Severn Trent is the first of the three listed water companies to give a trading update this week.
The firm is tipped by Deutsche Bank (DB) to report higher operating profits overall, despite a smaller contribution from Severn Trent Services.
"At the water business we expect a higher first half weighting of profitability due to better volumes over the summer and slightly lower infrastructure renewals expense. At Severn Trent Services we expect to see a continuation of the difficult business trends that have impacted the business over the last few years, also with a weighting of profitability and product sales to H2," Deutsche Bank (DB) said.
The DB forecast for adjusted profit before tax is £155.8mln and adjusted EPS of 50.0p.
Soft drinks maker Britvic seems to have recovered its mojo since the proposed merger with Irn-Bru maker AG Barr was kyboshed by the Competition Commission.
The company’s pre-close update in mid-October indicated that operating profit would be higher than its previous operating profit guidance of £125mln to £131mln.
The market is expecting profit before tax of £104.2mln on sales of £1.32bn.
Panmure Gordon is far more optimistic, going for £111.4mln, while net debt is predicted to be down to £439mln from £447mln a year earlier.
"We believe that Britvic is in a strong position to deliver strong earnings growth from good revenue momentum, and cost savings from organisational restructuring, in turn de-gearing the balance sheet which should contribute towards closing the valuation discount with its peer group," the broker said.
The same broker has taken a look at pubs group Mitchells & Butlers, which is due to release full-year results.
Panmure Gordon is not expecting many surprises, with the consensus profit before tax forecast of £181mln expected to be roughly on the money. The broker is not holding its breath for a dividend.
"We anticipate an update on the triennial pension deficit valuation and consequent impact on shareholders' claims on cash flow. We expect current trading to be resilient with c1% LFL [like-for-like] sales growth but we still believe consensus forecasts for FY 2014E are too high. M&B is potentially a compelling turnaround story but until earnings downgrades cease and there are genuine signs of an improvement in operating performance we think the shares warrant a discount to the peer group."
Significant announcements expected
Companies: Finals: Britvic (LON:BVIC), Cambria Automobiles (LON:CAMB), Mitchells & Butlers (LON:MAB), Topps Tiles (LON:TPT), Sanderson Group (LON:SND) Interims: Signet Jewellers (LON:SIG), Telecom Plus (LON:TEP), Software Radio Technology (LON:SRT), KCOM Group (LON:KCOM), VP (LON:VP.), Caledonia Investments (LON:CLDN), ACM Shipping Group (LON:ACMG), Chamberlin (LON:CMH), Severfield-Rowen (LON:SFR), Severn Trent (LON:SVT), Scapa Group (LON:SCPA).
Macroeconomic: US: Building Permits, Consumer Confidence, GDP, House Price Index, Housing Starts