Week Ahead: Sainsbury, Imperial Tobacco, Babcock

LONDON (ShareCast) - Supermarket chain Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) issues half-year results on Wednesday, having already warned that it is unlikely to be able to maintain its impressive sales growth, due to the effects of reduced inflation.

Excluding the impact of the fuel and the VAT cut announced last November, like-for-like sales were up by 5.4% in the 16 weeks to 3 October from the same period the previous year.

The rise in sales compared favourably with the 2.1% rise in sales rival Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) announced last month, but was lower than the 7.8% growth Sainsbury's recorded in the preceding quarter.

Broker Nomura Securities is predicting earnings before interest and tax of £335m for Britain's number three supermarket chain. 'With promotional participation now up at circa 34%, we see margin pressure continuing for the remainder of the year and remain cautious on the name,' Nomura's Matthew Truman said. Nomura thinks underlying pre-tax profit will be in the region of £296m.

The company has been the subject of renewed speculation about the intentions of major shareholder, the Qatar Investment Authority, which has previously expressed an interest in a full take-over. The Qatari fund recently banked a £613m profit on the sale of Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) warrants, giving it additional firepower to revive its bid interest in Sainsbury should it choose to do so.

Tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT.L - news) , best known for its Lambert & Butler cigarettes in the UK, has been trading in line with management expectations in the second half of the year.

The integration of Gauloises and Gitanes maker Altadis has been of primary interest to most investment analysts, with the company so far saying it is on course to deliver the expected synergies from the merger.

Income investors will be more concerned at the company's intentions regarding its dividend. The interim dividend was increased from 20.9p to 21p, a rise some regarded as stingy, although it was consistent with the company's policy of paying out 50% of retained earnings. Market consensus is for a full year dividend of 82.94p, which would put the shares on a dividend yield of around 4.6%.

Broker Charles Stanley is less bullish on the dividend front, predicting a full-year dividend of 72.6p. It expects the company to declare a pre-tax profit of £2,212m, up from £1,607m the year before.

Support services firm Babcock is tipped by broker Panmure Gordon to declare half-year profit before tax of £64.9m, up from £57.8m at the interim stage last year.

Focus will be on the order book, the broker reckons, though the company's pension position will also be of interest after the company moved earlier this year to put a liabilities cap on one of its defined benefits pension schemes.

Monday November 09

INTERIMS Advanced Computer Software, Latchways (LSE: LTC.L - news) , Victoria

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, WPP Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00) Balance of Trade (JPN) (23:50) Current Account (GER) (07:00) Current Account (JPN) (23:50) Bank Lending (JPN) Industrial Production (GER) (11:00) Bank of France Business Sentiment (FRA) (07:30)

FINALS Lok'n Store Group

AGMS Hargreaves Services (LSE: HSP.L - news)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE ECO Animal Health Group, System C Healthcare (LSE: SYS.L - news)

QUARTERLY RESULTS Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT.L - news)

Tuesday November 10

INTERIMS Babcock International Group, Kewill (LSE: KWL.L - news) , Northern Foods (LSE: NFDS.L - news) , Printing.com

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ABC Consumer Confidence (US) (22:00) Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00) Wholesale Price Index (GER) Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (07:00) Industrial Production (FRA) (07:45) Manufacturing Production (FRA) (07:45) ZEW Survey (EU) (10:00) ZEW Survey (GER) (10:00) Bankruptcies (JPN) Machine Tool Orders (JPN) Machine Orders (JPN)

FINALS Imperial Tobacco Group

AGMS A&J Mucklow, Northamber (LSE: NAR.L - news) , Strategic Equity Capital (LSE: SEC.L - news) , Trikona Trinity Capital (LSE: TRC.L - news) , VietNam Holding Ltd.

