Heavyweight stocks due to update London market

Telecoms groups BT and Cable & Wireless are among a band of heavyweight London stocks due to update investors on trading this week.

Analysts will want assurances on the outlook for oil, pricing, cost reductions and passenger traffic when digesting the results of British Airways tomorrow, which are expected to show a rise in pre-tax profits to £275m (€393.6m) in the six months to September 30, from £60m (€85.9m) a year ago.

Passengers have been asked to pay a fuel surcharge to ease part of the burden of the rising cost of oil, but many observers feel BA’s fuel bill will be abovecurrent consensus forecasts if crude futures stay high throughout 2005.

In terms of traffic growth, BA will find comparisons tougher as the impact of Sars and the Iraq war fades. But its performance will also be obscured by operational problems and the threat of strike action over the August bank holiday weekend.

Also tomorrow, Imperial Tobacco will announce that pre-tax profits for the 12 months to the end of September have broken through the £1bn (€1.4bn) barrier, despite challenging conditions in a number of markets, particularly Germany.

Profits of around £1.02bn (€1.5bn) would be ahead of the £898m (€1.3bn) posted a year ago, with market share gains in cigarettes in European markets such as France and Spain complemented by good performances in Asia, Africa and Australasia.

Cigarette volumes fell 12% in Germany during the year, mainly due to tax increases in March, although Imperial Tobacco will have been shielded to some extent by the fact that most of its brands are at the value end of the market.

Few surprises are expected from Marks & Spencer when it unveils half-year results on Tuesday as it has already guided investors towards profits in the £285m (€407.9m) to £295m (€422.2m) range, which would be lower than the £311m (€445m) posted a year ago.

Attention will instead by trained on current trading even though the new management team will not have been able to make a major impact, especially in clothing and homewares, until next year.

Food is a different matter and Simon Proctor, retail analyst at Charles Stanley, said the continued deterioration in sales in the division was alarming.

“Clearly action is needed to establish the food offer and management need to give a coherent action plan,” he said.

Associated British Foods has already flagged that operating profits are likely to have grown at a similar rate to the 10% seen in the first half, leading analysts to predict annual pre-tax profits of £510m (€529.9m), compared with £473m (€677m) a year ago, when it reports results on Wednesday.

According to fund manager Gerrard, the strongest divisional performance should have come from discount retailer Primark, where like-for-like sales growth was ahead of the 5% achieved in the first half and with floor space boosted by four new stores.

Profits at British Sugar – the largest operation in the group – are likely to have been weakened by the strength of the euro, while investors will also want an update on the integration of the Burns Philips Ingredients business.

The run-up to the interim results announcement by telecoms group Cable & Wireless on Wednesday has been dominated by the sale of its Japanese assets and speculation of a shake-up of its UK management team.

According to Investec analyst Christian Maher, the UK business is likely to have performed poorly in the six months to September 30 and no plans to sell the division are imminent – despite the rumoured interest of venture capital groups.

Pre-tax profits are expected to have totalled £168m (€240.4m) in the six months to September 30 from £154m (€220.4m) a year ago, with the four hurricanes to batter the US over summer likely to have shaved more than £10m (€14.3m) from this figure.

Strong broadband growth is again expected to counter the decline in the traditional fixed-line business of telecoms group BT, which is set to unveil half-year profits of £934m (€1.3bn) on Thursday – down from £1.03bn (€1.5bn) a year ago.

The period will show the first real impact of a reduction in termination rates - the price that mobile phone firms charge each other and landline operators for putting callers through to their customers.

In addition, BT is facing a potential challenge from regulator Ofcom, which is considering a break-up of the company as part of a strategic review of the telecoms sector.

The results from this review are anticipated this month and analysts at Gerrard expect the uncertainty to overshadow the results.