Thursday preview: SABMiller, Glencore, UK retail sales

Thursday will see the first half results of drinks giant SABMiller, the company behind brands such as Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch, Miller Lite and, more recently, Foster's.

The lager brewer is expected to generate £15.4bn in revenue in the six months ended 30 September, according to Charles Stanley, up from £14.24bn the year before. Pre-tax profit is expected to rise from £2.17bn to £2.36bn.

While beer volumes and sales data was released in October, all eyes will be on the operating margin expansion which was said to have been "constrained" due to higher raw material costs, marketing spend and central costs.

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"The valuation looks up with events near term, but we suggest adding to holdings on any sustained weakness," Charles Stanley said on Friday 11 November.

Commodities trading firm Glencore International will release an interim management statement on Thursday that will include third quarter production numbers.

While financials and marketing data will not be provided, Glencore will provide a qualitative update on market developments, Credit Suisse notes.

From the outside, it looks as if market trends were generally weaker in the third quarter than in the second.

That has not put Credit Suisse off the stock, however. It believes the valuation remains attractive: "Glencore is trading on a 2012E PE [2012 estimated price/earnings ratio] of 7.5x, a small premium to the sector on 6.8x but a discount to marketing peers on over 10x," Credit Suisse points out, adding that the stock is currently trading at an 11% discount to the broker's market price based sum of the parts calculations.

Shifting focus to economic indicators, Thursday will see the release of UK retail sales data for October.

Expectations are that, after September's 0.6% rise, the index will have fallen 0.3% in October. With fuel sales excluded, economists are expecting a 0.2% decline from September, when the index rose 0.7%.

On a year-on-year comparison, the retail sales index is tipped to show a 0.2% decline in October, versus September's 0.6% gain, while with fuel excluded, the index is seen easing 0.1% after a year-on-year rise of 0.4% in September.

INTERIMS

Atkins (WS), BTG, Dart Group, Investec, Metric Property Investments , Mothercare, Norcros, RIT Capital Partners, SABMiller

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aviva, British Polythene Industries, Game Group, Scisys, Tullett Prebon

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

3% War Loan

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)

Building Permits (US) (13:30)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)

Q3

MHP SA GDR (Reg S)

GMS

Sacoil Holdings (DI)

IMSS

Alpha UK Multi Property Trust, Amec, Amlin, Chaucer Holdings, Close Brothers Group, CLS Holdings, Glencore International, Keller Group, Lamprell, Rexam, Ricardo, Serco Group, Ted Baker, UTV Media, Vitec Group

AGMS

Alternative Asset Opportunities PCC Ltd., Close Brothers Group, Dunelm Group, El Oro Ltd, New Star Investment Trust, Ricardo, Sacoil Holdings (DI), Versatile Systems Inc. (DI)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Internet Retail Sales (09:30)

Retail Sales (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

IndigoVision Group, Strategic Equity Capital, Thorpe (F.W.), Wilmington Group

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