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (09:30) BRC Sales Monitor (10:30) Chancellor Pre Budget Speech (09:30) RICS House Price Balance (09:30) DCLG House Prices (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Allianz Dresdner Endowment Policy Trust 2010, Savile Group (LSE: SAVG.L - news)

QUARTERLY RESULTS 888 Holdings, European Goldfields Limited, First Quantum Minerals

Wednesday November 11

INTERIMS Great Portland Estates (LSE: GPOR.L - news) , Sainsbury (J), Scottish & Southern Energy

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Carillion (LSE: CLLN.L - news) , Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news)

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE 3i Infrastructure, Aberdeen Income & Growth VCT, Anglo Pacific, Bunzl (LSE: BNZL.L - news) , Charles Stanley, Chloride Group, Cobham (LSE: COB.L - news) , Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO.L - news) , Home Retail Group, JZ Capital Partners, Marks & Spencer Group, Noble AIM VCT (LSE: NOA.L - news) , Pace (LSE: PIC.L - news) , Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, Wynnstay Properties (LSE: WSP.L - news)

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE BP, ING UK Real Estate Income Trust Ltd., Prodesse Investment Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Corporate Goods Price Index (JPN) (23:50)

FINALS Fenner (LSE: FENR.L - news)

AGMS Allied Gold (LSE: AGLD.L - news) , Cadogan Petroleum (LSE: CAD.L - news) , Crown Place VCT (LSE: CRWN.L - news) , Eurovestech (LSE: EVT.L - news) , Hays (LSE: HAS.L - news)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Zetar (LSE: ZTR.L - news)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Inflation Report (09:30) Claimant Count Rate (09:30) Unemployment Rate (09:30) Average Earnings (09:30)

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Acorn Income Fund Ltd., Air Partner (LSE: AIP.L - news) , Asian Citrus (LSE: ACHL.L - news) , CPL Resources (Dublin: DQ5.IR - news) , Dechra Pharmaceuticals (LSE: DPH.L - news) , Downing Protected VCT I, Edge Performance VCT 'D' Shares, Edinburgh Dragon Trust, F&C Commercial Property Trust, JPMorgan Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Jupiter Dividend & Growth Trust, Stavert Zigomala (LSE: STZ.L - news) , Swallowfield (LSE: SWL.L - news) , World Careers Network (LSE: WOR.L - news)

QUARTERLY RESULTS Smurfit Kappa Group

Thursday November 12

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE All Leisure Group (LSE: ALLG.L - news) , Ashley (Laura) Holding, British American Inv Trust, Edge Performance VCT, Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) , Melrose (LSE: MRO.L - news)

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Merchants Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Crude Oil Inventories (US) (13:30) Current Account (FRA) (07:45) Industrial Production (EU) (10:00) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) Treasury Budget Statement (US) (19:00)

AGMS Dunelm Group (LSE: DNLM.L - news) , Eleco (LSE: ELCO.L - news) , Genus (LSE: GNS.L - news) , Henderson EuroTrust (LSE: HNE.L - news) , Henderson EuroTrust, International Ferro Metals, Nighthawk Energy (LSE: HAWK.L - news) , Thorpe (F.W.)

Friday November 13

INTERIMS Electrocomponents (LSE: ECM.L - news) , Hornby

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Aberdeen Growth VCT I, Amiad Filtration Systems, Corin Group (LSE: CRG.L - news) , First Derivatives (LSE: FDP.L - news) , Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2, Northbridge Industrial Services (LSE: NBI.L - news) , office2office, Public Service Properties Investments, Rightmove (LSE: GB00B0MFTM73.L - news) , Spectris (LSE: SXS.L - news)

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE British Land Co

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (US) (13:30) CoU. of Michigan Confidence (US) (13:30) Gross Domestic Product (EU) Gross Domestic Product (FRA) Gross Domestic Product (GER) Non-farm Payrolls (FRA) (07:45) Consumer Prices Index (FRA) (07:45) Consumer Prices Index (EC) (10:00) Industrial Production (JPN) Capacity Utilisation (JPN) Consumer Confidence (JPN)

FINALS SatCom Group

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE British Sky Broadcasting Group, Eaga (LSE: EAGA.L - news) , Galliford Try (LSE: GFRD.L - news) , Networkers International (LSE: NWKI.L - news) , Quayle Munro (LSE: QYM.L - news) , Strategic Equity Capital, TR European Growth Trust, Wilmington Group

QUARTERLY RESULTS Bankers Petroleum Ltd, Nautilus Minerals Inc. (DI)