Thursday preview: US data, British American Tobacco in the spotlight

The spotlight on Thursday will be on a raft of economic data in the US, together with an avalanche of company results in Britain.

In the US, data are due out covering weekly jobless claims, fourth quarter GDP and factory activity in the Chicgo area.

At least six top Federal Reserve officials are set to take to the podium as well, including the central bank's chairman, Jerome Powell, himself.

Against that backdrop, investors will be sifting through Wednesday night's Brexit vote in Parliament and the various amendments tabled, although the Prime Minister's move to allow lawmakers a vote on her plans on 12 March may have defused the risk of any unexpected fireworks, at least this time around.

Back in the UK, GfK will publish its consumer confidence gauge for February, which will coincide with the latest monthly house price data from Nationwide.

Further afield, overnight China's National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release its factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index for February.

On the corporate side of things, investors will be wading through a deluge of announcements.

Included among those will be the latest full-year figures from British American Tobacco, for which analysts at Deutsche Bank are slightly below consensus, anticipating earnings per share of 291.5p on sales of £24.22bn.

In particular, the market spotlight will be on US cigarette market volumes in the medium-term, the investment bank said in a research note sent to clients, even though nearly 55% of its revenues come from outside the States.

To take note of, with its US unit, Altria, committed to a roughly 80% payout, together with the recent acquisition of JUUL, British American Tobacco needed to be disciplined in its approach, Deutsche Bank said.

Nonetheless, the investment bank went on to add that: "We believe US cigarette pricing will be robust over many years."

For their part, analysts at UBS are expecting the decline in the British American Tobacco's volumes to slow from the 2.2% pace observed over the front half of the year to -1.0% over the past six months, mainly thanks to Asia.

Its Glo product is already available in 16 markets, versus just five in 2017, the Swiss broker pointed out, adding that the number of sticks was seen hitting 3.5bn in the second half, although the "better product mix" was likely to be largely offset by investments in next generation products.

Cigarette volume declines are seen at just 2.1% for fiscal year 2018, compared to the 3.5% fall in industry volumes predicted by management.

Adjusted EPS is pegged at 292.4p, with organic EBIT growth seen dragged down by investments in SGP and negative currency effects.

Thursday February 28

INTERIMS

Genus, Management Resources Solutions , Ricardo, Town Centre Securities

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

City of London 4.2% Cum 1st Prf Stk, City of London Investment Trust 4.2% Non-Cum 2nd Prf Stk, City of London Investment Trust Preference Ord Stk 14% Non-Cumulative 1, IG Group Holdings, NB Private Equity Partners Ltd., NCC Group, PHSC, Puma VCT 10

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Alumasc Group, Diageo, ECO Animal Health Group, Gordon Dadds Group , Hargreaves Services, Ideagen, Murgitroyd Group, Oxford Instruments, Park Group, WYG

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

City of London Inv Trust, Custodian Reit , Greencoat Renewables, Picton Property Income Ltd

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Brunner Inv Trust, Regional REIT Limited

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chicago PMI (US) (14:45)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

GDP (Preliminary) (US) (13:30)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Q4

Arrow Global Group

GMS

BTG, Primary Health Properties

FINALS

Amigo Holdings, Arrow Global Group, Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings, Bakkavor Group , Bovis Homes Group, British American Tobacco, CRH, Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), Diversified Gas & Oil, Evraz, Foxtons Group , Gocompare.com Group, Grafton Group Units, Greencoat UK Wind, Hastings Group Holdings , Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Sing.Reg), Howden Joinery Group, Hunting, Inchcape, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI), Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore Reg), Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd. (Singapore), Mandarin Oriental International (Singapore), Merlin Entertainments , Mondi, Petrofac Ltd., PPHE Hotel Group Ltd, Rentokil Initial, Rolls-Royce Holdings, RSA Insurance Group, Spire Healthcare Group, STV Group

ANNUAL REPORT

Greencoat UK Wind

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Trans-Siberian Gold

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

BioPharma Credit

EGMS

BCRE - Brack Capital Real Estate Investments N.V. (DI)

AGMS

Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust, Jersey Electricity 'A' Shares

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Amigo Holdings

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nationwide House Price Index (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Civitas Social Housing , Watkin Jones

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Arden Partners, Barclays, BB Healthcare Trust (Red), easyJet, Northern Electricity Prf, Shoe Zone, SSP Group , Sureserve Group