Economics
Economic growth is expected to remain unrevised at 0.4 per cent for the
first quarter when new figures are released on Friday. This will keep the
annual rate of growth at 2.5 per cent.
Retail sales Figures out on Thursday are expected to show that retail
sales fell by 0.4 per cent in April, after a 0.4 per cent decline in March,
taking the annual rate of sales growth to 4.2 per cent, down from 4.6 per
cent.
Interest rates The Bank of England will publish the minutes of this
month’s interest rate meeting on Wednesday.
Business confidence The Business Confidence Monitor from the Institute
of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales shows a decline to minus 19.7
in the last quarter, from minus 7.2 in the previous quarter, and against a
cyclical peak of plus 11.5 a year ago.
Bank of England An urgent search is under way for a new Deputy Governor
of the Bank of England after it emerged that Rachel Lomax will step down
from the role in just six weeks.
Banking
& finance
London Stock Exchange Group, the stock market operator, is expected on
Thursday to report a 50 per cent rise in full-year operating profits to £279
million, driven by high levels of trading activity and its recent
acquisition of Borsa Italiana.
Construction
& property
Rugby Estates Investment Trust said that it expects to expand its
investment portfolio through acquiring privately owned property investment
companies.
Consumer
goods
Imperial Tobacco, the cigarette maker, is expected to announce details
of its long-awaited rights issue tomorrow. For the first time it will
include the first-quarter results from Altadis, the maker of Gauloises
cigarettes, and will update the market on cost synergies.
Engineering
Manganese Bronze, the maker of London’s black taxis, will give a
trading update today with analysts and investors eager to hear about the
demand for new taxis as the British economy slows down.
BAE Systems The Ministry of Defence has awarded BAE Systems, the
defence group, a five-year contract worth £43.9 million. Separately, Sir
Nigel Rudd, a nonexecutive director of BAE, was detained by the US
Department of Justice last week as part of an inquiry into bribery
allegations against the company.
Health
GlaxoSmithKline, the drugs maker, will announce today that Prepandrix,
its vaccine which could help to prevent an outbreak of the H5N1 “bird flu”
virus, has been approved by the European Commission.
Industrials
Evraz Group, the Russian steel maker, has reported first-quarter
revenues of $4.32 billion (£2.21 billion) after selling 4.6 million tonnes
of steel.
Leisure
Mitchells & Butlers Tim Smalley, an executive at R20, the
investment vehicle of Robert Tchenguiz, the largest shareholder in Mitchells &
Butlers, is expected to be appointed a nonexecutive director tomorrow when
the All Bar One and Harvester pubs group unveils the results of a strategic
review.
Education & Adventure Travel Group, which organises school holidays
for pupils, is in advanced talks about a sale of the business for about £100
million to DLJ Merchant Banking, the private equity division of Credit
Suisse. (The Sunday Telegraph)
Media
RDF Media, the television production company, is tomorrow expected to
report full-year pretax profits of £5.6 million, down from £7.7 million last
time, but is forecast to be upbeat about its prospects for 2009.
Thomson Directories, the classified telephone directory publisher, has
been put up for sale by Seat Pagine Galle, its Italian owner. It is believed
that Thomson could change hands for about £100 million. (The Sunday Times)
EMI, the music company which was acquired by Terra Firma, the private
equity group, a year ago, has seen its market share in the United States
fall below 9 per cent, its lowest level for at least half a decade.
Natural
resources
Chariot Oil & Gas, which has oil and gas exploration rights in
Namibia and in the nearby south Atlantic, has raised £40.5 million after
expenses in a share placing priced at 130p per share ahead of an AIM listing
advised by KPMG and brokered by BMO Capital Markets, giving it a £183.5
million market value.
BP, the oil and gas giant, will go head to head with Tetlis, a small
Russian investor group, in a Siberian courtroom this week in an attempt to
overthrow a ruling that has forced 148 of its top employees to stop work at
its TNK-BP joint venture. ( The Sunday Times)
Retailing
Marks & Spencer’s 75,000 employees are expected to be paid
poorer bonuses this year, despite the high street retailer reporting profits
of about £1 billion when it reveals its full-year results tomorrow.
Support
services
Experian, the credit information group, is expected on Wednesday to
report a near 14 per cent rise in full-year operating profits to $938
million (£479.9 million), although investors are set to focus on the outlook
for the turbulent months ahead.
Mitie, the cleaning and support services group, is today expected to
report full-year pretax profits of £69.5 million, up from £58.2 million last
year, with its acquisitions bolstering growth.
Technology
Alterian, the marketing software group, has agreed the £18.1 million
recommended takeover offer of Mediasurface, the web content management
software company, and doubled its full-year profits, helped by a 38 per cent
rise in sales.
Raymarine, the London-listed supplier of technology products for
leisure boats, is thought to have attracted a takeover approach from Garmin,
the $10 billion (£5.1 billion) mobile navigation device company, in a deal
that could be worth up to £200 million. (The Sunday Telegraph)
Telecoms
Cable & Wireless, the telecoms group, has begun work on a potential
£4 billion demerger of its UK and international divisions. (The Sunday
Telegraph)
Global Crossing, the US telecoms carrier that went into Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection, is considering plans to sell off its European arm or
merge it with a competitor. (The Sunday Times)
Vanco, the troubled telecoms carrier which was once worth almost £400
million, is expected to be sold within the next two weeks for as little as
£1. BT is one of several companies thought to be considering an offer.
(The Sunday Times)
Vodafone, the mobile phone group, will this week underline its
broadband ambitions by buying out the minority shareholders in Arcor, the
German landline operator that it bought as part of its takeover of
Mannesmann in 2000. (The Sunday Times)
Transport
SNCB, Belgium’s national rail operator, is facing a 24-hour strike
tomorrow over a pay dispute that could shut down high-speed train services
to France, Germany and the Netherlands and hit Eurostar services to London.
London & Continental Railways, the consortium that owns and
operates the UK arm of the Eurostar international train service, is close to
selling its most valuable land holdings and returning hundreds of millions
of pounds to shareholders. (The Observer)
British Airways plans to ground part of its fleet from October to cut
costs and stem potential losses caused by the crippling price of fuel. (The
Sunday Times)
Utilities
OPG Power Ventures, the gas fired power station operator Tamil Nadu, is
looking to raise about $100 million and list on AIM to help with expansion
plans including the construction of coal fired power stations. Cenkos
Securities is advising.
British Energy shareholders said they will reject any takeover offer
for the nuclear power group unless it has a “significant” premium to the
share price. (The Sunday Times)
Share tips
The Sunday Telegraph: buy BT ( telecoms), Iofina ( natural resources)
The Mail on Sunday: hold Asos ( retailing); buy Conglomerate
Lonrho ( support services)
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Steven, London,