Thursday preview: Kingfisher, Reed Elsevier, Ladbrokes ...

Thursday is, as usual, set to be a busy day, with updates expected from Redrow, BAE Systems, Ladbrokes, Rathbone Brothers, Reed Elsevier, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Kingfisher and Sports Direct International.Do it yourself retailer Kingfisher will be giving a sales update covering the fourth quarter, and, unlike in the third quarter, Matrix Group is not expecting any heroics from the group, but does "believe that Kingfisher has held the line in what has been a tricky market."Weather issues are likely to have hit Kingfisher in the fourth quarter, as they did many other retailers, and this may have led to delays in kitchen installations and the like. "In the UK, consensus expects LFL [like for like] sales growth of just +0.1%, but it is worth remembering that the UK is just a third of group sales and profits and that UK weakness has likely been offset by a better performance in Poland. The Tradepoint rollout in the UK continues, and the company is seeing very encouraging performance from this new initiative," Matrix Group analyst Tom Gadsby said.Matrix is forecasting LFL sales in France will be up 1.8% on a year earlier, in line with the third quarter performance. "We also expect decent performances from the group's immature markets -Spain, Poland and Russia. China is still on target to break even by 2012, in our view, although LFLs will probably be down against very tough comparatives of +29% in Q4 last year, reflecting a big rebound in the housing market at that point. We do not expect an imminent decision on whether Kingfisher will remain in China, but if it does decide to withdraw, there is some £300m of freehold property that could boost an already healthy balance sheet," Matrix notes.Business and academic publisher Reed Elsevier is expected to deliver a 2010 profit before tax of £1,108m on sales of £5,830m. Chief executive Erik Engstrom said in November that the second half of 2010 has been spent on "new product development, increased sales and marketing activities, and portfolio realignment," so the market will be looking for some sort of indication of how soon it can expect to see results from these initiatives.UBS said "signs that organic revenue growth is improving and that the publishing giant is not losing market share are likely to be taken well," while Deutsche Bank is more focused on the Anglo-Dutch firm's science business, where "the degree of pain from academic library budgets" is the great unknown.Updates from bookie Ladbrokes and sportswear retailer Sports Direct will give the day a bit of a sporting theme.Numis Securities notes that Ladbrokes started installing GlobalDraw gaming machines in its betting shops in January and so an update on how they are faring is likely. Recent results from perennial rival William Hill suggest that sporting results at the fag-end of the year were favourable to the bookies. Sports Direct said in December it was expecting a tough start to the new year, and analysts will be looking to learn whether the company is still on track to hit its full year target of underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £205m.INTERIMS RedrowFINALS BAE Systems, Ladbrokes, Rathbone Brothers, Reed Elsevier, Talvivaara Mining Company, Virgin Media Inc. IMSS Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Sports Direct International TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS KingfisherINTERIMS Animalcare Group, Dunelm Group, Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., Redrow, Town Centre Securities INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Current Account (EU) (09:00) Construction Output (EU) (10:00) Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30) Weekly Jobless Claims (13:30) Leading Indicator (US) (15:00) Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (15:00) Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (15:00) UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS CBI Trends Total Orders (11:00) Q4 Talvivaara Mining Company, Virgin Media Inc. GMS GLOBO, Invesco Perpetual AiM VCT FINALS BAE Systems, Ladbrokes, Rathbone Brothers, Reed Elsevier, Talvivaara Mining Company, Virgin Media Inc. ANNUAL REPORT Ladbrokes IMSS Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Sports Direct International AGMS easyJet, LXB Retail Properties, Ottoman Fund Ltd., United Drug TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Kingfisher