Week Ahead: 11-15 November

Monday 11 November

Interim: Flybe

Final: Carrs Milling, Lonmin

Trading statements: Admiral, Catlin, Cobham, Dignity, Hammerson, Kingspan, Lonmin, Morgan Advanced Materials

AGM: Redrow

Companies paying dividends: Fresnillo (14.06p), Schroder Japan Growth (1.75p), Travis Perkins (10p), William Morrison (3.84p), WPP (10.56p)

Tuesday 12 November

Interims: Babcock, BTG, Energy Assets, Land Securities, Oxford Instruments, Speedy Hire, Synergy Health, TalkTalk Telecom, Trifast, Vodafone, Workspace

Trading statements: John Menzies, Premier Farnell, Resolution, Sportech, TT Electronics

AGMs: Craneware, Dunelm, Indigovision, Mucklow (A&J)

Economics: RICS house prices, Producer prices, ONS house prices, Consumer price index, Retail price index

Companies paying dividends: DCG Iris (1.25p), JP Morgan Mid Cap Inv Tst (11.5p), JP Morgan Mid Cap Inv Tst Special dividend (1p), Merchants Trust (5.9p)

Engineering support services firm Babcock (BAB) announces first-half figures on Tuesday. The market will be looking for an update on the gargantuan order book and order pipeline - at the full-year result stage they stood at £12bn and £15.5bn, respectively. Followers of the stock will be eager to hear about Babcock’s prospects for key contracts such as nuclear power station decommissioning and Ministry of Defence procurement and estate management work. The flip side of a ramp up in new contracts however, is that they require investment to get going, so the company’s margins will be closely watched for signs of erosion. All in all though, Babcock should be on track for good progress this year - analysts at JP Morgan expect full year adjusted pre-tax profit of £320m and EPS of 70.5p for the 12 months to end March 2014, implying 15 per cent earnings growth in the period. JP Morgan expect a further 11 per cent earnings growth next year to 78p, which puts the shares on a 2014/15 PE ratio of 16. That still looks a decent entry level for Babcock’s excellent visibility and strong market positions in attractive segments, and ahead of the results, we reiterate by our recent buy advice (1,189p, 17 Oct 2013).

Plant hire specialist Speedy Hire (SDY) also reports first-half results on Tuesday. Speedy is a longstanding, and extremely successful, buy tip and the shares have doubled in the past year alone. The company’s trading update last month took some of the wind out of Speedy’s sails after the company said recovery in the UK construction market remained elusive. So the first-half results will provide an opportunity for investors to delve into the reasons for ongoing weakness in construction and scope out the prospects for eventual recovery. Broker Peel Hunt expects full year pre-tax profit of £22m and EPS of 3.1p (up from 2.4p last year), which puts the shares on a forward PE ratio of 21. Following such a strong share price performance, investors, and us, will want reassurance that a construction recovery is coming - we will review our buy tip after the results.

Investors can expect a bumper set of interim results from Trifast (TRI: 80p), a leading global manufacturer and distributor of industrial fastenings, employing over 1,000 staff around the world. Having streamlined the operations, Trifast's management is far more discerning about the level of profit margins on the business it takes on; older contracts are renegotiated upwards or withdrawn. Better sourcing from suppliers has led to improved pricing, quality and lead times, while product innovation has enhanced the offering and helped the company win new contracts. In turn, this is pushing up profits even on modest sales growth.

Ahead of the half-year figures, analysts at Arden Partners estimate that margins will rise from 6.5 per cent to 6.9 per cent in the 12 months to March 2014, having already been lifted from 4.8 per cent in the prior year. So, once you factor in a modest 4 per cent rise in revenues to £126m, the improved profitability is forecast to drive pre-tax profits up over 11 per cent to £8m. On this basis, underlying EPS increases from 4.7p to 5.2p, which means the shares are only trading on a prospective PE ratio of 15 - a discount to other component distribution companies and to trade valuations of fastener manufacturers and distributors, based on recent merger and acquisition activity in the sector. The dividend is rising sharply too and with net debt modest - less than 9 per cent of shareholders funds back in March - there is ample scope to lift the well covered payout steeply again. With the good news yet to be fully factored into the valuation Trifast shares rate a buy.

Wednesday 13 November

Interims: British Land, Icap, London Stock Exchange, Sainsbury J, SSE

Finals: Bowleven, Fenner

Trading statements: Bwin.party digital entertainment, Drax, esure, Interserve, Johnston Press, Kier, Moneysupermarket.com, Partnership Assurance, Xchanging

AGMs: Barratt Developments, Centaur Media, Hays

Economics: Employment data, Bank of England inflation report

Companies paying dividends: Centrica (4.92p), Hansard Global (4.75p)

Thursday 14 November

Interims: 3i Group, Atkins WS, Burberry, Carphone Warehouse, Electrocomponents, Great Portland Estates, Norcros, Volex

Final: Euromoney Institutional Investor

Trading statements: Amlin, Antofagasta, Centrica, Devro, Hellermann Tyton, Hill & Smith Holdings, Howden Joinery, Ophir Energy, Pace, Perform, Prudential, Rexam, Serco, Taylor Wimpey, Ted Baker, Trinity Mirror

AGMs: Avanti Communications, Kier, Ricardo, SIG, Thorpe FW, JD Wetherspoon

EGMs: Chime Communications, Juridica, Petropavlovsk

Economics: Retail sales

Companies paying dividends: Animalcare (3.8p), SciSys (0.4p), Tullett Prebon (5.6p)

Friday 15 November

Interims: Record, Vedanta Resources

Trading statements: Brammer, Capital & Counties Properties, Gem Diamonds, Headlam, Henry Boot, Restaurant Group, Rotork, UTV Media

AGMs: Albemarle & Bond, Etalon Group, Genus, Matchtech, Quadrise Fuels International

EGM: Falkland Oil & Gas

Companies paying dividends: Aviva (5.6p), Bailey (CH) (5p), British Polythene Industries (4.5p), Central Asia Metals (4p), Go-Ahead Group (55.5p), Hays (1.67p), Kingfisher (3.12p), Lombard Risk Management (0.03p), M&C Saatchi (1.21p), Martin Currie Pacific Trust (2.5p), New Britain Palm Oil (6.5p), ProVen Growth & Income VCT (2p), Proven VCT (2.5p), Redrow (1p), S&U (14p), Staffline Group (3.8p), Strategic Equity Capital (1.5p)

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.