Wednesday preview: Brexit and British American Tobacco in the spotlight

Brexit talks with the European Union will continue to be the main focus for financial markets in the middle of the week.

Against that backdrop, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation is due to publish its Permanent Staff Placements and Salaries indices for November.

Meanwhile, in the States, the Department of Labor will release its JOLTS labour market survey for October.

Across the Channel, the spotlight will be on Spanish industrial production figures for October and on a survey of French industrial confidence in November.

For British American Tobacco's full-year profits, Morgan Stanley's Sanath Sudarsan believes the cigarette maker might deliver earnings ahead of forecasts thanks to a recovery in Emerging Markets and cost savings, offset by investments in its Next Generation Products.

Nevertheless, 2020 was likely to mark the bottom in terms of dilution from NGP investments.

US cigarette volumes were seen flat with organic operating profits about 4.6% ahead and currency neutral earnings growth up by approximately 5.6%.

Sudarsan also noted how the firm's user base was in fact still growing, projecting an increase from roughly 143m in 2017 to 155m in 2030.

"We see upside risk to earnings near term (2020-21) due to cost savings and improving NGP profitability and expect ~7% EPS CAGR 2020-25e. We believe the current valuation (7.5x '21e P/E and 7.6x '21e EV/EBITDA) offers an opportunity to shift to the best overall nicotine business in Europe."

Wednesday 09 December

INTERIMS

Creightons, Duke Royalty Limited, SDI Group , Stagecoach Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

DCC, Inspired Energy

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Meikles Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

Current Account (GER) (07:00)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Wholesales Inventories (US) (15:00)

GMS

MetalNRG

FINALS

PCF Group, Victrex plc

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus , Thinksmart Limited (DI)

AGMS

CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income , Orchard Funding Group

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Aberdeen Standard Asia Focus , BlackRock Greater Europe Inv Trust