Week ahead: Brexit talks, French elections in focus

Politics will continue to be front-and-centre next week as Brexit negotiations between the UK and European Union kick-off, although Monday is expected to be the only day of talks next week.

Ahead of those, the BBC reported that EU sources had told it that Britain had already agreed to sort out its so-called 'divorce' bill and citizens' residence rights before starting talks on trade.

"The conventional post-election wisdom is that the lack of a government majority means that the runes have swung in favour of a soft Brexit. However, we wonder if this really is the case.

"There still seems little appetite to accept any of the compromises that a soft Brexit would require, while the EU continues to be unswerving in its position that no bespoke arrangement that allows the UK to remain a member of the single market exists. However, the UK still seems insistent on adopting conflicting positives. Failure to find a stable constituency for Brexit may mean that the risk of no agreement is rising," said Oxford Economics´s James Nixon.

No less important, France's new president Emmanuele Macron and his centre-right allies were expected to sweep aside nearly all opponents in the second round of the country's legislative elections, on Sunday.

Polls indicated they might get as many as 470 of the 577 seats in the chamber, the largest majority since Charles de Gaulle won 80% of the seats in 1968.

Nonetheless, turnout was expected to be quite low, which worried some observers.

The flow of economic data was expected to quieten down meanwhile, with the most important releases for financial markets not arriving until the end of the week, in the form of the latest purchasing manager survey data in the euro area and the US.

On Friday, IHS Markit would publish its preliminary readings for manufacturing and service sector PMIs in those two blocs.

In the UK, public sector net borrowing figures were scheduled for release on Wednesday.

Policy announcements from the central banks of New Zealand and Norway were expected on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Monday June 19

INTERIMS
CareTech Holding

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Compass Group

GMS
Standard Life

FINALS
Bonmarche Holdings, Bonmarche Holdings

AGMS
Caledonia Mining Corporation (DI), Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited, Panther Securities, Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd., Premier Technical Services Group , Premier Technical Services Group , Rasmala, Trader Media East Ltd GDR (Reg S)

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust, Kingfisher, Merlin Entertainments , Pagegroup, Witan Pacific Inv Trust

Tuesday June 20

INTERIMS
RWS Holdings

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Income & Growth VCT , Utilitywise plc

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Current Account (EU) (09:00)
Current Account (US) (13:30)
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Q3
Wolseley

GMS
Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS

ANNUAL REPORT
SSE

IMSS
Wolseley

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Alternative Liquidity Fund Limited

EGMS
Tiso Blackstar Group SE (DI)

AGMS
21st Century Technology, BlackRock Emerging Europe, Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI), Downing Two VCT F Shs , Evraz, Faroe Petroleum, GVC Holdings, Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, Inspired Energy, Marwyn Value Investors Limited, Morses Club , Water Intelligence

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Hiscox Limited (DI), ICG Enterprise Trust, IFG Group, Non-Standard Finance, Taptica International (DI)

Wednesday June 21

INTERIMS
Wynnstay Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
DFS Furniture

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

FINALS
Berkeley Group Holdings (The), Hornby, Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings, Sirius Real Estate Ltd.

ANNUAL REPORT
Worldwide Healthcare Trust

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
DFS Furniture

EGMS
St Peter Port Capital Ltd

AGMS
Andrews Sykes Group, Blackstone/GSO Loan Financing Limited, Brave Bison Group, Cathay International Holdings Ltd., Cellcast, Clontarf Energy , Good Energy Group, London Security, NetScientific , Photonstar LED Group, PJSC Lukoil ADR, St Peter Port Capital Ltd, Tarsus Group, Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. GBP Shares, UK Commercial Property Trust, Vimetco NV GDR (Reg S), Walker Greenbank, Whitbread, Xeros Technology Group

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Whitbread

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Public Sector Net Borrowing (09:30)

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Tongaat-Hulett Ltd.

Thursday June 22

INTERIMS
Chemring Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cerillion , Euromoney Institutional Investor

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Elegant Hotels Group , Gooch & Housego, Maven Income & Growth 3 VCT, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT, Maven Income & Growth VCT, Orchard Funding Group , Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) 'B' Limited

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Total SA, UIL Limited (DI)

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Funding Circle SME Income Fund, Land Securities Group, Mercantile Investment Trust (The)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
House Price Index (US) (13:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Alternative Liquidity Fund Limited

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Chelverton Small Companies Dividend Trust, Northern 2 VCT, Northern 3 VCT, PayPoint

AGMS
Adgorithms Limited (DI), Avesoro Resources Inc. (DI), Braemar Shipping Services, Cadogan Petroleum, ECSC Group, EVR Holdings, Petropavlovsk, PJSC Acron GDR (REG S), PJSC Centre For Cargo Container Traffic Transcontainer GDR (Reg S), PJSC Centre For Cargo Container Traffic Transcontainer GDR (Reg S), Pro Global Insurance Solutions , Saga , Savannah Petroleum , Senterra Energy , Taliesin Property Fund Limited, Tandem Group, Tiger Resource Finance, Union Jack Oil, Universe Group, Velocys plc, Wentworth Resources Ltd (DI), Widecells Group , Xtract Resources

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Go-Ahead Group

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cineworld Group, Gamma Communications

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI), BGEO Group, Big Yellow Group, Edinburgh Inv Trust, Fuller Smith & Turner, Gresham House Strategic , Helical, JD Sports Fashion, KCOM Group, Majestic Wine, Mediclinic International , Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust, Morses Club , MS International, Norcros, Northern 2 VCT, Northern 3 VCT, PayPoint, Sprue Aegis, Tex Holdings, TR Property Inv Trust, United Utilities Group, Wynnstay Properties

Friday June 23

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Baring Emerging Europe, Impax Asset Management Group, Inland Homes, Keystone Inv Trust, Numis Corporation, Titon Holdings, Town Centre Securities, ZPG Plc

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
BP

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Homes Sales (US) (14:00)

AGMS
BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares, Boohoo.com, Elderstreet VCT, First Derivatives, Griffin Mining Ltd., Lenta Ltd GDR (Each 5 Repr 1 Ord) (144A) , New Century AIM VCT 2, Oracle Coalfields, PJSC Tatneft ADS , Trinity Exploration & Production

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cape, Flowtech Fluidpower, Inchcape, Keywords Studios, M. P. Evans Group, Maven Income & Growth 2 VCT, Midwich Group, Mincon Group , Moss Bros Group, Provident Financial, Ted Baker, Triple Point VCT 2011, Triple Point Vct 2011 A, Venture Life Group