Wednesday preview: BP, Barratt Developments, Thorntons

Investors will be distracted from digesting a busy schedule of results on Wednesday by the midday release of oil giant BP's internal investigation into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon accident.The report will be available on the company's web site, www.bp.com .House builder Barratt Developments releases full year results which should show the company has made considerable progress in reducing its gearing, which stood as high as 89% a year ago.Panmure Gordon thinks debt will be down to £375m and net tangible gearing down to about 18%. "We expect the group to announce 11,377 completions in the year at an average selling price of £174,000, up 11% year on year. Of that, around 4% is likely to be attributed to underlying inflation. Operating margins are forecast to improve by around 280bps [2.8 percentage points]," the broker predicts. "In summary, we are forecasting a full year pre-tax loss of £37.7m to June 2010E, although putting that into context, the group lost £63.5m in the first half of the year, implying a £25.8m profit in the second half. EPS [earnings per share] for June 2010 is -3.5p whilst our tangible net asset value forecast is 212p [per share]," it added.The broker is also tipping the group will announce a small improvement in the forward sales position. Chocolatier Thorntons issued a profit warning in May so expectations for full year results are not high, especially after the company reported sales continued to melt away in the final quarter of its financial year.Overall sales for the 10 weeks to 26 June 2010 declined by 4.1% to £26.8m. Own store sales were down 6.2% during the fourth quarter while franchise stores saw a 20.2% increase in sales. Online sales increased 17.1%.Market consensus is for profit before tax to fall to £6.1m from £8.1m the year before. Sales are seen holding steady at £214.5m. A 7.3% yield on the shares suggests that the market is either expecting a dividend cut or that share price appreciation will be minimal or even negative in the short term; investment analysts predict the full year dividend will be increased to 6.27p from 6.05p, so the implication is that they are not expecting the company's shares to perform well over the next 12 months. This is backed up by the three ratings from brokers covering the stock: one neutral, one sell and one strong sell.Investec is a holder. It says: "The company has seen a rebound in commercial sales following a difficult early third quarter and is looking to improve own-store performance by strengthening the management team and implementing a staff restructuring programme."On the economic scene, manufacturing output for July is expected to have risen 0.3% after showing a similar change in June. On a year on year comparison, the index is expected to show a gain of 4.9%, up from 4.1% in June.Industrial production fell 0.5% in June, when maintenance work in the mining and quarrying sectors took place earlier in the year than usual, but the expectation is that it got back on the growth track in July with a 0.4% increase. The year on year rise is expected to widen to 2.0% from 1.4% in June.INTERIMSAdvanced Medical Solutions, Alkane Energy, Alliance Pharma, Cape, Futura Medical, Lupus Capital, Prezzo, SQS Software Quality Systems, Ukrproduct Group, Valiant Petroleum, Zenergy PowerINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATELaw Debenture Corp., NicholsINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAbbey Protection, Aegis Group, Amlin, Carillion, Chaucer Holdings, Chesnara, Churchill China, Cineworld Group, Elementis, Evolution Group, G4S, Glanbia, Goldenport, Grafton Group (Units), Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Holders Technology, IMI, International Personal Finance, JKX Oil & Gas, Kazakhmys, Lavendon Group, Melrose, Michael Page International, Nestor Healthcare, North Midland Construction, Novae Group, Omega Insurance Holdings, REA Holdings, Regus, Resolution, Rexam, Robert Walters, Rotala, SEGRO, Shire Plc, SR Europe Inv Trust, Stadium Group, T Clarke, Thomas Cook Group, Treatt, Wellstream Holdings, WSP GroupQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATERoyal Dutch Shell 'A', Royal Dutch Shell 'B'QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish Assets Trust, Canadian General Investments, Frontline, XP PowerINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Trade (GER) (07:00)Business Sentiment (FRA) (07:30)Beige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00)Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Current Account (GER) (07:00)Industrial Production (GER) (11:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)M3 Money Supply (JPN)Machine Orders (JPN)Current Account (JPN)Trade Balance (JPN)GMSCLS Holdings, Evolve Capital, Minerva, RedstoneFINALSA&J Mucklow, Barratt Developments, CPL Resources, Interior Services, ThorntonsSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHargreaves LansdownEGMSBanque Marocaine Du Comm Exterieur GDR (Reg S), Berkeley Mineral ResourcesAGMSArtemis Alpha Trust, Avisen, Berkeley Group Holdings , DSG International, Eredene Capital, Probability, ReNeuron, Warner Estate HoldingsUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBRC Shop Price Index (00:01)Industrial Production (09:30)Manufacturing Production (09:30)NIESR GDP estimate FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECohort, CrestonFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEACM Shipping, Aquarius Platinum Ltd., BHP Billiton, Carpetright, Dart Group, Diageo, Hampson Industries, Hargreaves Lansdown, IG Group Holdings, Mattioli Woods, Maxima Holdings, Mid Wynd International Inv Trust, Umeco