Wednesday preview: BoE minutes, BHP, Booker, Fuller's

The big event on Wednesday is the release of the minutes from the July meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee.

The major point of interest will be the vote on the decision to beef up the bank's asset purchase programme, and whether it was unanimous. The minutes are due for release at 9:30.

On the corporate side, mining giant BHP Billiton will follow hot on the heels of sector peer Rio Tinto with a second quarter operational update.

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Rio's shares slipped after it revealed output had run ahead of sales in the second quarter, and it will be interesting to see whether the same situation has occurred at BHP Billiton.

Cash and carry king Booker gives an update covering its fiscal first quarter. The shares trade on a heady price/earnings ratio of 18.1, so there is the possibility of share price punishment if there is even the faintest whiff of disappointment.

Peel Hunt is forecasting 2% year-on-year like-for-like sales growth for non-tobacco products but thinks tobacco revenue will be down from a year earlier.

"Trading at the start of the period was held back by the miserable summer weather. Tobacco will also have been poor due to the high duty increase, which is likely to have led to increased evasion. Tobacco makes little contribution to profits as it is very low gross margin," the broker noted.

Talk of tobacco and the thoughts of many turn to booze, which is where London Pride brewer and pubs group Fuller, Smith & Turner comes in. The group will give a trading update at its annual general meeting, and Peel Hunt reckons Fuller's managed estate will have done well to show any sort of like-for-like growth.

At the end of May the group said: "We have experienced the most volatile and weather-dependent start to a year that we can remember. April was the wettest on record, whilst last week was glorious."

Trading in the first eight weeks of the new financial year saw like-for-like sales down 2.3% and, as Peel Hunt noted, this time a year ago the group reported a 3% increase in like-for-like sales, so the comparative figures are tough.

INTERIMS

Access Intelligence, Sagentia Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) 'A' Shares, WH Smith

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Crystal Amber Fund Ltd., Heavitree Brewery, Heavitree Brewery 'A' Shares, Imperial Tobacco Group, Sanderson Group

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Caterpillar Inc.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Beige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00)

Building Permits (US) (13:30)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS

Ebiquity, Greenko Group, Zetar

IMSS

Fuller Smith & Turner, Land Securities Group, Optos

DRILLING REPORT

Fresnillo

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Walker Crips Group

AGMS

B.P. Marsh & Partners, Booker Group, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, European Convergence Development Co, Experian, Global Lock Safety (International) Global Lock Co Ltd. (DI), IBIS Media VCT 1, RedHot Media International Ltd (DI)., RPC Group, Securities Trust of Scotland, Severn Trent, Speedy Hire, Summit Corporation, Telecom Plus, VP

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

BHP Billiton

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)

Claimant Count Rate (09:30)

Unemployment Rate (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Albany Inv Trust, Hasgrove, Tangent Communications

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Amati VCT , Castings, Fidelity China Special Situations , Halma, Lombard Risk Management, Majestic Wine, Mountview Estate, MS International, Telecom Plus

JH