Tuesday preview: BP, Whitbread, Imperial Tobacco Group report

BP, Whitbread and Imperial Tobacco Group will storm headlines Tuesday as the FTSE 100 companies reveal their latest results.

Oil heavyweight BP is expected to report a fall in profit in the first quarter following the fallout of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill three years ago has cost the company a potential $90bn as it continues legal proceedings in New Orleans.

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The company has sold more than $38bn of assets to raise funds for the compensation payout while concentrating on its core operations.

BP will post profits for the first three months of 2013 of $3.27bn, a 30% drop from the previous year, according to analysts.

Whitbread, on the other hand is anticipated to unveil another double-digit hike in annual profits despite adverse weather.

Full-year profits are forecast to leap 14% to £347.60m thanks to solid performance from its Costa coffee arm which delivered a 32.2% leap in total sales.

Meanwhile Imperial Tobacco will report its first-half results. Analysts predict a 5.0% decline in group volumes to 151bn stick equivalents with overall revenue declining by 2.0% to £3.33bn.

The tough economic environment, rising levels of illicit trade in Europe and increased levels of investment behind its brands is likely to have weighed heavily on the group's first-half performance.

Tuesday April 30th

INTERIMS

Imperial Tobacco Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Abbey

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Dow Chemical Co, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Schroder Income Growth Fund

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chicago PMI (US) (13:45)

Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00)

Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)

GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)

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

International Reserves (EU) (11:00)

Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)

Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)

FINALS

Harvey Nash Group, Incadea, Media Corporation, Puricore, Whitbread

ANNUAL REPORT

Kenmare Resources, Plaza Centers NV

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

DP World Limited

AGMS

Bilfinger Berger Global Infrastructure Sicav S.A.(DI), Dragon Oil, EMIS Group, Hexaware Technologies Ltd. GDS (Reg S), IBM Corp., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, JPMorgan US Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Mediterranean Oil & Gas, Somero Enterprises Inc.(Reg S), Witan Inv Trust

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Confidence (09:30)

Consumer Credit (09:30)

GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)

M4 Money Supply (09:30)

M4 Sterling Lending (09:30)

Mortgage Approvals (09:30)

Trends in Lending (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Caledonia Mining Corporation, Chrysalis VCT, DP World Limited, Filtrona PLC, Lavendon Group, Wynnstay Group

Q1

BP, Hrvatske Telekom D.D GDR (Reg S), Qatar Telecom (Q-TEL) Q.S.C. GDR (Reg S), Wolfson Microelectronics

RD