Thursday preview: Vedanta Resources to post annual results

Vedanta Resources will steal the show on Thursday when the mining company reports its full-year results.

The results will come after the group's part-owned subsidiary Sesa Goa, India's largest iron-ore producer, last month revealed a swing into the red in the year ended March 31st.

The business posted an annual loss of 131 crores (£15.6m) from a profit of 2,108 crores (£251m) a year earlier as a ban on iron-ore mining in Karnataka and Goa pushed sales volumes down 80%.

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The Indian Supreme court has since cleared the resumption of mining operations but Vedanta's annual results may take a hit.

Nevertheless, Vedanta is expected to report a rise in pre-tax profit and revenues of $1.8bn and $1.7bn, respectively, according to analysts at Credit Suisse.

The broker said the company's success rest on the group's restructuring and successful debt refinancing, particularly in the face of falling commodity prices.

"One of the key problems impacting the group over the past three years has been the mismatch of subsidiary debt and cash flows, and lack of full cash fungibility around the group (restrictions on loans between Indian and non-Indian based companies)," it said in a note last month.

Last month Vedanta released a taste of what's to come, saying it achieved an increase in production across oil and gas, copper, aluminium, lead and silver in the year to March 31st.

Oil and gas production for the year rose 19% year-on-year to 205,323 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), driven by strong performance in Rajasthan, India.

Mined metal production was up 5.0% to 870,000 tonnes, boosted by a record 260,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter.

Silver climbed 69% to 13.1m tonnes while lead increased 26% to 125,000 tonnes. However, zinc output fell 11% to 677,000 tonnes.

Iron ore operations was affected by the temporary suspension of mining in Goa and Karnataka.

Credit Suisse on Wednesday reiterated a 'outperform' rating and target price of 1,300p while Deutsche Bank recommended a 'hold' rating and target price of 1,290p.

Shares were down over half a per cent on Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday May 16th

INTERIMS

Euromoney Institutional Investor, Grainger, Marston's, Optos

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Honeywell International Inc.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)

Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)

Building Permits (US) (13:30)

Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)

FINALS

Invensys, National Grid, Shanks Group, Stobart Group Ltd., Vedanta Resources

IMSS

Aviva, Bovis Homes Group, SIG, Synthomer, Travis Perkins

EGMS

Psource Structured Debt Ltd.

AGMS

Amlin, Balfour Beatty, Bovis Homes Group, Cairn Energy, Corac Group, Fidelity European Values, Fox Marble Holdings, Glencore Xstrata, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Inchcape, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore Reg), Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Next, Octopus Second AIM VCT, Paternoster Resources, Prudential, Resolution Ltd., STM Group, Synthomer, Trinity Mirror, Unite Group, UTV Media, Xaar, Xcite Energy Ltd. (CDI)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Kingspan Group, Mondi, Rathbone Brothers, Tullett Prebon, Tullow Oil

Q1

Coca-Cola HBC S.A., New World Resources A Shares

RD