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Tuesday's agenda: SABMiller numbers in focus after distractions

Published: 17:00 14 Oct 2014 AEDT

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A veritable clutch of corporate statements out today should keep many glued to the screen, or newspaper - depending on how you choose to digest your news these days.

Among them is quaterly results from the world's second biggest brewer SABMiller (LON:SAB), fresh from its failed attempt to persuade Heineken into merger talks.

The brewer is a favourite of heavyweight Goldman Sachs, as it believes the company is well on track to deliver its long-term EPS growth targets.

Add in a soupcon of bid speculation, with the company widely believed to be in ABInbev’s sights, and you have a stock that is one of the investment bank's top picks.

Alastair McCaig, analyst at IG Group, had this to say: "Traders prepare to focus on SABMiller results after merger and acquisition activity distractions.        

"The markets are expecting the adjusted earnings per share to have increased from $1.216 up to $1.294, backed up by sales figures that are called to jump from $8.518 billion to $13.732 billion. All of this should see the company’s pre-tax profits improve from $2.394 billion up to $2.732 billion.

SABMiller’s last quarter was dominated by the company’s ultimately unsuccessful attempts to acquire Dutch beer brewer Heineken.

"Traders are split between thinking this is a preemptive defensive move to ward off any attempts from AB InBev from launching its own bid to acquire SAB, or merely another step in market coverage and company profitability."

Significant announcements expected:

Companies: Interims: Boohoo.com (LON:BOO). Finals: Nanoco (LON:NANO), Matchtech (LON:MTEC), dotDigital Group (LON:DOTD), Bellway (LON:BWAY). Trading statements: Ashmore group (LON:ASHM), Immunodiagnostic Systems Holding (LON:IDH), Michael Page International (LON:MPI), SABMiller (LON:SAB), Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.), Dragon Oil (LON:DGO), Carpetright (LON:CPR).

Economic: UK: Consumer prices. Producer prices. EU: German ZEW survey

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