Wednesday preview: UU, Compass, Johnson Matthey

Like Severn Trent, which posted interim results on Tuesday, United Utilities' interims will be the first set of results under the new price control regime that runs until 2015. Charles Stanley expects profits of £163m and EPS of 17.5p. The dividend is expected to be 12% lower at 9.8p. "UU has headroom to cover projected financing needs through to Summer 2012. Net debt is expected to be moderately up on £4.9bn at the last year end. Higher inflation on c£2bn index-linked debt is expected to push up the interest charge," the broker predicts. Contract caterer Compass should report good organic revenue growth in its second half of the year, which could even exceed 5% and lift the full year total to over 3%. Pre-tax profits should be about the £900m mark, according to Charles Stanley, while Oriel Securities is a tad more optimistic, going with a figure of £920m. The median forecast from a universe of 26 brokers is for a figure of £908.7m, on revenue of £14.21bn.Nomura is predicting earnings before interest and tax of £1,005m, up 14% from last year, and expects margins to improve by two-fifths of a percentage point."We anticipate few surprises from the results, although we expect a robust update on the evolution of group strategy from a period of margin recovery between 2006 & 2009 to the more balanced current position of ongoing efficiency gains with some re-investment to better harness structural growth; a natural evolution for the business," Nomura said. "The balance sheet remains a hot topic with options for buybacks, dividends and deals or a combination of the lot," the broker added.Deutsche Bank, meanwhile, notes that just over a third of the company's revenues derive from the education and healthcare sectors, two areas where the UK government will be looking to squeeze costs hard. The UK only accounts for around 13% of sales, however, and North America has been the engine of growth in recent times. Interim results from speciality chemicals group Johnson Matthey should "reflect the revival in the passenger car automotive market and ongoing market share strength in heavy diesel," according to Charles Stanley, which is forecasting an interim pre-tax profit of £1,04m, up from £883m at the interim stage last year,"Within these results we expect the Environmental Technologies division to report a strong improvement in operating profit (c.40% to £77m) boosted by auto-catalyst volumes and the ongoing steady improvement in heavy diesel. Process Technologies should benefit from strong demand for methanol and ammonia catalysts," the broker predicted. "We look for 55% growth in Precious Metal Products to £76m boosted by ongoing strength in PGM (platinum group metals) prices, coupled with robust demand for industrial products and precious metal refining. The one weak spot is likely to be in the Fine Chemicals division but only due to a strong comparator half which included the launch of generic Adderall XR," Charles Stanley added. Minutes to the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting will be released and are expected to reveal the committee's growth projections in light of its much-criticised $600bn bond-purchasing programme. In the UK, all eyes will be on the gross domestic product (GDP) data to be released at 9:30am. Economists expect the previous estimate of third quarter growth of 0.8% to be confirmed, though the year on year improvement may be scaled back to 2.7% from an original estimate of 2.8%, as a result of the recent significant downgrade in construction growth in the second quarter to 6.8% from the provisional figure of 9.6%.INTERIMS Clyde Process Solutions, FFastFill, Hampson Industries, Johnson Matthey, Liontrust Asset Management, London & Stamford Property Ltd., Mckay Securities, Scapa Group, United Utilities Group INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Charles Taylor Consulting, Fujitsu Ltd. INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Amec, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cranswick, Hill & Smith Holdings, Man Group, Next, Prime People, Record, TalkTalk Telecom Group , UBC Media Group, Victoria, Walker Crips Group QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE M&G Equity Inv Trust Income Shares INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Department Store Sales (JPN)IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00) IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00) IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00) Industrial New Orders (EU) (10:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30) Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30) Personal Income (US) (13:30) Personal Spending (US) (13:30) U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00) Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) House Price Index (US) (15:00) New Homes Sales (US) (15:00) FOMC Interest Rate Minutes (US) (19:00) Q3 Frontline Ltd., Public Power GDR SA (Reg S) GMS WPP FINALS Avon Rubber, Compass Group, Future, Optos, Superglass Holdings SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Gartmore Growth Opportunities EGMS Edge Performance VCT 'C' Shares, MTI Wireless Edge Ltd., New World Resources NV (DI), Redefine International AGMS Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd., Clean Energy Brazil, Emblaze Ltd., F&C US Smaller Companies, FRM Credit Alpha Ltd., International Ferro Metals Group, JPMorgan Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Metal-Tech, Metminco Ltd., Nyota Minerals Ltd., Pantheon International Participations, Pochin's, Rolta India Ltd.GDR (Reg S), Sabien Technology Group UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Total Business Investment (09:30)Gross Domestic Product (09:30)Private Consumption (09:30)Government Spending (09:30)Exports (09:30)Imports (09:30)CBI Distributive Trends Surveys (11:00) CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Stagecoach Theatre Arts FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Dunelm Group, JPMorgan Chinese Inv Trust, Northern Venture Trust, Renewable Energy Generation Ltd., United Drug Q1 Sportingbet