S&P Futures

mmO2, shares will be very active KPN, the top telecoms carrier of the Netherlands, says it will not rule out a hostile bid for the mobile phone group  after their latest round of takeover talks fell through.

The company is valued at 8 billion and KPN's offer was 10 billion

Ultra Electronics defence and aerospace electronics firm reported a 15 percent rise in annual profits to 34.4 million that were at the top end of forecasts and announced some top level board changes.

Bunzl reported annual profits of 212.3 million pounds up from 20 million . They were in line with forecasts and said it expected volume growth to continue.

Associated British Foods said "Trading remains broadly in line with our expectations at the beginning of the financial year,"

Scottish & Newcastle reported a one percent rise in annual profits and said that trade so far in 2004 was in line with recent trends with consumer confidence remaining weak. They profits before tax of 471 million pounds slightly higher than analysts average forecasts of 465 million pounds.

Symbian, mobile phones software developer reported a 124 percent jump in shipments but said the longer term prospects are positive but remain subject to considerable uncertainty

Jardine Lloyd Thompson the UK's biggest insurance broker posted 2003 profits of 113.7 million pounds at the top end of forecasts but expected results for the next two years to be impacted if the U.S. dollar remained weak.

Egg internet bank said its annual loss doubled as its French business continued to drain money. Losses rose to 34.4 million from 16.6 million in 2002 higher than analysts forecast of about 30 million pounds..Operating profit at the UK business more than doubled to 72.8 million pounds from 34.8 million. There was no news on the possible take over of the company

Old Mutual South Africa's largest insurer said annual profit fell 10 percent to 650 million pounds slightly down on forecasts dragged under by losses at its Nedcor banking unit. Sales were 529 million pounds compared to 557 million pounds in the previous year

Ricardo British auto industry consultant said its UK business had fallen into a loss in the first half due to unusually severe trading conditions, but improved orders in the past two months were encouraging.

 Anglo and Overseas Trust (F), Bunzl (F), Datamonitor (F), Egg (F), Hemscott (F), Jardine Lloyd (F), National Express (F), Old Mutual (F) Pharmagene (F), Provalis (F), Scottish and Newcastle (F), SDL International (F), Stadium Group (F), Ultra Electronics (F), Wembley (F), Provalis (I), Reed Health (I),

Ricardo Group (I), Electra Kingsway (AGM), Phytopharm (AGM),

Raft International (AGM), Treatt (AGM)

Campbell Soup (Q2) Concord (Q4) Lowe's Companies (Q4) Navistar International Corp (Q1) Novell (Q1)  

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com

 Anglo and Overseas Trust (F), Bunzl (F), Datamonitor (F), Egg (F), Hemscott (F), Jardine Lloyd (F), National Express (F), Old Mutual (F) Pharmagene (F), Provalis (F), Scottish and Newcastle (F), SDL International (F), Stadium Group (F), Ultra Electronics (F), Wembley (F), Provalis (I), Reed Health (I),

Ricardo Group (I), Electra Kingsway (AGM), Phytopharm (AGM),

Raft International (AGM), Treatt (AGM)

Campbell Soup (Q2) Concord (Q4) Lowe's Companies (Q4) Navistar International Corp (Q1) Novell (Q1)  

Alliance UniChem (F), Amersham (F), Atlantic Global (F), British American Tobacco (F), Cookson (F), Croda (F), Dairy Farm International Holdings Ld (F), Domino's Pizza (F), Kerry Group'a' (F), Molins (F), Prudential (F), Thorntons (F), Wembley (F), Wimpey (F), Xenova (F), Xstrata (F),Surface Transforms (I), Thorntons (I),Brewin Dolphin (AGM), Tadpole Technology (AGM) 9:30 UK Q4 Provisional business investment

H&R Block (Q3), Brown-Forman Corp (Q3) Clear Channel Comms Q4, HJ Heinz Co (Q3),

Home Depot (Q4), Edison International (Q4) Federated Department Stores Inc(Q4) Express Scripts (Q4), Sempra Energy (Q4)

13:00 Consumer Confidence (93)

Repsol, Michelin

Anglo American (F), Aviva (F), BBA Group (F), Domnick Hunter (F), Hardy Underwriting(F), HBOS(F), Isotron (F), Michael Page (F), Morse Holdings (F), Novar (F), Paddy Power (F), RAC (F), Reed Health (F), Spirent (F), TDG (F), Urbium (F), Wilson Bowden (F), Brambles Industries Dickinson Legg (I), Isotron (I), Morse Holdings (I), Reed Health (I), Aukett Group (AGM), Capcon Holdings (AGM), Leeds Group (AGM)9:30 UK Q4 GDP First Revision

