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In the United States the release of the Institute of Supply Management (formerly NAPM) manufacturing index for August will be closely watched for signs the economic recovery is more than wishful thinking Shares are set to open slightly higher as investors wait for Wall Street to return from a long weekend with US futures higherBrambles Industries fell heavily in Australia on worries about its U.S. business. The Anglo-Australian supplier of freight pallets and other industrial services said its annual net profit fell 39 percent, driving its Australian shares down around eight percent as investors fretted about its U.S. business.Canary Wharf The property group's founder and chairman late on Monday denied he had held talks to sell 100 million pounds of warrants to a consortium led by Morgan Stanley

RBOS cut to equal weight at Morgan Stanley

BBA Group aviation services and specialist materials reported first half pre-tax profit of 61.2 million pounds, in line with market expectations and increased dividened to 3.2 pence from 3.1 pence. BBA said it expected useful progress in the second half as the benefits of lower costs, new contracts, productivity gains and recent acquisitions came through.

Meggitt aerospace engineer met forecasts with a 4.7 percent rise in first-half profits to 35.7 million pounds as military sales outpaced civil and said it was on track to meet 2003 expectations.

Whitbread hotels and leisure group said sales growth in the first 24 weeks of its financial year up to August 14 had been encouraging. The company runs Marriott hotels, David Lloyd fitness clubs and Beefeater restaurants said that it remains confident about the prospects for the company and its potential for continued growth.

Computacenter, Britain's largest IT hardware distributor reported a 31 percent rise in first-half profits on Tuesday and said it hoped to sustain the performance over the year. Profits for the six months rose to 32 million pounds from 24.4 million last year above analysts forecasts which ranged between 28 and 31 million pounds.

Britannic Group insurer said that first-half profit fell 15 percent, beating analysts' forecasts as it made better-than-expected new business profits. Profit for the six months dropped to 44 million pounds from 52 million pounds a year earlier. Analysts' predictions had ranged from 28 million pounds to 38 million.Debenhams which is facing a takeover bid from private equity firm Permira, said its like-for-like sales in the last 26 weeks rose 3.9 percent. Gross margin was up 0.7 percentage points, while the full-year margin was up by 0.4 percentage points.

Westbury housebuilder said it had traded strongly during the first half and it was confident the results would be in line with expectations. Its order book had been maintained at healthy levels with forward sales of 270 million pounds secured at the half year. "The fundamentals for our industry have not changed, with demand continuing to exceed supply," the firm said in a statement.

Schroders fund manager posted a 64% jump in profit to 32.4 million pounds for the first half of the year with underlying asset management profits of 32.6 million pounds. Markets had predicted they would record a group profit of 25.2 million pounds on underlying fund management profits of 34.9 million pounds.

Tibbett & Britten Group haulage and storage firm posted lower first-half profits on Tuesday, but said it expected the second half to show its usual seasonal strength after a surge of new contracts and renewals.

Calendar All GMT	United Kingdom (F)inals (I)nterim	United States (Click Flag)	Europe & World
Tuesday   02nd September	BBA Group (I) PBT 62m exp. Brambles Industries (F) PBT 291m exp. Schroders (I) PBT 25m exp. Antofagasta (I), Arena Leisure (I), Brammer (I), Britannic Group (I), Communisis, Computacenter (I), Dechra Pharmaceuticals (F), Dicom Group (F), Lambert Howarth Group (I), Lavendon Group (I), Marlborough Stirling (I), Mears Group (I), Meggitt (I), Molins (I), Tibbett & Britten (I), Wireless Group (I) Whitbread Trading Statement 09.30 Aug CIPS Construction Industry PMI 10.30 EEF Quarterly Trends Survey	15.00 Aug Manufacturing ISM 53.4 exp. Auto Sales Aug, Truck Sales Aug	Paddy Power (I) 11.00 July PPI m/m 0.2% exp. 11.00 July Unemployment Rate 8.9% exp.
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