Thursday preview: UK GDP, Debenhams finals, Barclays interims

(ShareCast News) - UK economic growth is expected to slow in the third quarter amid uncertainty surrounding the Brexit vote.The Office for National Statistics' preliminary estimate of gross domestic product for the third quarter on Thursday is expected to show 0.3% growth compared to the previous three months. Second quarter growth came in at 0.7%.Compared to the same period a year earlier, third quarter GDP is forecasts to remain at 2.1%.In September, the Bank of England raised its forecast for third quarter GDP from quarterly growth of 0.1% to 0.3% after signs the economy did not slow as much as expected after the UK voted to leave the European Union on 23 June.In corporate earnings, Debenhams reports its full year results while Barclays posts its quarterly interims.Numis expects Debenhams to reveal a decline in full year pre-tax profit o £112.7m from £113.5m amid challenging market conditions. In a June trading update for the third quarter, the retailer said like-for-like sales had slowed as the UK trading environment had been weaker since the start of the year, particularly in clothing."Looking to the results, we expect Debenhams, along with other clothing retailers, to have experienced a challenging end to the year and see scope for LFLs to have slowed further, albeit the full year pre-tax profit number is likely to be largely underpinned," Numis said."We do not expect to hear a great deal from new CEO Sergio Bucher, who only took up his appointment as CEO this week, and expect the presentation to focus on the strategic progress being made by the business (shift to non-clothing, space optimisation, concessions, casual dining etc.). "Barclays reports its third quarter results a day after earnings from Lloyds Banking Group. It is the first set of results since the Brexit vote, although management has previously said the referendum result would not impact its restructuring.Graham Spooner, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said: "For Barclays payment protection insurance claims and regulatory fines will continue to be an issue and we could expect further write-downs on assets.""Forward guidance will also be sought after especially since interest rates and fallen further which will no doubt hurt their net interest margin." Thursday 27 October INTERIMS C&C Group, Stobart Group Ltd. INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Capital & Regional, Netplay TV INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Booker Group, CareTech Holding, Exova Group , Games Workshop Group, ITV, Lookers, M&C Saatchi, Maven Income & Growth VCT, Moss Bros Group, Next Fifteen Communications, Provident Financial, Rotala, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited C shares, TLA Worldwide , U And I Group QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Toro Limited INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) M3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00) Pending Homes Sales (US) (15:00) Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55) Q2 C&C Group Q3 Nokia OYJ, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B' FINALS Redefine International SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Barratt Developments, Bioventix EGMS Datang International Power Generation Co Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (ATT) GDR (Reg S) AGMS Argos Resources Ltd. (DI), Blenheim Natural Resources , City of London Inv Trust, GCP Student Living, Goldplat, Plutus PowerGen, Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust, Stanley Gibbons Group TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Henderson Group UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Gross Domestic Product (09:30) Index of Services (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Ashley (Laura) Holding FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE AIREA, Avingtrans, Barratt Developments, Bioventix, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, El Oro Ltd, Galliford Try, Haynes Publishing Group, Ideagen, Mulberry Group, Thorpe (F.W.), Wolseley