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 7 October
Final: Waterman
AGM: City of London Investment
Tuesday 8 October
Trading statements: Robert Walters, Victrex
Economics: British Retail Consortium year-on-year sales, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - house prices data
Wednesday 9 October
Interim: N Brown
Trading statements: Centamin, Greggs, Vedanta Resources
AGM: Goodwin
Economics: British Retail Consortium shop price index, Industrial production data, Manufacturing output figures, trade figures, National Institute of Economic & Social Research GDP estimate (September)
N Brown's (BWNG) new chief executive Angela Spindler will unveil the retailer's half-year figures on Wednesday. The group's successful strategy is unlikely to change much, although Ms Spindler is widely expected to adopt a less conservative approach than her predecessor in order to accelerate growth. The focus is likely to be on improving the womenswear ranges, rolling out further UK stores and speeding up growth in the US, while also working to attract a wider, and younger, customer base. N Brown is in the unique position of being a largely online and catalogue operator, with a niche product, while expansion into bricks and mortar and the US plus-sized market offer potential for long-term growth. UBS expects pre-tax profit to grow 7 per cent at the half-year stage to £45m on 6.7 per cent sales growth - for the full year, UBS has boosted its EPS forecast by 2 per cent to 29.9p. The shares have jumped about 40 per cent in the year to date and, at 519p, trade on 17 times forecast earnings - that's a premium for the sector. Hold.
Thursday 10 October
Interim: Air Partner
Final: WH Smith
Trading statements: Ashmore, Hays, Immunodiagnostic Systems
AGM: Mattioli Woods
Economics: Bank of England asset purchase target, Base rate announcement
WH Smith (SMWH) releases full-year figures on Thursday - the first results announcement since former chief executive Kate Swann left the group. However, new boss Steve Clarke is unlikely to roll-out any dramatic strategic shifts. The group has already confirmed that profits will be in line with expectations and, faced with falling sales, WH Smith’s usual tactic of cutting costs to drive profit growth, fund share buy-backs and expand the travel business looks set to continue. In fact, it's the travel side where future growth is likely to come from and analysts at Barclays think the division could potentially generate £13m of operating profit by 2016 - compared with just £1m this year. For the full-year, the broker expects WH Smith to grow EPS by 12 per cent to 70p, with sales declines more than offset by a 200 basis point improvement in the gross margin. At 831p, the shares are rated on 12 times forecast earnings - undemanding for the sector. Buy.
Friday 11 October
Trading statement: XP Power
Economics: Construction output (August)
Shares going ex-dividend on 9 October
| Company | Dividend (p) | Payment |
| Amiad Water Systems | $0.051 | 30 Oct |
| Aviva ord 25p | 5.6 | 15 Nov |
| Balfour Beatty ord 50p | 5.6 | 6 Dec |
| Begbies Traynor ord 5p | 1.6 | 7 Nov |
| British & American Inv Tst ord Shs £1 | 2.7 | 7 Nov |
| Cenkos Securities ord 1p | 3.5 | 7 Nov |
| City of London Investment Group | 16 | 25 Oct |
| Clinigen Group | 2 | 1 Nov |
| Cobham ord 2.5p | 2.64 | 8 Nov |
| CPL Resources | €0.045 | 4 Nov |
| Daejan Holdings ord 25p | 54 | 8 Nov |
| DCG Iris | 1.25 | 12 Nov |
| Haynes Publishing | 4 | 30 Oct |
| Hays ord 1p | 1.67 | 15 Nov |
| Hydrogen Group ord 1p | 1.5 | 7 Nov |
| Invesco Leveraged High Yield Fund 1p | 1.25 | 31 Oct |
| IPPlus | 0.3 | 5 Nov |
| Johnson Service Group ord 10p | 0.4 | 8 Nov |
| Judges Scientific | 6.6 | 8 Nov |
| Keller Group ord 10p | 8 | 1 Nov |
| Keywords Studios | 0.33 | 28 Oct |
| Kingfisher ord 15 5/7p | 3.12 | 15 Nov |
| Lowland Investment | 8.5 | 31 Oct |
| Marsh & McLennan | $0.25 | 15 Nov |
| Merchants Trust ord 25p | 5.9 | 12 Nov |
| Murgitroyd Group ord 10p | 8.75 | 4 Nov |
| Murray International Trust | 9.5 | 15 Nov |
| Naibu Global International Company | 2 | 16 Dec |
| Nationwide Accident Repair | 1 | 5 Nov |
| Pacific Horizon Inv Trust ord 10p | 1.5 | 4 Nov |
| Penna Consulting ord 5p | 1 | 7 Nov |
| Randall & Quilter Inv ord 2p | 3.4 | 6 Nov |
| Rightmove ord 1p | 11 | 8 Nov |
| S&U ord | 14 | 15 Nov |
| SIG ord 10p | 1.15 | 7 Nov |
| Smith & Nephew ord 20c | 6.45 | 29 Oct |
| Spirax-Sarco Engineering ord 25p | 18 | 8 Nov |
| Statpro Group ord 1p | 0.85 | 6 Nov |
| Synthomer | 2.4 | 7 Nov |
| Travis Perkins ord 10p | 10 | 11 Nov |
| Unite Group ord 25p | 1.6 | 8 Nov |
| Wilmington ord 5p | 3.5 | 7 Nov |
| WPP | 10.56 | 11 Nov |
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.
