Welcome to the week ahead, our summary of the forthcoming key company announcements. Companies are no longer obliged to notify the London Stock Exchange (LSE) of results and trading updates, so this list does not claim to be comprehensive. You can read company announcements at http://announce.ft.com and our daily online news summaries record all key company announcements and business press headlines.
Monday 13 May
Interims: Diploma, Planet Payment, Treatt
Final: Blinkx
Trading statements: Centrica, Dignity, DRS Data & Research Services, Glencore, Interserve, Johnston Press, Lonmin, Velti
AGMs: Bioquell, Centrica, DRS Data & Research Services, Fiberweb, Interserve, Microgen, PPHE Hotel Group
Tuesday 14 May
Interim: Enterprise Inns
Finals: Babcock International, Braemar Shipping Services, British Land, DCC, e-Therapeutics, ICAP, Lombard Risk Management, Nature
Trading statements: APR Energy, Balfour Beatty, Capita, Paddy Power, Rathbone Brothers, Sportech
AGMs: Amerisur Resources, APR Energy, Capita, Cello, Grafton, IP, Paddy Power, Rathbone Brothers, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sportech, Standard Life, Toumaz
Economics: RICS house prices
A pre-close trading update for the year to the end of March from engineering outsourcer Babcock International (BAB) revealed that the group's order book had merely remained stable at £12bn. Of more interest was the growth of the bid pipeline - that increased from £14bn in January to £15.5bn at the start of April.
The most significant addition to the pipeline was a logistic and commodities services transformation contract with the Ministry of Defence (MoD). That involves supplying spare parts to keep the military moving and comprises a joint venture with DHL that's expected to be awarded in 2015. The MoD has valued the contract at between £6bn and £13bn - yet analysts think management has only included about a £1bn from this so far, which suggests that the pipeline is valued too conservatively at present.
Espirito Santo expect adjusted pre-tax profit to rise 17 per cent in the year to the end of March 2013 to give profits of £319.6m, EPS of 69.9p and a dividend of 25.9p. On that basis, the shares are rated on 15 times earnings, which is starting to look full enough.
Wednesday 15 May
Interims: Compass, easyJet, OMG
Finals: C&C, Datatec, Land Securities, London Stock Exchange, Speedy Hire
Trading statements: Ark Therapeutics, Cape, Centamin, FBD, Greggs, Hill & Smith, Hilton Food, ITV, Marshalls, Serco, Vitec, Wood (John).
AGMs: Burford Capital, Candover, Cape, Chime Communications, Cineworld, EKF Diagnostics, FBD, French Connection, Greggs, Gresham Computing, Hill & Smith, Hilton Food, Informa, ITV, Marshalls, Rentokil, Restaurant Group, RSA Insurance, Sagentia, SeaEnergy, Serco, Vitec, Unilever, Wood (John), Xchanging, Zotefoams
Economics: Employment data, Average earnings, Bank of England inflation report
Catering giant Compass (CPG) - one of our Tips of the Year for 2013 - has had a strong first half of the year and management guidance for the full year remain positive. Organic revenue growth for the first half is expected to be towards 5 per cent on a comparable working days basis, excluding the negative impact of the timing of easter. This has been driven by good levels of new business wins and high rates of retention for the group overall.
Contributions from acquisitions are expected to be largely offset by the impact of the disposal of the US Corrections business in March 2012. Free cash flow conversion is forecast to remain strong, which underpins the 10 per cent-plus dividend hike forecast by analysts and a £400m share buy-back programme.
For the 12 months to the end of September 2013, analysts expect adjusted EPS to rise by 10 per cent to 46.2p. The shares are up 16 per cent on our buy tip and we remain positive on the company's long-term prospects.
Thursday 16 May
Interims: Euromoney Institutional Investor, Grainger, Impax Asset Management, Marston's, Optos
Finals: Invensys, National Grid, Shanks, Stobart, Talktalk Telecom, Vedanta Resources
Trading statements: Afren, Antofagasta, Aviva, Bovis Homes, Bumi, Cairn Energy, Capital & Regional, Dixons Retail, Inchcape, Kier, New World Resources, Premier Oil, Rank, Synthomer, Trinity Mirror, SIG, UTV Media
AGMs: Amlin, Balfour Beatty, Bovis Homes, Cairn Energy, Corac, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Hiscox, Inchcape, Lloyds Banking, Next, Prudential, Resolution, Synthomer, Trinity Mirror, Tullow Oil, Unite, UTV Media, Xcite Energy, Xaar
Friday 17 May
Final: Rugby Estates
Trading statements: Brammer, Centaur Media, Chesnara, Headlam, Huntsworth, Intertek, John Menzies, Petrofac, Premier Farnell, Tribal
AGMs: Brammer, Chesnara, Comptacenter, Derwent London, Dunedin Enterprise, Intertek, John Menzies, Kazakhmys, Kentz, Petrofac, Symphony Environmental Rechnologies, Tribal
Shares going ex-dividend on 15 May
| Company | Dividend (p) | Payment |
| 888 | 3 | 13 Jun |
| 888 | 1.333 | 13 Jun |
| Acorn Income Fund | 2 | 28 Jun |
| Carillion | 11.85 | 14 Jun |
| Computacenter | 10.5 | 14 Jun |
| G4S | 5.54 | 14 Jun |
| Gresham House | 2.5 | 7 Jun |
| Hydro | 3.6 | 10 Jun |
| Inmarsat | 23.72 | 24 May |
| Management Consulting | 0.595 | 2 Jul |
| Medicx Fund NPV | 1.425 | 28 Jun |
| Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets | 8.31 | 19 Jun |
| Northbridge Industrial Services | 3.575 | 7 Jun |
| Office2Office | 3.6 | 11 Jul |
| Polymetal | 20 | 19 Jun |
| Premier Oil | 5 | 27 Jun |
| Robinson | 2.25 | 1 Jun |
| Royal Dutch Shell 'A' | 29.07 | 27 Jun |
| Sagentia | 1 | 7 Jun |
| SDL | 6.1 | 14 Jun |
| Tandem | 2.2 | 14 Jun |
| TT Electronics | 3.5 | 30 May |
| Utilico Emerging Markets Utilities | 1.525 | 5 Jun |
| Vesuvius | 9.5 | 27 Jun |
| Whitbread | 37.9 | 12 Jul |
The ex-dividend date is the first day on which it is no longer possible to buy the shares and qualify for the dividend. Ex-days are almost always a Wednesday. The record date is usually two days after the ex-date. The payment day is the day on which the funds are transferred to shareholders.
