Dealers braced for riots and results
It will be busy in London City next week, as market watchers dodge the May Day riots to study figures from Whitbread, Shell, Bank of Scotland and Powergen.
The City will be interested to hear Allied Domecq's thoughts on its future strategy when it reports its annual results next Tuesday.
The group lost out to Diageo in the race for Seagram and analysts expect Allied to be on the look out for new acquisition targets in a bid to broaden its portfolio. A focus on core brands and a recent cost cutting efforts should see earnings rise, with stockbroker Gerrard predicting pre-tax profits of £226m compared to £214m last time.
It will be a case of out with the old and in with the new on Wednesday when Whitbread reports its first annual figures after selling its brewing operation and its pubs and bars division.
The group, now firmly focused on its hotels, restaurants and sports, and health and fitness division, is likely to outline in some detail its prospects as a leaner business.
The results themselves will include a host of exceptional items and a heavy contribution from the discontinued businesses. Pre-tax profit is expected to be £350m, up from £348m last time.
Bank of Scotland's results on Wednesday will be overshadowed by this week's revelation that it is in merger talks with Britain's largest mortgage lender Halifax.
Analysts believe it could be third time lucky for Bank of Scotland and that the bank may have finally found true love in Halifax. They will want to see similar confidence from the board. Pre-tax profits for the year are expected to steam through the £1bn barrier, to £1.1bn, up from £910m.
Electricity group Powergen's first quarter results on Thursday are likely to take a back seat to questions about the takeover bid on the table from German firm Eon.
However, as Eon's bid is a pre-conditional one, reliant on a number of conditions regarding regulatory approvals which could take as long as 12 months to come through, market watchers will still be keen to see the figures.
Powergen, which recently moved to reporting quarterly figures, is expected to show pre-tax profits for the first quarter of £150m. The market will also be keen on an update on Powergen's debt reduction disposal programme, which it initiated after its massive buy of US group LG&E last year.
Shell is expected to announce more strong figures on Thursday, with net income for the first quarter forecast at 3.4bn dollars (£2.43bn), up from 3.1bn dollars (£2.21 bn) the same time last year.
The oil price has fallen slightly from its high but continues to trade at relatively high levels, supported by high gas prices, and these levels look likely to continue in the medium term, stockbrokers Gerrard said.
And profits from gas and refining are likely to stay much higher than historic levels for the medium term, it was forecast.
Energy group Scottish Power's figures on Thursday are likely to show a dip in full-year profits from £736m to £646m.
Figures are expected to be hit by the April 2000 regulatory price cuts at Southern Water and the electricity distribution business and lower wholesale electricity prices, among other issues.
London will have its eyes on the situation surrounding Southern Water, the water and wastewater services company based in the South East of England, following recent speculation that it has been the subject of a £1.8bn bid approach from European utility group Enel.
