Week Ahead: 28 October - 1 November

Monday 28 October

Interim: Volex

Trading statement: Aggreko

EGM: Evocutis

Economics: Hometrack housing survey, CBI reported sales, Nationwide house prices

Companies paying dividends: Essentra (4.8p), Keywords Studios (0.33p), Northbridge Industrial Services (2p), Pendragon (0.1p), Quarto Group (3.35p)

Tuesday 29 October

Interims: Braemar Shipping Services

Trading statements: BP, Dragon Oil, Glanbia, Lloyds Banking Group, National Express, Playtech, Standard Chartered, Wolfson Microelectronics

AGMs: Clinigen, Ideagen, In-deed Online, ViaLogy

Economics: Net consumer credit, Net lending secured on dwellings, Mortgage approvals, M4 money supply

Companies paying dividends: Anite (1.265p), Murray Income Trust (9.75p), Smith & Nephew (6.45p), Standard Life (5.22p)

BP (BP.) announces third quarter figures on Tuesday - ahead of peers Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), BG Group (BG.) and Total SA (TTA), which release their figures on 31 October. And after an uninspiring second quarter reporting season, expectations for the third quarter aren't high - despite a $7 (£4.34)-$8 per barrel uplift in crude oil prices quarter-on-quarter. Indeed, refining margins in BP's downstream division are being steadily eroded by increased capacity worldwide. The disposal of two profitable US refineries - ditched to help pay for 2010’s Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - will hurt earnings, too. Management also cautioned in the second quarter that another increase in Macondo-related provisions could be on the cards shortly. Although planned maintenance to high-margin fields in Alaska and the North Sea should be partially offset by a fuller contribution from Rosneft. JP Morgan Cazenove expects BP's third-quarter earnings to reach $3.3bn (£2.1bn) with EPS of 17.6¢, representing a 23 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter but a 33 per cent decline year-on-year. Full-year EPS of 77.7¢ is expected, along with a 37¢ dividend. At 449p, the shares aren't expensively rated on 9 times forward earnings, while a prospective yield of over 5 per cent isn't bad. But with such uncertainties as possible further Macondo costs, catalysts for a rerating aren't easy to spot. Hold.

Wednesday 30 October

Interims: Advanced Computer Software, C&C Group

Trading statements: African Barrick Gold, Barclays, Genel Energy, Kerry Group, Sportech, Standard Life

AGM: Ashmore Group

Companies paying dividends: Alumasc (2.5p), Ashley (Laura) (1p), Haynes Publishing (4p), Helphire (0.11p), Produce Investments (3.64p), Smith (DS) (5.5p

Thursday 31 October

Interim: BT

Trading statements: Afren, Antofagasta, AstraZeneca, Avocet Mining, BG, Colt, Countrywide, Croda International, Glencore Xstrata, Henderson Group, Premier Foods, Royal Dutch Shell, Smith & Nephew, Stagecoach

AGM: Pochins

Economics: GfK consumer confidence

Companies paying dividends: Aberdeen Latin American Inc. Fund (1.25p), Aberdeen Smaller Cos (1.55p), Albion Technology & General VCT (2.5p), EMIS (8p), F&C Commercial Property Trust (0.5p), Henderson High Income Trust (2.075p), Invesco Income Growth Fund (2.05p), Invesco Leveraged High Yield Fund (1.25p), Ladbrokes (4.3p), Lowland Investment (8.5p), M&G High Income Inv Tst Inc Shares (1.4p), M&G High Income Inv Tst Package (1.4p), Old Mutual (2.1p), Schroder Income Growth Fund (3.8p), Shires Income (3p), TT Electronics (1.6p), Wynnstay (3.1p)

Ahead of Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSA) third-quarter results on Thursday, analysts at Deutsche Bank have cautioned that Shell is one of three integrated oil producers with the "greatest scope for earnings deviations…with risk skewed to the downside". Certainly Shell's second-quarter results disappointed; management also flagged a long list of negative guidance points for the third quarter. Specifically, investors should watch for deteriorating profitability in downstream business units and continued production outages in Nigeria. Field maintenance in the North Sea, Mexico and Brazil is also likely to be a factor, as is higher-than-expected exploration write-offs and higher operating costs at upstream operations in the Americas.

JP Morgan Cazenove forecasts third-quarter net income of $5.02bn (£3.1bn) and EPS of 80¢ - a 24 per cent fall year-on-year. But analysts at the investment bank also expect full-year EPS of 343¢ and a 180¢ dividend - leaving the shares, at 2,096p, rated on a fairly inexpensive 10 times expected earnings and yielding a prospective 5.3 per cent. The third-quarter numbers may be lacklustre, but the group is a low-risk income play - so we stand by our long-term buy advice.

Also on Thursday, telecoms giant BT (BT.A) will release half-year figures and, inevitably, investors will be looking for an update from new chief executive Gavin Patterson on the group's new sports offering - BT Sport. Widely seen as a challenge to BSkyB (BSY), it was launched on 1 August and shows premier league football for free to its existing broadband customers. It has grabbed over 1m subscribers but, judging by BSkyB's impressive first-quarter numbers earlier this month, it's not clear whether BT's offering is making much headway in grabbing new customers from rivals. BT Sport also comes with significant costs and adjusted cash profit is expected to fall around 6 per cent to £1.41bn, according to consensus forecasts. Still, BT does have its strengths - with the first quarter figures, for example, BT took a 50 per cent share of the broadband market's net new additions. That's helping to offset the long-term decline of the fixed-line operations. Analysts at Benrenberg expect adjusted EPS for end-March 2014 to be largely flat at 26.45p, with a 10.93p dividend. At 367p, the shares trade on 14 times forecast earnings - not so cheap given the modest growth outlook. Although a prospective yield of around 3 per cent has attractions. Hold.

Friday 1 November

Trading statements: Berendsen, Direct Line Insurance, F&C Asset Management, Meggitt, Royal Bank of Scotland, Smith (DS)

AGMs: Antisoma, Scancell

Economics: Purchasing managers' index - manufacturing

Companies paying dividends: Advanced Medical Solutions (0.19p), BBA Aviation (2.75p), Brammer (3.4p), Clinigen (2p), F&C Private Equity Trust (5.22p), Fiberweb (1.2p), Fisher (James) & Sons (6.46p), Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust (2.1p), GVC Holdings (8.89p), Keller (8p), Maven Income & Growth VCT 2 (1.85p), Mercantile Investment Trust (8p), Motivcom (1.8p), North American Income (5.5p), Primary Health Properties (9.5p), Tandem (1.15p), Weir Group (8.8p)

Shares going ex-dividend on 30 October

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.