News

B&Q owner Kingfisher will be looking to outdo Home Retail Group's Homebase unit when it announces half-year results on Thursday, although in truth Homebase has not set the bar very high; it announced an 8.3% slump in like-for-like sales in the three months to end-August.

B&Q should do better than that, given that Kingfisher said like-for-like sales inched up 0.2% in the 10 weeks to July 12, compared with an 8.1% fall in the first quarter, although overall, the group saw a 1.5% fall in like-for-like sales.

Kingfisher's European brands could provide a lift, thanks to the strength of the euro, which is almost 15% dearer in sterling terms than it was a year ago.

Adjusted pre-tax profits for the six months to 2 August are expected to be in the range of £197m to £203m, excluding the effect of the Italian Castorama business, which was offloaded in August.

Building and civil engineering group Kier has already indicated that underlying trading and profits for the full year will be in line with expectations, which should mean pre-tax profits of around £91.1m on revenue of £2,324m.

Most parts of the business are doing well but the Residential Housing and Commercial Property segments have, predictably, been hammered, prompting the company to embark on a cost-cutting programme. Broker KBC Peel Hunt is expecting the Commercial Property unit to maintain profits at £12m, while Kier Homes is forecast to suffer a £10m fall in profits from continued operations, to £37m.

Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander analyst Kevin Cammack believes the shares have been "massively oversold" on the back of concerns about the housing and property units. These two units accounted for less than 40% of pre-tax profit in the first half of the current financial year, and should fall to less than 20% in the next financial year, according to KBC Peel Hunt.

Table-top fantasy war game company Games Workshop returned to profit at the full-year stage, suggesting it is getting to grips with costs after a prolonged period of complacency based on a dominant market position and the boost from the "Lord of the Rings" franchise.

Diehard Warhammer fans will be looking at tomorrow's trading update for news of the much delayed Warhammer massively multi-player online role-playing game, although the company has probably missed the boat in this market, as World of Warcraft has long since successfully filled the void left by the absence of a web-based version of Warhammer.

INTERIMS
Climate Exchange, Eastern European Trust, Gaming VC Holdings, Kellan Group, Kingfisher, Panceltica Holdings, Pacific Assets Trust,

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Anglo American, Dialight

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30), Leading Indicators (US) (15:00), Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00)

THIRD QUARTER
Carnival

FINALS
Antisoma, BlueBay Asset Management, Centuar, Intercytex, JP Morgan Emerging Markets, Kier Group, Macro 4, NXT, Wilmington Group,

EGMS
A&D Pharma

AGMS
1700 Group, Best of the Best, Clarity Commerce Solutions, Eros International, Games Workshop Group, London & Stamford Property

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
M4 Money Supply (09:30), M4 Money Supply (estimate) (09:30), M4 Sterling Lending (09:30), M4 Sterling Lending (estimate) (09:30), Public Sector Finances (09:30), Public Sector Finances (09:30), Public Sector Net Borrowing (09:30), Retail Sales (09:30), Retail Sales (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Northgate, Robert Wiseman

TRADING UPDATE
Cosalt, Games Workshop, Investec, Luminar, Image Scan Holdings, NCC,