Wednesday preview: Sage, WH Smith, BoE minutes

25th Jan 2011 08:34

Accountancy software group Sage issues its first quarter interim management statement on Wednesday. Panmure Gordon thinks it will be a "steady as she goes" announcement. "The company should make a comment on its financial position, (i.e. the pay down of net debt) and CEO Guy Berruyer is likely to say that Sage continues to perform despite the difficult markets etc. Given that there have been a number of departures amongst the US leadership team Sage might comment on that division, otherwise the event should pass without much of a ripple," the broker predicts.The group launched its first Software as a Service (SaaS) accounting product last week, enabling customers to access the company's product via an internet connection rather than through the traditional method of physically installing the software on a PC or network.It is obviously very early days for the product but it represents a major step forward for the company, especially as the "Sage One" SaaS product has been built from the ground up, when many industry observers expected a conversion of its "Sage 50" product, the package aimed at small businesses. More details of the group's expectations for the business venture are expected to be announced in the interim management statement.Fears that newsagent WH Smith would go into a gradual decline in the internet age - a sort of slow-motion version of the HMV situation - have largely proved unfounded. The group has been pursuing a policy of shoring up margins rather than chasing top line growth, and the winter freeze will not have helped sales on the High Street or, for that matter, at the airports or train stations, so the revenue picture may prove disappointing when its gives its Christmas trading update on Wednesday.Prior to the winter freeze, expectations were for a 5% decline in like for like (LFL) sales on the High Street side and a 1% slide in LFL sales in the travel division.Wednesday is showdown time at the extraordinary general meeting of Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) as shareholders get to vote on the group's plans to buy the Trafford Centre in Manchester for £1.6bn.One shareholder, for sure, will be voting against the deal; US shopping mall giant Simon Property is so against the acquisition that it contemplated launching a takeover bid for CSCG but abandoned the idea when it was unable to gain access to the books.Simon Property owns about 5% of the shares in issue of CSCG so the result is not a foregone conclusion especially if other shareholders, like Simon, have misgivings about the size of the stake the current Trafford Centre owner, Peel Holdings, will have in CSCG if the deal goes through. Peel will hold a 23.2% stake on a fully diluted basis after receiving 205.9m CSCG shares in the Trafford Centre deal.The Bank of England will release the minutes of the most recent meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee, and with inflation stubbornly refusing to head south there is a chance that one or more members of the committee will have altered their previous stance on interest rates and voted in favour of a rate hike.At the December meeting Andrew Sentance was the lone voice on the committee calling for an increase in the Bank's key lending rate but concerns were voiced that an increasing number of householders are becoming more pessimistic about inflation trends, though businesses and financial markets remain sanguine about the outlook for inflation.Tuesday's shock contraction in fourth quarter gross domestic product, however, also supports the case for keeping interest rates stable and maybe resuming the Bank's quantitative easing (QE) programme, so if MPC members had an inkling of the deteriorating growth picture there is also a possibility that Adam Posen's call for a £50bn expansion of the QE facility got more support this time round.INTERIMS Renishaw, System C Healthcare INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Latham (James) INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Anite, DS Smith, Fletcher King, Foresight 3 VCT, Foresight 4 VCT, IG Group Holdings, Income & Growth VCT , NCC Group, Scottish & Southern Energy QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Equity Partnership Inv Co Income Shares INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Small Business Confidence Jobseekers - net change (FRA) (17:00) Total Jobless (FRA) (17:00) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) New Homes Sales (US) (15:00) FOMC Rate Decision (19:15) GMS Schroder UK Mid & Small Cap Fund, ValiRx FINALS Wynnstay Group IMSS Brewin Dolphin Holdings, Sage Group, United Utilities Group EGMS Capital Shopping Centres Group AGMS Invesco Leveraged High Yield Fund Ltd., Vision Opportunity China Fund Ltd., WH Smith TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Cookson Group, Sage Group, WH Smith UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Majedie Investments FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE British Portfolio Trust, Compass Group, Renew Holdings, Shaftesbury, Treatt