Business week ahead: 2-6 April

By This Is Money
Updated: 05:59 EDT, 2 April 2007

A shortened trading week will see Halfords and Mothercare publish updates, while publisher Bloomsbury will look to restore confidence after its profits warning in December.

Monday, 2 April

The housing market is holding up better than expected this year, which should give a fillip to mortgage bank Northern Rock, due to update the market on its performance so far this year on Monday.

While mortgage approvals are slightly down on a six month average, the slump so often predicted has not transpired yet.

Northern Rock will also benefit from a stellar arrears record that is half that of the industry average - a feat in the current climate of soaring consumer debt levels.

It is a stock favoured by Merrill Lynch analysts, particularly as the bank 'has stable margins, improving cost efficiencies, strong credit quality and capital advantages'.

Investors will be looking to see if Bay Trading owner Alexon Group has experienced a pick-up in trading since January after it saw sales fall in the 22 weeks to December 30.

The group, which is reporting its results for the year to January 31 on Monday, said at the time that like-for-like sales had dropped by 4% in the period, with margins slipping 1% as it was forced to cut prices in an attempt to revive trade.

In February, Alexon informed the market that it had terminated talks regarding a possible offer for the company after it received an indicative approach at the start of the same month. The group said the approach undervalued the business.

Philip Dorgan of Panmure Gordon is predicting pre-tax profits of between £8.3m to £8.5m, but said he was not confident that the group can avoid further problems.

INTERIMS Biofusion
FINALS Alexon Group, Aurelian Oil & Gas, Cyberview Technology, Energetix Group, Evolution Group, Hardy Oil & Gas, Imperial Energy Corporation, Network Data Holdings, Norwood Immunology, PowerFilm, Star Energy Group
AGMS None scheduled
EGMS None scheduled
TRADING STATEMENT Northern Rock
ECONOMICS CBI Quarterly financial services survey (0001 BST)
UK Q4 Mortgage equity withdrawal (0930 BST)

Tuesday, 3 April

Car and bicycle retailer Halfords is set to confirm that trading has remained strong when it gives a pre-close update on Tuesday.

Analysts at Seymour Pierce suggest there is an 'outside chance' that a suitor could crop up to make an approach for Halfords, but even without any potential bid, the group's shares are marked down as an 'outperform'.

Trading was said to be in line with expectations when the group last gave a performance update and this is forecast to improve further.

Richard Ratner, retail analyst at Seymour Pierce, said full-year profits may come in some £1.5m ahead of the £75.8m he already expects.

Following on from a disappointing set of results from Woolworths last week, entertainment retailer ChoicesUK is set to outline the impact of a declining CD and DVD market when it publishes its interim results on Tuesday.

Investors will be looking for any strategic plans for the group's retail business after it said in January it would consider off-loading some of its stores.

It has been a tough year for Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury resulting in a substantial profit warning in December and a subsequent marked reduction in analysts' forecasts for the period.

The company warned at the time that lower than expected pre-Christmas sales combined with delays in reference rights sales budgeted for 2006 would see profits before tax for the year ending December 31 fall to around £5m.

This compares to underlying profits of £20m in the previous year, after performance was boosted by record-breaking sales of the hard back edition of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

INTERIMS ChoicesUK
FINALS Bloomsbury Publishing, Clean Diesel Technologies, HaiKe Chemical Group, Havelock Europa, Melrose Resources, Resolution, Robotic Technology Systems, Severfield-Rowen
AGMs Zambezi Resources
EGMs Hays
TRADING STATEMENTS BP, Severn Trent
ECONOMICS Q4 profitability of UK companies

Wednesday, 28 March

Babycare retailer Mothercare is set to update the market on its fourth quarter trading performance on Wednesday, while investors will also be looking for further news on the proposed £85m acquisition of Early Learning Centre-owner Chelsea Stores.

In January, the group reported that sales had grown by 5.3% for the 42 weeks to January 12 driven by a strong international performance.

However, in the UK sales were only up 1.1% in the same period, which included heavy pre-Christmas markdowns following a difficult trading period during November.

The news saw Investec analysts cut profits expectations for the year to £21.3m.

INTERIMS Air Partner, BNS Telecom Group, United Drug
FINALS AGI Therapeutics, Alea Group Holdings (Bermuda), IFG Group
AGMs None scheduled
EGMs Aegis
TRADING STATEMENTS Biffa, Mothercare, Michael Page International, United Drug
OTHER TNS monthly supermarket data
TRAFFIC FIGURES British Airways (March)
ECONOMICS UK Nationwide consumer confidence survey (0001 BST)

Thursday, 29 March

INTERIMS None scheduled
FINALS MonsterMob Group
AGMs None scheduled
EGMs Mecom Group
ECONOMICS UK Feb manufacturing, industrial output (0930 BST), BoE rate decision (1200 BST)

Friday, 30th March

Good Friday bank holiday.