Big Lots (Q4) TJX Companies (Q4) Tiffany and Co (Q4)

13:00 Existing Home Sales (6.45M)

15:00 Alan Greenspan, testify's

Altadis, Heineken

Ex Dividend: Amstrad PLC 1.5, Barclays PLC 13.45, Beale Plc 2.2, CRC Group Plc 4.5, Filtronic Plc 0.9, Heath (Samuel) & Sons Plc 5, Mountview Estates Plc 44, Oxford Instruments Plc 2.4, Whittard Of Chelsea Plc 1, Wintrust Plc 8.6

Abbey National (F), BAE Systems (F), Belgravium Technologies (F), Capita Group (F), CryptoLogic Com Shs NPV (F), Easynet (F), Elementis (F), Estates and General (F), GeneMedix (F), Hilton Group (F), Legal & General (F), MFI Furniture Group (F), National Express (F), Provident Financial (F), Rentokil Initial (F), Singer and Friedlander (F), Tomkins (F), Trinity Mirror (F), United Business Media (F), Domestic and General (I), Galliford Try (I), Invox (I), Swallowfield (I), Ultimate Leisure Group (I), Wilmington Group (I), Cobra Bio-Manufacturing (AGM), M&G Income Inv (AGM), easyJet (TA)9:30 GfK Feb Consumer confidence survey 9:30 Jan BBA Mortgage Lending Data

Autodesk (Q4), Gap (Q4), Limited Brands (Q4) Liz Claiborne (Q4), JC Penney Co (Q4) Kohl's Corp (Q4), Calpine Corp (Q4)

13:30 Durable Orders (1.4%) 13;30 Initial Claims (347K) 15:00 Help Wanted Index (39) 15:00 New Home Sales (1095K)

RWE (F) Celanese (Q4) Bouygues (F) Gecina (F)

ENI

Avis Europe (F), Billam (F), Independent Media Distribution (F), International Power (F), Rank Group (F), WPP (F), Games Workshop (I), Vernalis (I),Resurge (AGM)9:30 Govt Debt & Deficit under the Maastricht Treaty

13:30 GDP Q4 (3.6%) 13:30 Chain Deflator (1.1%) 13:30 GDP-Prel (3.8%) 14:45 Mich Sentiment (93.8) 15:00 Chicago PMI (63.5)

Cap Gemini (F) Lafarge (F) Technip (F)  

Provisional Calendar For UK Equities  The Week Following  1st - 5th March

Aggregate Industries (F), Aggreko (F), British Polythene (F), British Vita (F), Exel (F), GKN (F), Hammerson (F), HSBC (F), Imprint (F), Inchcape (F), LogicaCMG (F), Management Consulting Group (F), Pearson (F), Persimmon (F), StatPro (F), Systems Union (F), Vitec Group (F), Wolfson Microelectronics, (F), Benchmark Group (I)09:30 Jan Consumer Credit, 09:30 Jan Final M4/M4 lending

Acambis (F), Ben Bailey (F), Biofocus (F), Brit Insurance (F), Britannic Group (F), Communisis (F), CRH (F), Genetix Group (F), Informa (F), KBC Advanced Technologies (F), Lavendon Group (F), LogicaCMG (F), Meggitt (F), Retail Decisions (F), Robert Walters (F), Savills (F), Schroders (F), Serco (F), Taylor Woodrow (F), White Young Green (F), Axon (I),Dechra Pharmaceuticals (I), White Young Green (I)GW Pharmaceuticals (AGM), Singer & Friedlander (AGM)

Biotrace (F), Devro (F), Flying Brands (F), Friends Provident (F), Gallaher (F), Harrier Group (F), Lorien (F), Marlborough Stirling (F), Oxford Biomedica (F), Rathbone Bros (F), RMC (F), SHL Group (F), A&J Mucklow (I), Next (I), Wetherspoon (I),

Arriva (F), Axis-Shield (F), Fayrewood (F), Hunting (F), Kidde (F), P and O (F), Rexam (F), Senior Engineering (F), Tarsus Group (F), Wellington Underwriting (F), William Hill (F), Yule Catto (F),Country and Metropolitan (I), Eidos (I),BoE`s MPC interest rate announcement

Financial Objects (F), Marshalls (F), JD Wetherspoon (I)Netcentric Systems (AGM)

