."Persimmon and Bovis are both well liked, with DB calling the latter "the growth story in the market"."Bovis trades at the bottom end of its peers. However, with the company's growth ambitions offering further leverage to housing recovery driving some of the most significant earnings upside relative to peers we see Bovis as the mid cap of choice. Buy."Monday August 19INTERIMSAmlin, Bovis Homes Group, Greencoat UK Wind, Kingspan Group, Quindell Portfolio, RuspetroGMSPlastics CapitalAGMSNew Century AIM VCT, Northacre, Oracle Coalfields, Puma VCT V, SolgoldFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATELondon Stock Exchange Group, Mountview EstateTuesday August 20INTERIMSCairn Energy, CRH, Glencore Xstrata, JSC Acron GDR (Reg S), Menzies(John), NMC Health, Wood Group (John)QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATECaterpillar Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSProducer Price Index (GER) (07:00)ANNUAL REPORTFalkland Islands Holdings, Immofinanz AGAGMSFalkland Islands Holdings, Meikles Ltd., World Trust FundWednesday August 21INTERIMSFrutarom Industries Ltd GDR (Reg S), Hikma Pharmaceuticals, PPHE Hotel Group Ltd, STV Group, UK Commercial Property TrustINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEIDOXINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish American Tobacco, Capita, Catlin Group Ltd., Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), Delcam, Hammerson, Henderson Opportunities Trust, Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Sing.Reg), InterContinental Hotels Group, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore Reg), Jardine Strategic Holdingd Ltd. (Singapore), Jupiter European Opportunities Trust, Lancashire Holdings Limited, Mandarin Oriental International (Singapore), Mobeus Income & Growth Vct, Mondi, Prudential, Rentokil Initial, Secure Trust Bank, Synectics, Taylor Wimpey, UBMQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECarnival, M WinkworthINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCrude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)FOMC Interest Rate Minutes (US) (19:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Q2Frutarom Industries Ltd GDR (Reg S)FINALSBHP BillitonSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEInterContinental Hotels GroupEGMSThames River Multi Hedge PCC Ld Red Ptg Pref Npv Thames Rvr Hedge £AGMSAberdeen New Dawn Inv Trust, Acorn Income Fund Ld, Latham (James), Terra Catalyst Fund (DI)UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)Public Sector Finances (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHalma, National GridFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEEckoh, NCC Group, NWF Group, PHSC, red24Thursday August 22INTERIMSCarillion, Costain Group, CPP Group, IMI, Kazakhmys, London Capital Group Holdings, London Mining, New World Resources A Shares, Premier Oil, Primary Health Properties, Sportech, Wentworth Resources Ltd (DI)INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)House Price Index (US) (15:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)Q2Bridge Energy Asa, Wentworth Resources Ltd (DI)SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAberforth Geared Income TrustAGMSOryx International Growth Fund Ltd., Praetorian Resources LtdFriday August 23INTERIMSAfren, Henry Boot, Plaza Centers NVINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAberdeen UK Tracker Trust, B.P. Marsh & Partners, Microgen, Throgmorton TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)GMSSecurities Trust of ScotlandANNUAL REPORTAbbey, NWF Group, RenishawEGMSDatang International Power Generation Co Ltd.AGMSSports Direct InternationalUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBBA Mortgage Lending Figures (09:30)GDP (output, income & expenditure) (09:30)Index of Services (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAberdeen New Dawn Inv Trust, Atkins (WS), Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings, Latham (James), SABMiller, Scapa Group