Economics
Industrial trends The CBI, the employers’ group, will release its
industrial trends survey tomorrow, which has indicated that manufacturers
are pushing up prices at their fastest pace for 12 years. Capital Economics
forecasts that its headline orders balance will soften to plus 8 in July
from plus 16 in June.
Interest rates Sir John Gieve, the Bank of England’s deputy governor
for financial stability, who voted this month to raise interest rates by a
quarter-point, will have the chance to explain his thinking tomorrow in a
speech that he is giving in London which is titled “Financial markets and
the UK economy”.
Property inflation The house price monitor from Nationwide, due out on
Thursday, is tipped to show property inflation climbing to 11.1 per cent in
July, from the 10.6 per cent reported in June.
Mortgage approvals The British Bankers’ Association’s final measure of
mortgage approvals in June will be published on Thursday. In May the BBA
recorded 77,443 approvals.
Eurozone services Flash estimates of the purchasing managers’ surveys
for services and manufacturing in the eurozone are due out tomorrow. Both
sectors are expected to show an acceleration in the level of activity.
German business climate Germany’s Ifo institute will publish its
business climate indicator on Thursday, which RBS expects to rise to 107 in
July, from 105.5 in June.
US sales of existing homes are expected to continue to fall in data due
out on Wednesday. Sales are expected to drop to 5.99 million in the year to
June, from 6.1 million in May.
US GDP The United States will release its data for GDP in the second
quarter on Friday. After growing at an annualised pace of 0.7 per cent in
the first quarter, the US economy is expected to have picked up speed to
expand at a pace of 3.2 per cent.
Banking
& finance
Up 4.1%
Smith & Williamson, the stockbroker and management investment
group, has delayed its plans for a £300 million stock market flotation amid
signs that the appetite for new listings remains limited. (The Sunday
Telegraph)
UBS Harris Associates, the US activist fund, has secretly built a $1
billion (£487 million) stake in UBS, the Swiss investment bank that has been
criticised by its shareholders over its poor performance. (The Sunday Times)
Standard Chartered Bank is considering a return to South Africa through
the purchase of Nedbank, the country’s fourth-largest high street bank.
Nedbank is part of the Old Mutual stable.
Friends Provident Clive Cowdery, the energetic chairman of Resolution,
is expected to emerge as chairman of the combined group if his closed life
consolidator succeeds in its £8.3 billion merger plans with Friends
Provident, the insurer.
Construction
& property
Up 4.6%
Wynnstay Properties, the property development group, will hold its
annual meeting on Thursday. Preliminary full-year results, which were
released in June, showed pre-tax profits of £1.61 million, compared with
£550,000 in 2005.
Liberty International, the property group, will release its interim
results on Thursday. Earlier it reported that first-quarter underlying
pre-tax profits had increased by 29 per cent to £36 million.
Consumer
goods
Down 0.4%
British American Tobacco, the world’s second-biggest cigarette maker,
will release its interim results on Thursday. In 2006 it reported full-year
pre-tax profits of £2.8 million.
Engineering
Up 3.4%
Rolls-Royce, the engine maker, will release its interim results on
Thursday. This month it had reported “encouraging” trading, with new orders
for its aerospace division having a list value of £7.5 billion. These orders
were agreed last month during the Paris Air Show.
Health
Up 2.6%
GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine maker, will release its interim results on
Wednesday. It reported full-year pre-tax profits of £7.8 million last year.
AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals group, will release its
interim results on Thursday. Last month a Boston court ruled that the
company had broken Massachusetts laws by engaging in “unfair and deceptive
trade practices”.
Shire, the British drugs maker, will release its interim results
on Thursday. Late last month it announced that it had received an approvable
letter from the US Food and Drug Administration, the regulator, for Intuniv,
its treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Industrials
Up 3.5%
Chamberlin & Hill, the producer and seller of iron castings, will
hold its annual meeting on Friday. The company earlier reported full-year
loses of £830,000, compared with a pre-tax profit of £2.37 million a year
earlier.
Leisure
Up 2.6%
Domino's Pizza, the AIM-listed pizza delivery operator, will release
its interim results today. In 2006 it reported full-year pre-tax profits of
£14.29 million, compared with £ 11.7 million in 2005.