Trading Thoughts For The Week Ahead  -  Sunday 22nd February

Banks & Insurers will dominate the news in a massive week ahead with over 70 companies posting results! FTSE100 hares have risen three weeks in a row reaching 19-month highs on Friday on good company results and news that Standard Life had finished selling 7.5 billion pounds of equities. Prudential and Legal & General should be upbeat on the outlook for 2004 due to improved consumer sentiment.MondayScottish & Newcastle kick start the week with Q3 results. They recently offloaded its pubs division for 2.5bn and this small company is expected to see profits fall to 430m from 467m last time. The future seems to be in further cost savings and improved profits in the UK beer division Scottish Courage.Egg is expected to go into profit and report a gain of 57m although this will be overshadowed by news of its takeover talks.Bunzl cigarette filter manufacturer is expected to report flat profits of 210m.Tuesday

Prudential could be under pressure from the start as full-year results are expected to be followed by news of a 40% cut in the annual dividend to 16p - the first dividend cut since 1914. Further bad news could come if they cut bonuses on with-profits policies. The market will also be looking for news on the sale of Prudential's 79% stake in online bank Egg. Look for profits of 869 million, compared with 1.13 billion previously. British American Tobacco reports full-year figures which are expected to produce a profit of 2.5b.Domino's Pizza release annual results and is expected to reports its fifth consecutive year of rising profits to 6.3m.Wimpey expects profits at the top end of the 200m to 224m range.Wednesday

Aviva has already said it expects operating profits to be ahead of previous expectations - up 12% to 1.9bn. This has not stopped it cost cutting when it announced that it would cut 2,350 jobs in December and export work to India. It then said lit would cut its Hill House Hammond insurance intermediary, with the loss of up to 1,600 jobs. HBOS reports finals which should show a rise in profits to 3.8bn from 3.54bn. They are expected to show better momentum than many in the sector with growth in mortgages, interest margins and market share with low bad debts.Alan Greenspan will testify before the House Budget Committee in Washington on Wednesday at 1500 GMTThursday

BAE has already said it expects operating profits to be flat against 2002 with full-year profits of 770m against 796m last time. Any growth probably offset by the weak dollar and higher pension contributions. The main focus will be on any good or bad news on major contracts and the uncertainty of Eurofighter deliveries. Abbey National will be interesting after reporting annual losses of 984m last year, with cost cutting it is expected to still release further losses of up to 240m. Its retail banking is expected to produce few trading surprises but watch out for news on its share of the mortgage market and any signs of declining margins. However, of more interest will be the bank's progress report on its restructuring.Legal & General is expected to produce profits of 760mFriday

WPP Group's announcement will be watched with interest for news on further recovery in the advertising sector. Last October, the company reported its first-ever 1b of quarterly revenue and said the industry was climbing out of recession.Rank Group is expected to produce a profit of 195m hit by the weak dollar affecting performance at its film-processing unit Deluxe, Hard Rock restaurants. Also it may still be finding trading at its London casinos to have remained remain tough.

Thoughts

US stocks may drift lower next week as the markets' 11-month rally shows signs of running out of steam after they drifted lower on the week. The Dow fell 0.08 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.15 percent and the the Nasdaq fell 0.76 percent to record its fifth losing week in a row . It is reported that volumes dipped below the 90-day average as investors became increasingly concerned that prices are at last too high and started moving back to cash. In the week ahead US retailers dominate results with Home Depot, Gap and J.C. Penney reporting.

Here in the U.K the market direction will be dominated more by the raft of corporate results rather than the direction of the DOW. That is unless the fears that a big correction in the high flying US markets occurs! The 10 Day intraday chart had been remarkably effective during the last week and should give good guidance for the start of next week.

Wishing you 'Good Trading' for the week ahead and as always I look forward to your thoughts and comments.  David (Crocodile) David@SnappyTrader.com  www.SnappyTrader.com

All the above comments are purely a personal opinion and no investment advice is intended.  Please do your own research.

Sunday Newspapers

People's confidence in investing appears to be slowly returning as the stock market recovers.The Association of British Insurers said the amount individuals put into collective investment schemes during the last three months of 2003 was up on the same quarter of the previous year. WH Smith has delivered a string of profit warnings and the new CEO had decided to stop selling CD singles as sales are being squeezed by cut-price supermarkets. Profit margins are falling, costs are rising and sales are flat.Sainsbury is in exclusive talks to buy TM Group, the convenience store and newsagent chain, for about 230 million pounds according to the Sunday Times and could seal a deal for the owner of the Martins and Forbuoys chains within two weeks.

