Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - Though still a long way from reclaiming its position as Britain's biggest supermarket in terms of sales, J. Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) has been enjoying a renaissance in recent years and has certainly been enjoying faster sales growth than sector leader Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) this year.

Recent figures from TNS Worldpanel indicated Tesco's market share had dropped to 30.9% from 31.1% in the 12 weeks to 6 September, while Sainsbury's share rose to 15.8% in September.

Numis Securities is predicting Sainsbury will announce second quarter year on year like for like (LFL) sales growth of around 5.5%, including VAT but excluding fuel. If achieved, that would compare very favourably with Tesco's second quarter LFL growth of 2.1%.

Recruitment firm Michael Page (LSE: MPI.L - news) has, ironically, been shedding staff at a rate of knots in the UK, reducing its workforce by around one third over the last year or so, much of it through natural attrition.

It reports on third quarter trading on Wednesday. 'We anticipate a challenging third quarter as we enter into the seasonally quieter summer period, both in Continental Europe, which was later into the downturn, and in the UK,' said chief executive Steve Ingham back in August.

Nevertheless, shareholders will be hoping that trading in the UK, at least, is showing signs of stabilising.

INTERIMS Walker Greenbank (LSE: WGB.L - news)

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Abbey Protection (LSE: ABB.L - news) , Drax Group (LSE: DRX.L - news) , Lancashire Holdings (LSE: LRE.L - news) , Randall & Quilter Investment, Rathbone Brothers (LSE: RAT.L - news)

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Admiral Group (LSE: ADM.L - news) , Adventis Group (LSE: ATG.L - news) , AG Barr, Amiad Filtration Systems, Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY.L - news) , Braime Ord, Brammer (LSE: BRAM.L - news) , Cello Group (LSE: CLL.L - news) , Cenkos Securities (LSE: CNKS.L - news) , Charles Taylor, Dealogic (LSE: DL.L - news) , Dillistone, Fisher (James) & Sons, Forth Ports (LSE: FPT.L - news) , Gaming VC Holdings, Hydrogen Group (LSE: HYDG.L - news) , Judges Scientific (LSE: JDG.L - news) , Keller Group, Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) , M. P. Evans Group, Martin Currie Portfolio Trust, Matrix Income & Growth 4 VCT, Motivcom (LSE: MCM.L - news) , Nationwide Accident Repair Services (LSE: NARS.L - news) , Octopus Apollo VCT 1, Octopus Apollo VCT 2, Octopus Eclipse VCT (LSE: OEC1.L - news) 2, Octopus Protected VCT 1, office2office, Pinewood-Shepperton, Primary Health Properties (LSE: PHP.L - news) , Public Service Properties Investments, S & U, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, StatPro Group, Ukrproduct Group, Weir Group (LSE: WEIR.L - news) , WPP Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Africa Opportunity Fund Ltd.

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE Henderson Global Property Companies Ltd (LSE: HGPC.L - news) ., Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares, Investors Capital Trust 'B' Shares, Merchants Trust

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Gross Domestic Product (EU) (10:00) Household Consumption (EU) (10:00) Gross Government Spending (EU) (10:00) Factory Orders (GER) (11:00) Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)

FINALS Coburg Group (LSE: CGG.L - news) , Imperial Innovations (LSE: IVO.L - news) , Sportingbet

TRADING STATEMENTS J. Sainsbury, Michael Page

EGMS Hawtin (LSE: HTI.L - news)

AGMS M&G Equity Inv Trust Capital Shares, M&G Equity Inv Trust Income Shares, M&G Equity Investment Trust Units

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BRC Shop Price Index (10:30) Nationwide Consumer Confidence (00:01)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Gartmore Fledgling Trust, Pennon Group (LSE: PNN.L - news) , PZ Cussons (LSE: PZC.L - news)

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Admiral Group, Advance Developing Markets, Close Brothers Group (LSE: CBG.L - news) , Daejan Holdings (LSE: 381220.L - news) , Glasgow Income Trust, JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust, Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Shires Smaller Companies Trust, System C Healthcare (LSE: SYS.L - news) , TR European Growth Trust