Friday preview: Public sector borrowing to leave Chancellor pinching pennies

Friday will see the UK's final public sector finance figures before Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement, plus over the water a flash reading of Eurozone consumer confidence is also expected to show a marginal improvement but remain solidly negative.

Economists believe the Chancellor is unlikely to find any extra cash in the newly updated accounts for the public purse.

Capital Economics has estimated borrowing of £6.5bn for October, a "particularly important" month as many large and medium-sized corporations pay the second of four corporation tax instalments.

"Unless the OBR assumes a significant improvement over the rest of the financial year, borrowing remains on course to come in above its forecast of £69.5bn in 2015/16. "

Consumer confidence fell to -7.7 in October from -7.1 in September, as the assessment of the financial situation of households deteriorated but expectations regarding the economy improved.

The consensus expectation for November is for a move to -7.5.

"The service sector in particular appears to be benefiting from the surprising resilience of the domestic recovery in the eurozone," said HSBC. "However, with oil prices having stabilised, part of the positive windfall from the lower energy prices should start to fade, and the inflation should pick up markedly in the coming months. All in all, we expect only a small rebound in consumer confidence, to -7.5 in October."

Among schedule company announcements, there is not much major planned.

Spectris is scheduled to report on third quarter trading, following interim results in July that showed profit declining amid challenging trading environment.

The instrumentation and controls developer gave guidance that suggested full year EBITA would be below £200m, which assumed a pick-up in second-half growth rates.

"We see this as unlikely," said UBS, forecasting full year revenues of £1.2bn, up 1.2% organically, and EBITA of £189.6m with margins at 15.8%.

"With a need to acquire, slow organic growth and inflationary cost pressures, we believe that Spectris may struggle in a low-growth, high-multiple world."

Friday 20 November

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Public Sector Finances (09:30)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Confidence Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

INTERIMS
Alpha Real Trust Ltd.

Q3
Biofrontera AG (DI)

GMS
Gresham House

AGMS
Celtic, Crystal Amber Fund Ltd., Henderson International Income Trust, Ibex Global Solutions, People's Operator (The) , Plutus PowerGen, Red Emperor Resources NL (DI)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Spectris

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Barratt Developments

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Bovis Homes Group, Hansteen Holdings, Harvey Nash Group, Howden Joinery Group, Menzies(John), ProVen Growth & Income VCT, ProVen VCT, Quantum Pharma, Smart Metering Systems, Ted Baker

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Barratt Developments, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, New Star Investment Trust, Revolution Bars Group, Sky, Smiths Group