Friday preview: Petrofac, Dignity

Oilfield services provider Petrofac's shares suffered in the early part of the year as a wave of civil protests swept across many of the oil rich parts of the world, but the share price has perked up a bit of late, helped by the award of a contract worth more than $240m (£149m) with Shell to develop facilities in the Majnoon field, Southern Iraq.Friday's interim management statement covers Petrofac's first quarter performance. Management may well speak of the likelihood of increased exploration activity on the back of the strong oil price - this week's correction notwithstanding - but could also grumble about the effects of the government's increase in the Supplementary Charge (SCT) rate from 20% to 32% on UK production, which has already prompted operators such as BG Group and Centrica to say it could suppress activity in the North Sea.Funeral home operator Dignity has had a strong run since mid-February but there have been signs of profit taking this week ahead of the firm's first quarter figures.Back in March, UBS upped its price target for the stock from 700p to 735p, as it reckons pre-arranged funerals should lead to growth in the near future. The stock has already breezed past that target price to top 750p this month.QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEBritish Land Co, Merchants TrustINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGDP (FRA) (06:30)GDP (GER) (07:00)Non-farm Payrolls (FRA) (07:45)Wage Growth (FRA) (07:45)GDP (Flash Estimate) (EU) (10:00)Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (Prelim) (00:00)FINALSOxford Catalysts GroupIMSSCatlin Group Ltd., Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares, Petrofac Ltd., SpectrisAGMSAlbion Technology & General VCT, Albion Technology & General VCT 'C' Shares, Charlemagne Capital Ltd., Computacenter, Globaltrans Investment GDR (Reg S), Kazakhmys, Ladbrokes, Petrofac Ltd., Phoenix Group Holdings (DI), S & U, Spectris, T Clarke, Total SAFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEArbuthnot Banking Group, Communisis, Delcam, Drax Group, Fisher (James) & Sons, Forth Ports, Hammerson, HGCapital Trust, Kerry Group 'A' Shares, Moneysupermarket.com Group, National Express Group, Psion, ReThink Group, Timeweave, XstrataQ1Dignity, Telefonica SA---jh