City diary (From The Northern Echo)

City diary

9:43am Monday 17th November 2008 in North-East Business News

LLOYDS TSB’s takeover of HBOS will be in the spotlight this week, as well as results from retailers Halfords and Mothercare, and budget airline easyJet.

At Wednesday’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM), Lloyds TSB shareholders will have their chance to vote on the bank’s tie-up with troubled rival HBOS, as well as a £5.5bn share sale backed by the Government.

HBOS shareholders will have to wait until December 12 before they can vote on the deal.

Royal Bank of Scotland will hold an EGM on Thursday to vote on whether the group’s capital raising plans should go ahead. It is turning to the Government to back a £20bn share placing, selling £5bn-worth of preference shares to the State in return for a stake, while appealing to investors for the remainder.

If shareholders do not take up the rights issue, it could see the Government owning almost two thirds of the bank.

Budget airline easyJet’s annual results tomorrow are expected to have taken a battering from oil prices, which saw a record price of more than $147 a barrel in mid- July.

Consensus forecasts put pre-tax profits for the year to September 30 at £115m – little more than half last year’s £202m.

Hovis and Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods is expected to announce continued strong performance in its interim management statement tomorrow.

Underlying full-year profits for the continuing business are predicted to be £199.8m, compared with £170.8m last year.

Car parts and bicycles chain Halfords is expected to post solid interim results on Thursday despite a sales slowdown over the summer.

Most analysts are predicting full-year profits of about £92m in the year to next March.

Pre-tax profits of about £36m are anticipated when mother and baby retailer Mothercare reports interims on Thursday, after resilient trading from its UK business.

The UK’s second biggest pub group, Enterprise Inns, is expected tomorrow to unveil a 13 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to about £264m in the year to September 30.

TalkTalk firm Carphone Warehouse has already set the tone for its interim results, out tomorrow, with news last month of sharply lower broadband customers.

Credit Suisse analysts are expecting the half-year figures to reveal a 19 per cent drop in headline profits, to £45.2m from £56m a year ago.

■ Companies reporting results this week include: Today Interims: ASOS, Cranswick, Workspace.

Tomorrow Finals: EasyJet, Enterprise Inns, GW Pharmaceuticals.

Interims: Big Yellow, Burberry, British Energy, Carphone Warehouse, Renold.

Wednesday Finals: Care UK. Interims: British Land, Business Post, Experian, First Property, Rensburg Sheppards.

Thursday Finals: Daily Mail & General Trust. Interims: Halfords, Mothercare, National Grid, Young & Co’s Brewery.

Friday Interims: Fuller Smith & Turner.