Wednesday preview: Compass and Johnson Matthey

Contract caterer Compass will give investors food for thought on Wednesday when it releases full-year results. The market has pencilled in a figure of £16,869m for revenue, which is a lot of sausage rolls and crudités in anyone's language. Profit before tax is expected to break through the billion-pound barrier to £1,074m. Earnings per share are tipped to be around 42.37p, with the full-year dividend roughly half that amount at 21.18p. Strong showings in North America plus Fast Growing & Emerging regions should compensate for soft markets in Europe and Japan. Panmure Gordon is hoping for an update on plans to return additional cash to shareholders and believes the market would "welcome a commitment of a further £500m" by the end of fiscal 2013, which, if done in the form of buy-backs, would enhance earnings per share by around two or three per cent. Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey's half-year results are expected to see the company unveil a 1.5% decline in revenue to £5,810m while operating profit is predicted to be virtually flat at £213.5m. Despite what looks like a period of treading water for Johnson Matthey, Charles Stanley is expecting the company to whack the interim dividend up from 15.7p last year to 22.2p this. "This would not be too surprising. At the release of its preliminary results for the year ended March 31st Johnson Matthey announced a special dividend payment of 100p per share, in addition to a final dividend payment of 40p per share. The rationale behind the special dividend payment was continuing strong growth in both profits and cash flow and the belief that the group has 'ample resources' to fund these expenditures," writes Rae Ellingham of Charles Stanley. Johnson Matthey is a world leader in emissions control technologies, e.g. catalytic converters, so it does have exposure to the struggling French motor car industry, which might persuade the board to be a bit more careful with the divi. INTERIMS Halfords Group, HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd, Hyder Consulting, Intermediate Capital Group, Johnson Matthey, Omega Diagnostics Group, QinetiQ Group, UK Mail Group INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Carphone Warehouse Group, Great Portland Estates, HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd, Hill & Smith Holdings, Invensys, Investment Company, London & Stamford Property , Metric Property Investments , Morgan Crucible Co, Next, Prime People, Printing.com, Sainsbury (J), Synergy Health, TalkTalk Telecom Group , TEP Exchange Group, Vedanta Resources, Vodafone Group, Walker Crips Group QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Carnival INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Leading Indicators (US) (15:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00) Q3 JSC KazMunaiGaz Exploration Production GDR (Reg S), Zhaikmunai LP GDR (Reg S) FINALS Avon Rubber, Compass Group, Optos SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Narborough Plantations EGMS VietNam Holding Ltd, VinaLand Ltd AGMS Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Active Capital Trust, Impax Asian Environmental Markets, International Ferro Metals Group, JPMorgan Global Markets Emerging Income Trust, Pantheon International Participations, Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares, Sabien Technology Group, Stellar Diamonds UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30) FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Euromoney Institutional Investor, GETECH Group, Hornby, Keystone Inv Trust, United Drug BC