SUNDAY TIMES BG flares as world demand for gas rises BAE lead on carrier contract in doubt Valentia boosts Eircom board ahead of float Fives top man will bolster team at Sky Independent News OReilly tops rugby box set Sainsbury closes in on TM Group Sainsbury Shelved by the shareholders Americans gave Vodafone 2am financial warning

RBS Boom time for banks as record profits roll in Union to fight S&N brewery closure HSBC Top tips to help you beat the big four banks and make more of your money

Agenda: William Lewis: Vodafones general retreats to fight another day Sharewatch: BAE Systems RBS Top tips to help you beat the big four banks and make more of your money Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in MFI Furniture Group? Sharewatch Axis-Shield The problem with Verizon... Barclays Top tips to help you beat the big four banks and make more of your money BAA Special report: Soaring cost of touching down Sharewatch: MMO2 Directors' Deals: Carphone chief cuts back his stake  

Vodafone City comment: Don't freak them out Royal Bank of Scotland Jeff Randall: Dirty words Vodafone 'Our credibility hasn't been dented' Royal Bank of Scotland The bionic bank

Vodafone have bounced back after it lost out in its bid for AT&T Wireless. While the failed bid has raised some major strategic issues and rattled a few shareholders, given the group's strong cashflow the shares still look cheap, especially compared with those of rivals. Buy.

Invensys's 1.8bn disposals programme has been replaced by a 2.7bn refinancing package. The shares have almost halved over the past year, and Invensys still faces a tough few months convincing investors to buy into its new strategy. Keep selling.

OBSERVER  WPP's Sorrell calls end to ad recession Amec UK firms 'well-placed' to win Iraq contracts Sainsbury Pressure on Davis to check out Mowlem (J) UK firms 'well-placed' to win Iraq contracts Bad debts to take shine off HBOS record 4bn profit

Royal Bank of Scotland Fred - in tooth and claw Sainsbury Things go from bad to worse for desperate Davis Vodafone Missed call to America Sainsbury When headhunters fail to get their man

Royal Bank of Scotland Publicity-shy RBS a disaster in the making

MAIL ON SUNDAY Burberry eyes up Laura Ashley Investors pile pressure on Vodafone Royal Bank of Scotland poised for US deal

BAE Navy project threatened Old Mutual faces 200m bill

INDEPENDENT  KPN may go hostile in 10bn strike at mmO2 Trinity Mirror seeks help from McKinsey

Legal & General The Week Ahead: Kids replaced by banks and brewers Why Glazer shouldn't put his shirt on Manchester United

EM The Week Ahead: Kids replaced by banks and brewers Business View: German banks are going to be bratwurst, but RBS doesn't have the stomach William Hill BAE Systems Wanted: top gun to take on the toughest job in British industry

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY  Vodafone chief under pressure RBS Bank on lenders to cash in with record profits St James's to make 500m property move North British Distillery 'monitoring' S&N decision Society set to debate Tesco law impact Scottish & Newcastle 'lied' to workers over closure ScottishPower in bids for gas distribution networks Royal Bank in talks over SPL television deal

Scottish and Newcastle Brewing up a storm No insurance against backlash as Prudential is set to slash dividend Why BT must pick up the phone and buy back mm02 Vodafone Mega mergers destroy shareholder value Moaners must account for carping about Royal Bank

Royal Bank of Scotland 3.5m payout for bank chief HBOS Bank on lenders to cash in with record profits  

SUNDAY BUSINESS Broker JP Morgan expects earnings per share* growth at British American Tobacco to lift from 2% in 2003 to 11% in 2004 and 14% in 2005, excluding the positive impact of the proposed merger of its Brown & Williamson subsidiary in the US with RJ Reynolds. The growth would be the highest in the global tobacco sector and among the highest in the global consumer group, and reflects share buy-backs, cost savings and the improving US market.

INVESTORS CHRONICLE Tips: Buy Surfcontrol (SRF), Fortune Oil (FTO), First Quantum Minerals (FQM), Enterprise (ETR), Ultimate Leisure (ULG), Sell - P&O (PO). Tip Updates: Buy - Regal Petroleum (RPT), Mayborn (MBY), Hold - BTG (BTG), Sell JJB Sports (JJB), Eurotunnel (ETL).

SHARES MAGAZINE Plays of the Week: Sportech (SPO), Buy., Oxus Mining (OXS), Buy. BSS Group (BTSM) - Buy, Petra Diamonds (PDL) - Buy, Sopheon (SPE) - Buy. Hit List - 12 Top Takeover Targets:, Acambis (ACM), Benchmark (BMK), BG Group (BG), Bovis Homes (BVS), Capital Radio (CAP), Celltech (CCH), De Vere (DVR), House of Fraser (HOF), Invensys (ISYS), Kingston Communications (KCOM), Premier Oil (PMO), Westbury (WBY).

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com