Thursday preview: Greggs, Premier Farnell, PSNBR

Bread and subs and sausage rolls might be the theme song for bakery and sandwich chain Greggs, which issues full year results on Thursday.

The chain's foray into Belgium may have ended in failure a couple of years back but Brits can't get enough of the hot savoury treats that are the baker's stock in trade, with trading over the Christmas period said to be especially strong.

The market consensus for pre-tax profit is £46.43m, down from £49.47m the year before. Sales are expected to advance to £655.58m from £628.20m, helped by 2009 being a 53 week year.

Electronic components distributor Premier Farnell had a tough 2009 but said in December that the rate of year on year decline in sales was easing off. The group's operations in Asia Pacific returned to growth while sales in North America and Europe in the group's third quarter (to 1 November) may have been lower than on the corresponding period of 2008 but were at least an improvement on the second quarter sales.

Broker Panmure Gordon thinks the things to watch out for will be the impact of improving industrial and purchasing managers data on the group, an update on strategic initiatives and the group's ability to keep a tight rein on costs.

The market reckons the company will make £52.4m in pre-tax profits on revenue of £784.6m.

Public sector borrowing figures are out and may give some clue as to how much wiggle room Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will have in next week's Budget.

The Public Sector Net Borrowing Requirement (PSNBR) is expected to have hit £13.5bn in February, compared to a PSNBR of £9bn in February of last year.


INTERIMS
Renewable Energy Generation

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Orpak Systems

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)
Consumer Price Index(US) (12:30)
Weekly Jobless Claims (US) (12:30)
Current Account Balance (US) (12:30)
Leading Indicators (US) (14:00)
Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (14:00)
Current Account (EU) (09:00)
Bank of Japan Monthly Report (JPN)

Q4
Premier Farnell

GMS
Dunelm Group

FINALS
Aegis Group, Biocompatibles International, Collins Stewart, European Goldfields Limited, Greggs, Mount Engineering, National Bank of Greece ADR, Powerflute Oyj, Premier Farnell, ProStrakan, Salamander Energy, SIG

ANNUAL REPORT
Aggreko, JPMorgan American Inv Trust

EGMS
Rutley European Property Ltd.

AGMS
Brunner Inv Trust, CQS Rig Finance Fund Ltd., Future, Henderson Opportunities Trust, Nexus Management, Sarantel Group 'A'

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
M4 Money Supply (estimate) (09:30)
M4 Sterling Lending (estimate) (09:30)
Major Banks Mortgage Approvals (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Driver Group, Randgold Resources, Sinclair (William) Holdings