Rileys, the chain of snooker clubs, could be about to change hands for
£30 million. The private equity arm of Greenhill, the investment bank, is
the favourite to acquire the business from Georgica, the parent company of
Rileys. (The Sunday Times)
888 Holdings, the online casino and poker group, is in talks with Rank
Group, the gaming company, to form a new sports betting service. (The Sunday
Times)
Media
Up 4.1%
Yell Group, which prints the Yellow Pages directories, will release its
interim results tomorrow. Earlier it reported full-year pre-tax profits of
£248 million, compared with £317.4 million last time.
Reed Elsevier, the publishing group, will release its interim results
on Thursday. This month it sold its troublesome US educational business for
$4 billion (£1.95 billion). Full-year pre-tax profits had reached £328
million, from £242 million last time.
Natural
resources
Down 0.9%
BP, the oil group, will release a trading statement and its interim
results today. The company has sought to play down a new dispute in the
United States by insisting that a decision to freeze nearly £2 million in
pay owing to Lord Browne of Madingley, its former chief executive, and John
Manzoni, its former head of refining and marketing, had been taken with
their support.
Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, will release its interim
results on Thursday. This month Shell and Rosneft, the Russian energy group,
said that they had reached a strategic co-operation agreement for projects
in the oil and gas sectors.
Retailing
Up 2.4%
Halfords, the car parts and bicycles retailer, will hold its annual
meeting on Wednesday. Last month it reported an 8 per cent rise in full-year
profits to £83.5 million after announcing a partnership with Chris Boardman,
the Olympic cycling champion.
Asda, the UK arm of Wal-Mart, the US retail group, will start selling
its George clothing range over the internet next year. (The Sunday
Telegraph)
J Sainsbury Delta Two, the Qatari-backed consortium behind a £10.4
billion takeover bid for J Sainsbury, the supermarket chain, was reported to
be heading for confrontation with the Sainsbury family.
Support
services
Up 2.1%
SThree, the staffing group, will release its interim results today.
Earlier it said that it had achieved 31.8 per cent more permanent placings
in the first half, compared with last time.
BSS Group, the distributor of plumbing, heating and ventilation
products, will hold its annual meeting on Thursday. It said in May that it
planned to add 30 more branches to its network of 319.
Technology
Up 4.5%
Filtronic, the designer and manufacturer of microwave products, will
release its full-year results today. In 2006 the company saw pre-tax losses
of £6.9 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of £4 million in 2005.
Wolfson Microelectronics, the computer chip maker, will release its
interim results tomorrow. Its full-year pre-tax profits in 2006 reached
£22.7 million, compared with £22.5 million in 2005.
Arm Holdings, the computer chip designer, will release its interim
results on Thursday. In 2006 it reported full-year pre-tax profits of £56.7
million, compared with £40.5 million in 2005.
Telecoms
Up 0.4%
Vodafone Group, the mobile phone operator, will hold its annual meeting
tomorrow. The company earlier reported a full-year loss of £2.4 billion, an
improvement on the £14.9 billion loss reported in 2006.
BT, the telecoms group, will release its interim results on Thursday.
Last month it cut prices by up to 20 per cent on two of its call tariffs in
an effort to win back customers.
Transport
Up 0.5%
National Express, the transport group, will release its interim results
on Thursday. In 2006 it reported full-year pre-tax profits of £104.1
million, compared with £89.3 million in 2005.
Alitalia TPG, the US private equity group, still wants to acquire
Alitalia, Italy’s insolvent national airline, but will consider a new bid
only if the Italian Government relaxes its conditions for a sale.
BAA, the airport operator, is so concerned about its services at
Heathrow that it has asked the Civil Aviation Authority, its regulator, to
consider suspending a penalty regime which requires BAA to pay rebates to
airlines if an airport fails to meet certain service standards.
Utilities
Up 2.5%
Scottish & Southern Energy, one of Britain's largest power
companies, will hold its annual meeting on Thursday. It paired with Centrica
this month to submit a joint proposal to British Energy about building new
nuclear power stations.
Severn Trent, the water utility company, will hold its annual meeting
tomorrow. Earlier it announced full-year profits of £325.5 million, from
£177.8 million in 2006.
Share tips
The Sunday Telegraph: buy Sovereign Reversions (banking & finance)
Primary Health Properties (construction & property) Amlin (banking &
finance) National Grid (utilities)
The Mail on Sunday: buy Umeco (engineering) Ted Baker (retailing)
sectors@thetimes.co.uk
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