Week Ahead 27-31 May

Monday 27 May

Spring Bank Holiday: UK markets are closed

Tuesday 28 May

Interim: Victrex

Finals: Renold, Volex

Trading statements: Origin Enterprises, Seadrill Partners

AGMs: 21st Century Technology, Alba Mineral Resources, Avocet Mining, Barr (AG), Concurrent Technologies, Global Energy Development, Netplay TV, Revolymer, Smart Metering Systems

Wednesday 29 May

Interims: Brewin Dolphin, Noble Investments, Topps Tiles

Finals: De La Rue, Digital Barriers, Iomart, McKay Securities, Scapa, Telford Homes, Torotrak

AGMs: Desire Petroleum, EnQuest, Frenkel Topping, Irish Continental, Judges Scientific, Kenmare Resources, Lonrho, SQS Software Quality Systems

Economics: CBI reported sales

Shares in international rare coin, banknote, medal and stamp dealer and auction house Noble Investments (NBL) have yet to enjoy the rating they fully deserve. True, that is partly due to uncertainty over the £2.2m commission Noble is owed from the Prospero Auction of rare Greek coin in New York when a "well-known Qatari collector" failed to settle up. Any news on this front would undoubtedly act as a catalyst for a higher rating. Interim results next week should also help persuade investors of the solid merits of the company.

It's not a difficult business to understand as Noble operates through two main units: Baldwins, which was established in 1872 and is a leader in the field of numismatics; and Apex Philatelics, which focuses on the auctioning of world stamps. These niche segments of the alternative investment world are attracting increasing amounts of interest. They are highly profitable, too, as profits rocketed by over a fifth to £3.7m in the 12 months to the end of August 2012, and, buoyed by a cash-rich balance sheet, the dividend was raised by a fifth to 5.25p a share.

The acquisition late last year of The Fine Art Auction Group, a business that includes auctioneers Dreweatts and Bloomsbury, is a smart deal. This takes Noble into the wider collectables market to add to its expertise in coins and stamps. Trading on 12 times earnings estimates net of cash, the valuation is hardly exacting and ahead of the results we remain buyers.

Telford Homes (TEF) releases full-year results on Wednesday, and there is little indication that the east London house builder’s meteoric rise is about to slow. Indeed, in a pre-close trading statement, the company reported exceptional levels of demand, with exchanged contracts in the year to March 2013 jumping from 460 to 803 units and profits ahead of market expectations. Operating margins are likely to have risen by in excess of 3 percentage points from 6.2 per cent recorded the previous year. Moreover, targeted sales for the year to March 2014 are already 94 per cent pre-sold, and over 50 per cent are pre-sold for the following two years.

So while the shares are trading at around 1.8 times net tangible assets, this is significantly less than some of the main-stream builders like Persimmon (2.1 times) and Berkeley Group (2.4 imes). Brokerage Shore Capital has raised its adjusted pre-tax profit estimate from £8m to £9m, to produce fully diluted EPS of 13.6p, and significantly increased forecasts for the 12 months to March 2014 to pre-tax profits of £12m and EPS of 18.1p. We would advise riding the momentum, although given the heady rise in the share price in the past 15 months, placing a 10 per cent trailing stop-loss to preserve your gains would be advisable.

Thursday 30 May

Finals: Severn Trent, Sound Oil, Tate & Lyle

Trading statement: Kingfisher

AGMs: Archipelago Resources, Elan, Hochschild Mining, Lookers, Mallett, Northbridge Industrial Services, Parity, Petroceltic International, Restore

Tate & Lyle’s (TATE) management expects “modest progress” when it reports its full-year results next week, which probably means little change. Within Bulk Ingredients, good underlying performance from sweeteners in the US and Europe is expected to more than offset the impact from higher levels of aflatoxin, a fungus affecting corn quality in the US, and the challenging market conditions in US ethanol. However, corn supplies in the US and Europe remained tight throughout the year and this is likely to push up net corn costs. The overall impact of aflatoxin will probably result in a £7m cut to operating profit.

That said, Tate is diversifying into the higher margin and faster growing Speciality Food Ingredients segment of its business. It will be interesting to see if the results show a move towards an acceleration in this move, as this could be a key driver of a re-rating to put Tate on par with sector rivals Kerry and Glanbia, whose share prices have outperformed Tate by 11 per cent and 17 per cent respectively year-to-date.

Charles Stanley Stockbrokers expects adjusted pre-tax profits to be flat at around £326m in the 12 months to end March 2013, to produce EPS of 55.6p. For the following year, the broker expects profits to rise 10 per cent to £360m and EPS to rise to 60.6p. On this basis the shares are currently rated on a forward PE ratio of 14 and offer a prospective yield of 3.2 per cent.

Friday 31 May

Final: LondonMetric Property

AGMs: New Britain Palm Oil, Polyus Gold International

Economics: GfK consumer confidence, Net consumer credit, Net lending on dwellings, M4 money supply

Shares going ex-dividend on 29 May

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.