Wednesday preview: Sainsbury, N. Brown, Barratt Devs.

11th Jan 2011 16:51

It has been hard to keep retailers out of the spotlight this week and Wednesday is no exception, with supermarket Tesco and home shopping specialist N. Brown due to give trading updates.Morrisons set the benchmark for the supermarket sector on Monday with a better than expected 1% growth in like for like (LFL) sales, excluding petrol and VAT, in the six weeks to 2 January. With fuel included LFL sales were up 4%.Deutsche Bank thinks Sainsbury's numbers will "compare favourably against the shorter-term six-week trading numbers issued by Wm Morrison and Tesco," due in part to the chain's strength in areas not overly affected by the recent spell of bad weather. Research house Matrix also thinks "Sainsbury is likely to emerge the winner among the UK food majors, in line with recent performance." Matrix is tipping a 2.0% rise in LFL sales for Sainsbury, excluding petrol and VAT, in the 14 weeks to 8 January."We have seen consensus quoted in some places as +3.0%, but that is on a VAT inclusive basis. Nevertheless, we think Sainsbury is likely to prove itself the best performer of the UK majors over Christmas," Matrix said T"John Lewis' sales data for Waitrose has suggested consistently strong sales growth over the past quarter, and M&S Food has also traded well. Sainsbury, as the highest-quality operator of the Big Four, has also benefited from the flight to quality in the past six months," Matrix claims. N. Brown's trading statement covers the 19 weeks to 8 January. Panmure Gordon notes that the comparative figures will not be too demanding, as 2009's Christmas trading period was regarded as a disappointment. "For the period reported on the 12th, we anticipate a strong statement with sales growth of c8.0% and gross margin improvement of c80bp [basis points]. On balance, we think that established home shopping plays such as ASOS (Buy - statement due 19 January) and N Brown are likely to have suffered proportionately less damage from icy conditions, which prevailed for much of December," the broker opines.Away from the retail sector, housebuilder Barratt Developments is set to issue a trading statement. Numis Securities reckons the company will stick to its previous line of "limited volume growth".The broker predicts the focus will be on "refinancing discussions and general strategic direction."Panmure Gordon also thinks the picture on volumes will remain stable, though the trend in actual selling prices (ASPs) should continue on an upward path."We expect that the focus at the group will remain on extracting as much value out of each sale as possible rather than chasing volume. ASP gains will continue to be driven by mix," the broker predicts.On the economic front, trade figures for November are due out at 9:30am. The total trade deficit is forecast to have narrowed to £3.8bn from October's £3.9bn. The visible trade deficit is tipped to contract to £8.3bn from October's £8.5bn.INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE3i Group, Anglo Pacific Group, De La Rue, Hyder Consulting, Morgan Crucible Co, Ventus 2 VCT, Ventus VCTINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEF.T.S-Formula Telecom Solutions Ltd, IFG Group, Solid State, Tongaat-Hulett Ltd., Umeco, Workspace GroupQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish Land Co, F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBankruptcies (JPN)Machine Orders (JPN)Current Account (FRA) (07:45)Gross Domestic Product (GER) (08:00)Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)Import Price Index (US) (13:30)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Feb Beige Book (US) (19:00)GMSMiradaSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEIndia Hospitality Corp. (DI)EGMSMiradaAGMSDiploma, Fenner, NasstarTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBarratt Developments, Greggs, Restaurant Group, N. Brown, J. Sainsbury, SupergroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBRC Shop Price Index (00:01)Balance of Trade (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAI Claims Solutions, BellwayFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEAlbion Income & Growth VCT, ATH Resources, CareTech Holding, Dewhurst, Edinburgh Worldwide Inv Trust, Gooch & Housego, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 1, Lonmin, Paragon Group Of Companies, Redhall Group, Schroder UK Mid & Small Cap Fund