Wednesday preview: Glaxo, Next

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline issues third quarter figures on Wednesday with the market expecting revenue to decline but earnings to rise.Revenue is forecast to slide by around 5% to £6,758m from £7,104m the year before, but operating profit is seen climbing to £2,257m from £2,179m.Earnings per share are tipped to improve to 28.7p from 28.2p in the third quarter of last year, paving the way for a penny-ha'penny increase in the quarterly dividend to 18.5p."As with other pharma companies Glaxo is facing a challenging macro environment and increasing generic competition. This, combined with the discontinuation ofcertain older products, is driving the declining revenue," notes Rae Ellingham at broker Charles Stanley.Fashion chain Next should have seen third quarter trading and margins boosted by the colder autumnal weather, Peel Hunt reckons. "We expect third quarter sales to have recovered well over the past seven weeks and expect to see year-to-date Brand sales back at the top end of guidance, up more than 4%, implying third quarter sales growth of 3.8%. We expect management to endorse current guidance and market expectations, although consensus is likely to drift upwards," the broker said.INTERIMS Volex INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Amiad Water Systems Ltd, Foresight Solar VCT, Wynnstay Group INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE APR Energy, Bloomsbury Publishing, Booker Group, C&C Group, Development Securities, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'F' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (General Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Low Carbon Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 2011 (Structured Shares), Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 F Shares, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2, Hilton Food Group, Howden Joinery Group, Intertek Group, ITV, Laird, Lombard Risk Management, Lookers, M&C Saatchi, Moss Bros Group, Provident Financial, Restore QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., JP Morgan Chase & Co, Middlefield Canadian Income PCC, Schroder Income Growth Fund QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Chicago PMI (US) (13:45) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00) International Reserves (EU) (11:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) Retail Sales (GER) (07:00) Q3 First Quantum Minerals Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline FINALS Neos Resources, Tracsis ANNUAL REPORT Aquarius Platinum Ltd. IMSS Aegis Group, Barclays, Logica, Mondi, Next, Phoenix Group Holdings (DI), St James's Place, Standard Life SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE IndigoVision Group EGMS OSJC Center for Cargo Container Traffic Transcontainer GDR (Reg S) AGMS Ashmore Group, Carpathian, Coburg Group, Greenko Group, Ideagen, Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Tricor FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Abbey, Alumasc Group, Haynes Publishing Group, Rank Group FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Abcam, AIREA, Allocate Software, El Oro Ltd, Go-Ahead Group, IndigoVision Group, JPMorgan Global Markets Emerging Income TrustJH