Wednesday preview: Burberry, RPS, US election

Fashion chain Burberry suffered a rare stumble in September when it issued a profit warning, but showed signs of getting the show back on the road in its last trading update on October 11th, with the group reporting that the quarter ended on a strong note.

From Burberry's interim results on Wednesday, Seymour Pierce is looking for more detail on the bringing in-house of the Interparfums' fragrance and cosmetic licence with effect from April 1st next year. The broker is also looking forward to an update on global demand, particularly China, and an understanding of what investment has been put on hold and what has not.

"Having just updated the market, we expect no change to management guidance which is for H2 [second half] average retail space to increase by c14%, underlying H2 wholesale revenues to be broadly flat, FY [full year] licensing revenues broadly unchanged and FY capex [capital expenditure] £180-200m," writes Seymour Pierce analyst Kate Calvert.

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Seymour Pierce is forecasting profit before tax of £165m, earnings per share (EPS) of 27.4p and an interim dividend of 7.8p.

Environmental consultancy group RPS Group, which issues an interim management statement on Wednesday, should have continued to benefit from the oil companies ploughing money into exploration.

However, since the company's last update, mining companies have reduced their investment plans, increasing investor nervousness over the economy, but infrastructure spend and energy investment remains robust, notes Peel Hunt.

By Wednesday morning, the winner of the US Presidential election should already have been projected, but Irish bookie Paddy Power is not even bothering to wait for the exit polls; it has already paid out on an Obama victory.

INTERIMS

Burberry Group, Canaccord Financial Inc., FirstGroup, Vedanta Resources

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Bodycote, Carillion, SIG, StatPro Group

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Amati VCT , Andrews Sykes Group, BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Bunzl, Elderstreet VCT, Maven Income & Growth VCT, Pace, Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, SThree, Stobart Group Ltd., Whitbread

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Barclays, BP, IBM Corp.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

Industrial Production (GER) (11:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

PMI Construction (GER) (08:55)

Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)

Q2

Canaccord Financial Inc.

Q3

Mood Media Corp. (DI), Randgold Resources Ltd., Smurfit Kappa Group

IMSS

4Imprint Group, Aer Lingus Group, Capital & Counties Properties , Old Mutual, Playtech Ltd., RPS Group

AGMS

Hays, Public Service Properties Investments Ltd (DI), Schroder Japan Growth Fund, Sinclair Is Pharma

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRC Shop Price Index (00:01)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Begbies Traynor Group, Photo-Me International

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Ashmore Group, Asian Citrus Holding, Centaur Media, Craneware, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Genus, Hargreaves Services, James Halstead, JPMorgan Overseas Inv Trust, Jupiter Primadona Growth Trust, London Finance & Investment Group, Manchester & London Inv Trust, Matchtech Group, Regenersis, Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) 'A' Shares, Swallowfield, Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. EUR Shares, Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. GBP Shares, Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. USD Shares

JH