Wednesday preview: Barratt Developments, Logica

23rd Feb 2010 15:51

The housebuilders' results season gets underway with the big fish in Wednesday's results pool being Barratt Developments.The company said last month that completions in the first half of its financial year (i.e. the six months to end of December) were in line with expectations while total average selling prices improved by 4% to £167,000, driven largely by the group switching its focus to sales of houses rather than apartments.The poor weather in January may have slowed 2010 sales but the market will be hoping that February's trading will show a continued improvement in net private reservations.IT contracting company Logica releases full year results, with the market expecting pre-tax profits of £172m on turnover of £3,669m.Trading updates from sector peers such as CapGemini, Tieto, Sopra and Atos Origin have prompted investment analysts to nudge up their earnings forecasts for the Anglo-Dutch company. 'We are encouraged by Capgemini comments that its UK and Ireland division reported 7.5% revenue growth - it benefited from public sector outsourcing and is the most profitable region (8.9%),' said broker Charles Stanley. A potential cloud on the horizon, however, is a cutback in public sector expenditure. The UK public sector accounts for just under two-thirds of Logica's revenue.INTERIMSA&J Mucklow, Barratt Developments, Galliford Try, Gleeson (MJ), Kier Group, Tenon, Town Centre SecuritiesINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAdvance UK Trust, Electric & General Inv Trust, Fairpoint Group, Hargreaves Services, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, JPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Maxima Holdings, Mountview Estate, Numis Corporation, PZ Cussons, RenishawQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECanaccord Financial Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCorporate Service Price Index (JPN) (23:50)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)Gross Domestic Product (GER) (07:00)Private Consumption (GER) (07:00)Imports (GER) (07:00)Exports (GER) (07:00)GfK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)Industrial New Orders (EU) (10:00)Jobseekers Change (FRA) (17:00)Small Business Confidence (JPN) Q4Talvivaara Mining CompanyFINALSHuntsworth, Logica, Moneysupermarket.com, New Britain Palm Oil Limited, New World Resources, Rathbone Brothers, St. James's Place, Talvivaara Mining Company, Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. GDR (Reg S), Travis PerkinsAGMSAcuity Growth VCT , Acuity Growth VCT 'C' Shares, Acuity VCT, Acuity VCT 'C' Shares, Alternative Asset Opportunities PCC, Alternative Invest Strategies Sterling Hedged, Driver Group, Freshwater UK, Gooch and Housego, Henderson Diversified Income Ltd., Holidaybreak, Innovise, LonZim, Pennine AIM VCT 6, ServocaUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSProducer Price Index (09:30)FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAbbey Protection, Barclays, Brunner Inv Trust, Caledonia Investments, Catlin Group, Charter European Trust, Churchill China, Domino's Pizza UK & IRL, Driver Group, First Property Group, Fletcher King, Henderson Opportunities Trust, HGCapital Trust, Jersey Electricity 'A', Midas Income & Growth Trust, New Europe Property Investments, Petropavlovsk, Randgold Resources, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Rio Tinto, Sanderson Group, StatPro Group, SThree, UBC Media Group