Week Ahead: 15-19 July

Monday July 15

Interims: Amino Technologies, Frenkel Topping, SThree

Trading statement: Thorntons

Economics: Rightmove house prices data

Tuesday July 16

Trading statements: BTG, Computacenter, Dragon Oil, Evraz, ITE Group, Michael Page International, Rio Tinto

AGMs: BTG, Coms, Cyprotex, Dairy Crest, Greka Drilling, Vianet

Economics: Producer price index data, consumer price index data, retail price index

Cost-cutting is the name of the game at Rio Tinto (RIO) for the foreseeable future, as falling commodity prices force the diversified miner to sell assets and curtail expansions plans in order to maintain dividend payments and reduce debt. But investors are unlikely to receive much guidance on how that's progressing in the company’s second-quarter operations review - due on Tuesday. That will have to wait until August's half-year results. Instead, Rio will update on how production is shaping up for the year. In April, management cut full-year copper guidance by a sixth, reflecting a pit wall failure at the Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah. Offsetting this somewhat has been the steady ramp-up in copper-gold production at Rio’s new $6.2bn (£4bn) Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia - it began selling its first copper concentrate shipments in July. Broker Investec Securities expects pre-tax profit to be largely flat for 2013 at $13.0bn, with adjusted EPS of 457¢ and a 178¢ dividend. With the shares trading at 2,730p, that means a prospective yield of over 4 per cent and leaves them rated on a modest nine times forecast earnings. Investec's 3,303p price target implies upside, too. So we retain our buy advice.

Wednesday July 17

Interim: Abbott Laboratories

Trading statements: BHP Billiton, E2V Technologies, Electrocomponents, Fresnillo, Hochschild Mining, Intermediate Capital, Land Securities, Severn Trent

AGMs: BT, E2V Technologies, Electrocomponents, Experian, Intermediate Capital, Severn Trent, Telecom Plus

Economics: Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee minutes, unemployment data, average earnings figures

Intermediate Capital (ICP) releases an interim management statement on Wednesday and the mezzanine finance specialist is expected to reveal a solid performance after several successful realisations within its investment portfolio. The latest of these comprised a repayment of a $98.2m (£59.8m) by third-party financial record keeper, Link Group, and management has hinted that further realisations can be expected. Moreover, the fund management side of the business continues to attract third-party fund inflows, thanks in part to the success of its latest mezzanine fund, ICG Europe V. Broker Shore Capital expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £287.5m for end-March 2014, giving EPS of 57.3p, which - trading at 456p - leaves the shares rated on just eight times forecast earnings. However, the shares have also risen 38 per cent since the start of the year and now trade at a premium to forecast net asset value - which suggests that the group's expected growth is already factored-in. Hold.

Thursday July 18

Interims: Arbuthnot Banking, Breedon Aggregates, Secure Trust Bank

Final: Sports Direct International

Trading statements: Anglo American, Biome Technologies, Hilton Food Group, London Mining, London Stock Exchange, Mothercare, Optos

AGMs: 3i, B P Marsh & Partners, Land Securities, London Stock Exchange, McKay Securities, Mothercare, Speedy Hire

Economics: Retail sales figures

Full-year results from sports retailer Sports Direct International (SPD) on Thursday shouldn't reveal any nasty surprises for investors. Indeed, a pre-close trading statement in April reported that the retailer expects to surpass its 2013 underlying cash profit target of £250m and reach a “super-stretch” target of £270m. Overall, broker Oriel Securities expects sales growth of 18 per cent for 2013, resulting in adjusted pre-tax profit of £210m - up 41 per cent on the previous year - giving EPS of 24.1p. The broker also expects strong profit growth to continue, particularly as online operations gain more traction and the European businesses scale-up. The figures are also likely to include an update on expansion into Europe. However, the shares have had a remarkable run and, already this year, they’re up over 40 per cent - they now trade at 569p. That leaves them rated on a demanding 24 times expected earnings which, given that there's no dividend, looks well up with events. Hold.

Friday July 19

Trading statements: Anglo Platinum, DCC, Vodafone, Record

AGMs: Big Yellow Group, British Land, DCC, Walker Crips

EGM: OMG

Economics: Public sector borrowing data

Shares going ex-dividend on 17 July

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.