Week Ahead: Smiths Group, AG Barr

23rd Sep 2011 14:17

Medical devices and airport scanners maker Smiths Group is set to declare full-year results on Wednesday, and the figures are expected to show a continuation of half-year trends, with strength at its John Crane unit offsetting weakness at the Detection business."Detection issued a profit warning in May, flagging continued delays in orders due to tighter government finances and regulatory uncertainty. Stephen Phipson stepped down as president of the division and has been replaced by Mal Maginnis. Several areas for operational improvement have been identified with further details on the cost savings plan anticipated at the full year," Charles Stanley notes.The broker is going for pre-tax profit of £473m, up from £435m last year, and comfortably ahead of market consensus of £447m. The market is expecting turnover to grow to £2.84bn from £2.77bn last year."Strategic focus is likely to remain on margins and cash generation," Charles Stanley predicts. "In June, SMIN [Smiths Group] announced that it would revisit divisional targets over the next 12 months (this could see lower growth targets for Detection and Interconnect and increased margin expectations for John Crane and Medical)," the broker added.Scotland is the only country in the world where Coca-Cola is not the market leading fizzy pop drink, and it is also down to the success of Irn-Bru, the drinking man's morning-after pick-me-up, concocted by AG Barr.Panmure Gordon thinks the Scottish company's half-year performance will have been held back by what it loosely describes as "headwinds" in the sector - presumably a reluctance on the part of consumers to put their hands in their pocket and buy a can of pop when getting their fish supper at the chippie, not to mention some miserable weather."Revenue growth has already been indicated at c3.5% to £123m and we forecast 3% growth in adjusted PBT [profit before tax] to £12.1m equating to 4% EPS [earnings per share] growth to 31.8p," the broker said. "We forecast carbonates growth of 4% to £95.5m and Stills growth of 2% to £27.6m. We forecast overall gross profit margins to be 30bp [three-tenths of a percentage point] lower at 51.0% as rising input costs more than offset cost efficiencies. We forecast Carbonates gross profits of £54.4m and Stills gross profits of £8.3m resulting in group gross profits increasing 3% to £63m," the broker continued."We expect the company to provide an update on the success being made by its strategic investment in its core brands in specific regions, such as IRN-BRU in the North of England. We also look for confirmation that it has overcome the operational issues with the final stages of investment at Cumbernauld, which should contribute to production capacity and efficiency improvements over the medium term," Panmure Gordon said.Monday September 26INTERIMSDDD Group, Lighthouse GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAfrican Barrick Gold , Communisis, Evolution Group, Fidessa Group, GKN, Stanley Gibbons GroupQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEFrontline Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)Chicago Fed National Activity Index (US) (13:30)New Home Sales (US) (15:00)Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity (US) (15:30)Jobseekers Net Change (FRA) (17:00)Retail Sales (GER) GMSAssetCo, Kazakhmys, Northern AIM VCTFINALSFinsbury Food Group, Netcall, RicardoEGMSHals-Development JSC GDR (Reg S)AGMSGitanjali Gems Ltd. GDR (Reg S), Goldman Sachs Dynamic Opportunities Ltd. 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GBP Shares, DQ Entertainment, Impact Holdings, OPG Power VenturesTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSTopps TilesUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBloomsbury PublishingWednesday September 28INTERIMSHightex Group, Judges Scientific, Lees Foods, Mam Funds, Morson Group, Panmure Gordon & CoINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBritish American Tobacco, Lancashire Holdings, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT 'S' SharesINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAdmiral Group, Bovis Homes Group, Braime (T.F.& J.H.) Holdings, Braime (T.F.& J.H.) Holdings (Non-Voting), Centrica, Derwent London, Development Securities, Dignity, Drax Group, Dunedin Income Growth Inv Trust, Fairpoint Group, Fiberweb, Filtrona PLC, French Connection Group, Highland Gold Mining Ltd., InterQuest Group, Invesco Perpetual UK Small Companies Inv Trust, IS Solutions, KBC Advanced Technologies, M. P. 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(DI), Fiske, Gasol, Iomart Group, Max Petroleum, Redstone, Ryanair Holdings, Strathdon Investments, Warner Estate HoldingsTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSThomas Cook GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Credit (09:30)M4 Money Supply (09:30)M4 Sterling Lending (09:30)Mortgage Approvals (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBaronsmead VCT, Baronsmead VCT 2, BHP Billiton, Downing Distribution VCT 'D' Shares, Downing Distribution VCT 2 , Fletcher King, Hargreaves Lansdown, Immunodiagnostic Systems HoldingsFriday September 30INTERIMSAlexander David Securities Group, Alexon Group, Bayfield Energy Holdings, Clean Air Power Ltd., Douglasbay Capital, HarbourVest Global Private Equity Ltd., Harvey Nash Group, Westminster GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEClarkson, Densitron Technologies, Glencore International, Irish Continental Group Units, Jupiter Fund Management , Meggitt, New World Resources A Shares, North Midland Construction, Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd., Paddy Power, Pennant International Group, REA Holdings, Rights & Issues Inv Trust Income Shares, SR Europe Inv Trust, Tamar European Industrial Fund Ltd., Temple Bar Inv TrustQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEMedicX Fund Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSHousehold Spending (JPN)Jobless rate (JPN)Consumer Prices Index (JPN)Industrial Production (JPN)Construction Orders (JPN)Housing Starts (JPN)GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)Producer Prices (FRA) (07:45)Consumer Spending (FRA) (07:45)Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)International Reserves (EU) (11:00) Personal Income & Spending (US) (13:30)Chicago PMI (US) (13:45)U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US) (15:00)NAPM (National Association of Purchasing Managers) Milwaukee (15:00)GMSAstaire Group, DCD Media, Foresight 2 VCT, Foresight 2 VCT 'C' Shares, Foresight 2 VCT Planned Exit Shares, Foresight VCT, Kings Arms Yard VCT 2, Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings, Tembusu Investments Ltd. 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