Week ahead: US GDP, Mitchells & Butlers, Severn Trent...

Pubs group Mitchells & Butlers' recent nine week trading update highlighted a 3.6% like-for-like sales improvement on last year. Food sales were, as usual, the driver of growth but even the "wet" side of the business saw a pick-up. Brokers now expect the All Bar One and Harvester owner to post profits of £166m this year, but this figure could be conservative.Utilities move to centre stage in the middle of the week with interim results from Severn Trent and United Utilities. Broker Charles Stanley expects Severn Trent to report pre-tax profits of £169m and EPS of 51.2p with a dividend 10% lower at 24.0p.Like Severn Trent, 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. Also on Wednesday, 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.Platinum giant Johnson Matthey should be getting a boost from the strong revival in the sales of cars and heavy lorries. Platinum prices have also been strong generally over the past six months.Ad agency WPP recently reported like-for-like revenues rose by 4.1% in the first nine months of its current year as companies restarted advertising spending after the recession with traditional ad spending outstripping online. Total revenue rose by 6.3% to £6.69bn with third quarter sales up 12.2% to £2.3bn. Chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell was also upbeat over the rest of this year and 2011 and should be similarly optimistic this week.US news dominates the economic agenda with all eyes on the GDP data for the third quarter on Tuesday. Consensus forecast are for the US economy to have grown by 2.4% over the past three months, up from 2% in the previous quarter.A higher figure could trigger a bullish reaction in the dollar as the economic outlook looks to improve, a more sluggish growth rate could prompt a quick sell-off in the greenback.Minutes to the Federal Open Market Committee will also be released Tuesday and are expected to reveal the committee's growth projections in light of its much-criticised $600bn bond-purchasing programme.Monday November 22INTERIMSBig Yellow Group, KSK Power Ventur, Mitie GroupINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)Q2Big Yellow GroupQ3JSC Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan GDR (Reg S), SynchronicaGMSNetplay TV, TristelFINALSDiploma, RM, Sarantel Group 'B' SharesANNUAL REPORTBowLeven, TristelEGMsEMED Mining Public Ltd., JSC Bank of Georgia GDR (Reg S)AGMsOrigin Enterprises, Pure WaferFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEHenderson EuroTrustTuesday November 23INTERIMSAssura Group Ltd., Bango, Caledonia Investments, Carclo, De La Rue, Digital Marketing Group, Hamworthy, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Homeserve, Intermediate Capital Group, KCOM Group, Renold, Severn Trent, Telecom PlusINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSABC Consumer Confidence (US) (22:00)Gross Domestic Product (US) (13:30)Q3Alpha Bank GDR (Reg S) USD, Espirito Santo Financial Group SA, Signet Jewelers Ltd.GMSClipper Windpower (Reg S), Proventec, Sylvania Resources Ltd. (DI)FINALSArmour Group, Education Development International, GW Pharmaceuticals, Mitchells & Butlers, Renew HoldingsANNUAL REPORTGreencore Group, JSC Acron GDR (Reg S), Uranium ResourcesIMSSClinton CardsEGMSBerkeley Technology Ltd.AGMSAlternative Asset Opportunities PCC Ltd., Aquarius Platinum Ltd., BlueBay Asset Management, Clinton Cards, Discovery Metals Ltd. (CDI), Ruffer Investment Company Ltd., Scotgold Resources (DI), ZCCM Investments Holdings 'B' SharesWednesday November 24INTERIMSBSS Group, Clyde Process Solutions, FFastFill, Hampson Industries, Johnson Matthey, Liontrust Asset Managament, London & Stamford Property Ltd., Mckay Securities, Scapa Group, United Utilities GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECharles Taylor Consulting, Fujitsu Ltd.INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAmec, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cranswick, Hill & Smith Holdings, Man Group, Next, Prime People, Record, TalkTalk Telecom Group , UBC Media Group, Victoria, Walker Crips GroupQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEM&G Equity Inv Trust Income SharesINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSContinuing Claims (US) (13:30)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)FOMC Interest Rate Minutes (US) (19:00)House Price Index (US) (15:00)IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)Industrial New Orders (EU) (10:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)Personal Income (US) (13:30)Personal Spending (US) (13:30)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)Q3Frontline Ltd., Public Power GDR SA (Reg S)GMSWPPFINALSAvon Rubber, Compass Group, Future, Optos, Superglass HoldingsSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEGartmore Growth OpportunitiesEGMSEdge Performance VCT 'C' Shares, MTI Wireless Edge Ltd., New World Resources NV (DI), Redefine InternationalAGMSCeramic 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 GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCBI Distributive Trends Surveys (11:00)CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEStagecoach Theatre ArtsFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEDunelm Group, JPMorgan Chinese Inv Trust, Northern Venture Trust, Renewable Energy Generation Ltd., United DrugQ1SportingbetThursday November 25INTERIMSAtkins (WS), Castings, Dixons Retail , Helical Bar, Latham (James), PayPointINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAlbany Inv Trust, Collins Stewart, Hansteen Holdings, Konami Corp.Q3AntofagastaGMSAccumuli , Surface TransformsFINALSDaily Mail and General Trust, GraingerEGMSHameldon Resources Ltd. (DI), United Bank Ltd. GDR (Reg S)AGMSAnimalcare Group, Eleco, eServGlobal Ltd., Group NBT, Helphire Group, Impax Asian Environmental Markets, Manchester & London Inv Trust, Queenco Leisure International Ltd. GDR (Reg S), Thor MiningUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGDP (output, income & expenditure) (09:30)Friday November 26INTERIMSAlpha Tiger Property Trust Ltd., Omega Diagnostics Group, Quintain Estates & DevelopmentINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Booker Group, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'D' Shares , Harvey Nash Group, John Menzies, ProVen Health VCT, RSA Insurance Group, Tandem Group, Ted Baker, Toyota Motor Corp.QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEEquity Partnership Inv Co Income Shares, F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSM3 Money Supply (EU) (09:00)Q3Stratic Energy Corp. (DI)GMSAsian Citrus Holding, Cassidy BrothersSPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEYamana Gold Inc.EGMSNational Bank of Greece ADRAGMSBlackrock Hedge Selector Ltd. Red Part Shs (UK Emerging Co Shs), Easydate, Jubilee PlatinumFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAbcam, CPL Resources, JPMorgan Overseas Inv Trust, Kier Group, Mcbride, Redefine International, Ricardo, Swallowfield, Thorntons