Tuesday preview: Intl. Power, Liberty Intl., Lookers

Energy company International Power is due to declare full year results on Tuesday with the market expecting pre-tax profits of £730m, up from £682m in 2008, on revenue of £3,355m. A slight increase in the dividend is expected while debt could come down to £5.2bn from £5.4bn at the half-year stage.

The company ended discussions with French group GDF Suez about a merger in January, though few brokers think that will be the end of the matter. The deal being discussed was an asset swap according to the reports rather than a cash bid, which could remain a stumbling block.

Shopping centre owner Liberty International's possible break up of its portfolio will be the main focus with its figures. It has already indicated it is looking at such a move, which could see CSC (Capital Shopping Centres) spun off completely. Brokers expect net asset value per share to have climbed to 550p from 448p at half-way.

In 2008 the company took a £665m hit in the change in value of derivative and financial instruments and a £2,057m charge in respect of the decline in value of its property portfolio, all of which resulted in it falling £2,622m into the red. This time round, the company is expected to show a small loss of around £1.5m.

Car dealer Lookers said in January it expects to exceed previous expectations after strong trading continued into the fourth quarter.

The firm said it gained new car market share with like for like sales for the year closing 13% ahead of 2008 levels in a new car market that closed the year 6% down on 2008, despite the 280,000 unit registration boost derived from the Government's scrappage scheme.

Latest market forecasts are for profit before tax of £27.5m on sales of £1,684.8m, with the parts business expected to be the group's star performer.

Broker Panmure Gordon expects 'debt levels of £74.3m, which compares to £149.5m with last year's equity issue the predominant driver but underlying working capital improvements also anticipated. No dividend has been pencilled in yet at this stage.'

Social housing maintenance specialist Mears was another company feeling bullish about its 2009 results back in January, while prospects for 2010 are not too shabby either, with the company having secured 75% of its consensus forecast revenues for 2010 by the first month of the year.

The market will be looking for any signs of weakening margins in the social housing business and will closely examine the outlook statement to see whether the prospect of a post-election public spending squeeze is tempering the company's upbeat mood.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) will publish its retail sales monitor overnight and the report is expected to show a revival in shopping activity in February after the snow in January deterred some shoppers from venturing out to the shops.

Expectations are for total retail sales to be 4.4% higher than they were in February 2008, with like for like sales up 2.0% year on year. Those figures would represent an improvement on January's performance of a 1.2% annual rise in sales and a 0.7% like for like decline.

As per usual, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will compete with the BRC for the spotlight with its housing market survey for February.

In January, the balance of surveyors reporting an increase in house prices over the preceding three months was +32% but recent data from the Nationwide Building Society and the Halifax suggests that the housing market may have come off the boil at the start of the year, and economists are expecting the balance to decline in February, to around +30%.

The visible trade deficit is expected to have narrowed in January to £7bn from £7.28bn in December, which is hardly the trade boom the government will have been hoping for as the value of sterling declines, though the fall in the value of the pound was still relatively gentle in January. The non-EU trade deficit is tipped to narrow to £3.4bn from £3.55bn in December.

INTERIMS
Interior Services, St Ives

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Leading Indicator Index (JPN) (05:00)
Trade Balance (FRA) (8.45)
Machine Tool Orders (JPN)
Machine Orders (JPN)
CGIP (JPN)

Q3
Ashtead Group

Q4
Endeavour International Corp, Globus Maritime

FINALS
Advanced Medical Solutions, Antofagasta, BrainJuicer Group, Endeavour International Corp, Gartmore Group , Globus Maritime, Inmarsat, International Power, John Menzies, Johnson Service Group, Liberty International, Lookers, Mears Group, OAO Severstal GDR (Reg S), Plethora Solutions Holdings, ROK, STM Group, Weir Group

TRADING UPDATE
Aer Lingus Group,

ANNUAL REPORT
Liberty International

EGMS
Amiad Filtration Systems, Greencore Group

AGMS
JPMorgan Russian Securities

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (09:30)
BRC Sales Monitor (00:01)
RICS House Price Balance (00:01)