Friday preview: Spotlight on BT Group and Tate & Lyle

All eyes will be on BT Group and Tate & Lyle on Friday as the FTSE 100 companies post financial results.British telecommunications company BT Group is expected to report a steady set of numbers when it unveils its third-quarter statement. Analysts at Liberum Capital predict revenues excluding transit to be down by 5.5% to £4,512m, (consensus £4,485m), which compares to a decrease of 8.6% in the second quarter (-5.5% ex transit)."In terms of surprises we would not rule out acceleration in cost control leading to an [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation] beat but we also suspect that there may be some negative news around line provisioning that seems primarily down to the very wet weather, which could weigh on revenues," Lawrence Sugarman at Liberum Capital told The Economy News.Sweeteners and food ingredients specialist Tate & Lyle also releases its third-quarter results after analysts at Investec this week cut its rating from 'buy' to 'hold'. Investec reduced its forecasts on Monday ahead of the results, saying it's time to "pause for a breather" after shares have jumped 29% since mid-September. Earlier this week, the company launched a website to enable partners to submit ideas to its research and development team for new ingredients and solutions for the food and beverage industries. Q3 BT Group IMSElectrocomponents Tate & LyleGMComs ORA Capital Partners LtdFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBaring Emerging EuropeCharacter GroupStandard Life European Private Equity TrustTracsisINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAveva GroupBisichi MiningCentral Asia MetalsDart GroupDoric Nimrod Air Two Ltd C ShsKCOM GroupUnited Utilities GroupSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECentral Asia MetalsQUARTELY PAYMENT DATEInvestors Capital Trust 'A' SharesInvestors Capital Trust 'B' SharesMercantile Investment Trust (The)Torchmark Corp.Verizon CommunicationsUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Manufacturing (09:30)INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55)PMI Manufacturing (EU) (09:00)Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)Auto Sales (US) (15:00)Construction Spending (US) (15:00)ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00)ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)RD