Investing Knowledge

LONDON (ShareCast) - Home Retail Group delivers interim results. Last month the retailer, which owns Homebase and Argos, said it expects profits for the first half of the year to match those of the same period in 2008 after it saw continuing declines in like-for-like sales at its Argos chain in the quarter to August 29, but managed to lift sales at Homebase.

Chief executive Terry Duddy said: 'We approach the key Christmas trading period from a position of operational and financial strength, but continue to plan cautiously for consumer demand.'

Cadbury (LSE: CBRY.L - news) 's is expected to issue an interim management statement on October 21. The chocolate maker has been trading solidly lately in challenging conditions and this is likely to have continued, but investors will be much more interested to see if it has anything to say about US food giant Kraft's proposed offer.

On the economic front, the release of minutes from the Bank of England's latest meeting will be seized on. The Bank kept interest rates unchanged at historic lows and left its programme of Quantitative Easing (QE) alone when it met earlier this month.

Monday October 19

INTERIMS First Derivatives (LSE: FDP.L - news)

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE H & T Group, Neptune-Calculus Income & Growth VCT

FINALS St Ives

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Black Arrow (LSE: BLKA.L - news) , Diageo (LSE: DGE.L - news)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS NAHB Housing Market Index (US) (18:00)

Tuesday October 20

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Jupiter Second Split Geared Growth Shares

FINALS Earthport (LSE: EPO.L - news) , Plexus (NASDAQ: PLXS - news) , Powerleague

EGMS Essentially Group (LSE: ESN.L - news)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Public Sector Finances (09:30) M4 Money Supply (09:30)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Housing Starts (US) (13:30) Producer Price Index (US) Producer Price Index (GER) Producer Prices (GER) (07:00) Machine Tool Orders (JPN) Convenience Store Sales (JPN)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Anite Group

QUARTERLY RESULTS Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU.L - news)

Wednesday October 21

INTERIMS Home Retail Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Admiral Group (LSE: ADM.L - news) , Dairy Farm International (Singapore), Highcroft Investment, Hongkong Land Holding Ltd. (Singapore), Jardine Matheson (Singapore), Jardine Strategic (J37.SI - news) (Singapore), PV Crystalox Solar (LSE: PVCS.L - news)

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE Advance Developing Markets, BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) , Bloomsbury Publishing (LSE: BMY.L - news) , British Polythene, DataCash Group (LSE: DATA.L - news) , Game Group (LSE: GMG.L - news) , Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2, Invesco Perpetual European Absolute Return Trust, Kerry Group (Dublin: KRZ.IR - news) 'A', M&C Saatchi, Spectris (LSE: SXS.L - news) , Staffline Group (LSE: STAF.L - news) , Ted Baker (LSE: TBK.L - news) , Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news)

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE City of London Inv Trust, M&G High Income & Growth Units, M&G High Income Inv Trust Income Shares

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Beige Book Fed Survey (US) (19:00)

EGMS Target Resources (LSE: TGT.L - news)

AGMS Haynes Publishing Group, Ludgate Environmental Fund, Tembusu Investments

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30) CBI Quarterly Industrial Trends/Orders (11:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Admiral Group

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Blue Planet Worldwide Financials Inv Trust, British Sky Broadcasting Group, City Merchants High Yield Trust, Eleco (LSE: ELCO.L - news) , Hays (LSE: HAS.L - news) , JPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Manchester (MNCS.OB - news) & London Trust, Mcbride (LSE: MCB.L - news) , Mouchel Group (LSE: MCHL.L - news) , New Star Inv Trust, Savile Group (LSE: SAVG.L - news) , Smiths Group (LSE: SMIN.L - news) , UK Commercial Property Trust

Thursday October 22

INTERIMS Stobart Group (LSE: STOI.L - news)

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Henry Boot (LSE: BHY.L - news) , Macfarlane Group, RPS Group (LSE: RPS.L - news) , ToLuna (LSE: TOL.L - news)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Leading Indicators (US)

FINALS Smiths News (LSE: NWS.L - news)

EGMS Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund Ltd.

AGMS Forest Support Services (LSE: FSS.L - news) , Jourdan (LSE: JDR.L - news) , Mattioli Woods (LSE: MTW.L - news) , Morse (LSE: MOR.L - news)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Internet Retail Sales (09:30) Retail Sales (09:30)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Weekly Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) Leading Indicators (US) (15:00) Business Confidence Indicator (FRA) (07:45) Production Outlook Indicator (FRA) (07:45) Current Account (EC) (09:00) Debt/GDP Ratio estimate (EC) (10:00) Supermarket Sales (JPN)

Friday October 23

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Adventis Group (LSE: ATG.L - news) , AG Barr, Aggreko (LSE: AGK.L - news) , Ambrian Capital (LSE: AMBR.L - news) , Edinburgh US Tracker Trust, F&C Asset Management, Fyffes (Dublin: FQ3.IR - news) , Goals Soccer Centres (LSE: GOAL.L - news) , H.R. Owen, Invesco Perpetual UK Small Companies Inv Trust, Just Car Clinics Group, Petrofac Ltd, Playtech (LSE: PTEC.L - news) , Raven Russia (LSE: RUSP.L - news) , Robert Walters (LSE: RWA.L - news) , Severfield-Rowen, Total Produce (LSE: TOT.L - news) , Tribal Group (LSE: TRB.L - news) , Win

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Stobart Group Inc

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Gross Domestic Product (09:30) BBA Loans for House Purchases (09:30)

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00) Consumer Spending (FRA) (-7:45) PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:30) PMI Service Sector (GER) (08:30) IfO Business Climate (GER) (09:00) IfO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00) German IfO Expectations (GER) (09:00) PMI Manufacturing (EC) (09:00) PMI Service Sector (EC) (09:00) Industrial New Orders (EC) (10:00)

EGMS Bateman Litwin N.V (LSE: BNLN.L - news) ., StepStone ASA (Oslo: STP.OL - news) (DI)

AGMS Arteon (LSE: ARTO.L - news) , Aurum Mining (LSE: AUR.L - news) , British Sky Broadcasting Group, Lombard Risk Management (LSE: LRM.L - news) , Pochins (LSE: PCH.L - news) , Webis Holdings (LSE: WEB.L - news)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE BlackRock Commodities Income Inv Trust, Consort Medical (LSE: BPK.L - news) , Invesco Perpetual AiM VCT, Jupiter Primadona Growth Trust, Mattioli Woods, Ruffer Investment Company Ltd.

QUARTERLY RESULTS British Sky Broadcasting Group