A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

Two weeks after airport operator, BAA, sent out its circular to shareholders telling them that the offer from Spanish suitor Ferrovial "does not begin to reflect BAA's true value", it is expected to deliver results in line with analyst expectations on Tuesday. Analysts predict 650m in pre-tax profit, up from 636m the year before. Management is prohibited from talking in any detail about Ferrovial's approach but the Spaniards are champing at the bit, especially after the company handily beat analyst earnings estimates thanks to diversification into areas such as airport services. Also on Tuesday, a week after it and its partner BAE Systems called off their possible acquisition of defence contractor Babcock International, shipbuilder VT Group will unveil annual results that should leave investors feeling just fine about its go-it-alone prospects. Analysts expect pre-tax profit to have risen 31% to 54.7m. Having recently announced lucrative Middle East contracts, VT is also in the running for several multi-billion-dollar service contracts, including a military flying training programme. On Wednesday, Sainsbury are due to publish full-year results. Analysts predict the supermarket group will report 4.1% growth in like-for-like sales, which would represent its best set of figures in quite some time. When SABMiller, one of the world's biggest brewers, publishes its annual results on Thursday, its latest acquisition will be under scrutiny. The Colombian brewer, Bavaria, was bought last year but questions have been raised about its accounting practices and how its numbers will come out once translated to comply with international standards. Investors will also be anxious to hear better news about SABMiller's South African operations, where sales of its Castle beer have been weakening. Boots hopes to dispel some of the confusion surrounding its performance when it comes out with full-year results on Thursday. Analysts expect the group to report 343m in operating profit, but numbers may be deceiving. Since last year the company has sold its over-the-counter medicines unit to Reckitt Benckiser, and has invested a great deal of money in upgrading the appearance of some of its stores and slashing prices to gain back territory from competitors, such as Tesco, which have elbowed their way on to its patch. All of this will make a dent in profits, the question is, how deep is that dent? When British Airways published annual results on Friday, analysts are looking for it to unveil 530m in pre-tax profits, better than the 513m the year before, despite fourth-quarter numbers that are expected to be weak in line with seasonal fluctuations. Other companies under scrutiny this week include Robert Wiseman Dairies on Monday; Compass, Enterprise Inns and Intercontinental Hotels on Tuesday; FirstGroup and De Vere on Wednesday, with BT and National Grid on Thursday. A very busy and varied week in prospect. Let's hope there is a profit there for you! Good hunting! Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng Index ended the morning down 294.24 points at 16,607.61, with HSBC among the high profile casualties. The Nikkei was recently down 197.96 points at 16,403.82.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, was at $71.42 a barrel, down 62 cents from late New York trades on Friday.

Sounds like another day for the bears........

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all. Will we reach the bottom today?

Don't know, but another "run for cover" day by the looks of it ...... Have taken all the evasive action I need to, or at least I hope so ....... Still not brave enough to short either indices or even the likes of KAZ

Morning all - long time no post....I am expecting a lot of volatility at this time due to the geopolitical situation and the volatile dollar which is affecting the commodities markets. I'm wondering whether to short the ftse, though, with plenty of margin in hand and no stops.

Recent risers are having a pounding today

CFM
GGG
ELCO
EME

OIL shares being knocked heavily

BP.
CNE
EEN
JKX
NOP
SEY

Some mines also on the way down

AFD 149p - 9p
APP 33p - 2.25p
GFM 84.5p - 12.25p
KMR 41.25p - 3.25p

One for today, only for the brave

UPS
AFR 70.50- 72p

A large drop today and now at support, and all Indicators well at oversold, due to bounce to the 12 day moving average, than usualy follows

another bloodbath today

A minor correction or start of the 'Iranian bear market'?????????

Just a market correction. Feel sorry for a lot trading on margin though.

mmm i've been expecting the Iranian bear to start growling for some time, maybe it has....

       LUNCH TIME FUN

I don't think Iran has much to do with the sell-off ...... The market has been running and running with scarcely a pause ...... I think it has just been looking for an excuse to dive ..... The great unknown is whether or not this signals a fundamental change in sentiment.

BT and VOD blue today on a very red day - maybe some of the commodity money will rotate into telecoms.

Still think the markets have been ignoring Iran and it will come back and bite at some point.

As I have mentioned before, don't confuse political sabre rattling with reality

There was plenty of political sabre rattling in the two year lead up to the Iraq invasion.

But as you said, even that was a 2 year tango, and whether US let alone the rest of the world has the stomach for further fisticuffs is very doubtful - which is no doubt what Iran is banking on