Wednesday preview: Sage, Brewin Dolphin, Construction PMI

1st Dec 2009 15:13

Newcastle-based accountancy software firm Sage's full year results are likely to be in line with expectation but patchy. The group said at the third quarter stage that it was budgeting for continued tough trading conditions in the final quarter of its financial year. Its US division, in particular, has been under pressure as a result of small businesses going belly-up in the recession but should now be showing signs of recovery. Results will be affected by exchange rate movements. Expectations are for revenue of around £1,441m, earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of £336m and profit before tax of £306m. Broker Panmure Gordon expects net debt to be around £463m.The company may reveal plans to revamp its product offering, possibly moving into cloud computing and software as a service. 'Sage has made its first tentative steps to cloud computing in the US where it is piloting a cloud computing edition of the Sage SalesLogix CRM [customer relations management] suite ahead of commercial availability in early 2010,' Panmure Gordon notes.Stockbroker and fund manager Brewin Dolphin cheered the market at the beginning of October when it said results for the full year are likely to be at the top end of market expectations. According to Digital Look, market consensus is for profit before tax of £30.68m, down from £36.20m last year, on revenue of £214.94m, up from £186.97m. With the market rally continuing in the third quarter of the calendar year there must be a reasonable possibility of Brewin Dolphin beating those revised expectations on the back of commission income and fund management fees.The construction purchasing managers index (PMI) will probably make grim reading, although some comfort may be drawn from the rate of contraction in the sector slowing down appreciably.Economic forecasting unit IHS Global Insight is predicting the index will rise to 46.5 in November from September's 46.2; a reading below 50 indicates contraction.INTERIMSMonks Investment Trust, Opsec Security GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEChloride Group, Marshalls, Mount EngineeringINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAlbion Protected VCT, Albion Venture Capital Trust, Alliance Pharma, Bodycote, British Smaller Companies VCT, BSS Group, Caledonia Investments, Dee Valley Group, Dee Valley Nv, Establishment Inv Trust, Hamworthy, Hansa Trust, Hansa Trust 'A' Shares, Headlam Group, Helical Bar, Homeserve, JD Sports Fashion, Johnson Matthey, Kewill, Liontrust Asset Managament, London Stock Exchange Group, Mckay Secs., Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust, Morgan Crucible, National Grid, Northern Investors Co., PayPoint, Rensburg AIM VCT, SABMiller, Sepura, Severn Trent, Slingsby H.C, Tate & Lyle, UK Mail Group , Walker Crips Group, Wincanton, Young & Co's Brewery 'A'QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEProdesse Investment Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBeige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00)Crude Oil Inventories (US)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)Retail Sales (GER)Capital Spending (JPN)FINALSBrewin Dolphin, Dawson Holdings, Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, Optos, SageEGMSLewis Charles Sofia Property Fund LimitedAGMSBraemore Resources, Greatland GoldUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Construction (09:30)FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAssociated British Foods, Britvic, Daily Mail and General Trust, Daily Mail Trust, Greencore Group, Group NBT, JPMorgan Income & Growth Inv Trust Income Shares, JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust, Lowland Investment Co., MedicX Fund Ltd., Narborough Plant, Northamber, Smart (J) & Co., Tenon Group, Town Centre Securities