The Week Ahead:

 

Scottish CCTV specialist IndigoVision is set to broadcast news of its own profits spectacular on Wednesday when chief executive Oliver Vellacott outlines the effects of a global surge in demand for its surveillance equipment.

He has already indicated that sales rose more than 40% last year and analysts will be surprised if profits do not more than match that increase with an anticipated gain from £2 million to within touching distance of the £3m mark.

They will be easily the best results since the business was founded back in 1994 and the shares have more than doubled since the start of the year after a string of orders for its digital equipment from clients ranging from Edinburgh Castle and Scottish Power to international banks and airports and US casino operators. The Edinburgh group now ships to more than 80 countries and believes its spread of operations is providing increasing protection from downturns in any single areas.

Followers are particularly enthusiastic about a deal to supply surveillance equipment along the US-Canada border, which they believe opens up a new market, and Greg Aitken at house broker Brewin Dolphin has already pencilled in £3.4m profits as a reasonable target for this year.

Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr will demonstrate that it is still winning market share in a generally tough market when it releases a strong set of interim figures on Tuesday.

Sales are expected to show a total rise of up to 20% following last year’s acquisition of the Rubicon brands and a sunny start to the summer, and there could be news of solid like-for-like growth at a time when Britvic and other rivals have seen a fall in their own volumes. Brokers caution that the weather in the late summer has been less helpful and are concerned about the effects of the weaker pound on the cost base, but Investec analysts believe the group can still lift annual profits from £23.3m to around £25m.

Hamilton baker Martin Lightbody is expected to confirm a drop in adjusted profits at Finsbury Food Group from £7.7m to around £5.3m on Wednesday after shoppers lost some of their appetite for his premium cakes last year.

Brokers at Panmure Gordon predict an early recovery to around £6m this year and expect the dividend to be maintained at 2.2p.

Edinburgh venture capitalist Sigma, which counts West Coast Capital as a major shareholder, is expected to announce a turnaround to half-year profits of around £1.45m on Tuesday as a result of windfall gains from the demerger of its university commercialisation subsidiary. After writedowns, directors are expected to confirm that the group still controls net assets of around 20p a share compared with its current 17p stock-market price.

Licensed pawnbroker Albermarle & Bond, which has a sizeable presence in the Glasgow area, could announce plans to step up its expansion programme tomorrow when chief executive Greville Nicholls is expected to announce a jump in annual profits from £9.7m to approaching £14m. Much of the boost is expected to come from the increased value of gold jewellery, which has not been redeemed by hard-pressed borrowers, as well as a rise in general demand for its services.

The group currently operates from 114 stores and is expected to open at least 30 new outlets this year.

Moss Bros, the UK’s biggest seller of men’s branded suits, is expected to confirm that it remains on course to incur further losses of up to £7m this year when new chief executive Brian Brick outlines his turnaround strategy on Tuesday.

Brokers say he inherited some £8m net cash with the job and is likely to invest in reducing stock while modernising the chain and pushing own-brand products such as the Ventuno suits which retail at less than £100.

International building trades supplier Wolseley, a world leader in plumbing and central heating equipment, is expected to post a 60% decline in underlying annual profits to below the £250m mark tomorrow. Even that reduced figure will be wiped out by exceptional costs as a result of the cost-savings programme which has resulted in 30,000 job losses so far with the likelihood of more to come.

Brokers expect to hear that the decline in demand from housebuilders is stabilising but that further falls are likely in the industrial and commercial building sectors.

 

Stock Focus:

 

John Menzies: Newspaper and magazine distributor John Menzies heaved a sigh of relief on news that it will not face an inquiry by the Competition Commission. The Office of Fair Trading said its latest long-running inquiry into the sector had found “reasonable grounds for suspecting that some features of the markets prevent, restrict or distort competition” but it confirmed its previous proposal not to refer the sector -- dominated by Edinburgh-based Menzies and WH Smith after the exit of rival Dawson Holdings -- to the commission. Shares closed at 354.5p.

 

RBS: Royal Bank of Scotland -- which, along with HBOS, almost collapsed last October, according to Bank of England governor Mervyn King -- may be considering a rights issues to lessen its dependence on the government’s asset protection scheme. But the bank could be forced to scrap plans to raise up to £5 billion from a share sale after investors indicated that they would be reluctant to back any more fundraising. RBS emphasised that its plans were “tentative” with no proposal yet presented to the board. RBS is now 70%-owned by British taxpayers. Shares closed at 52p.

 

BT Group: Telecommunications giant BT revealed plans to invest £3 million in an upgrade of telephone exchanges serving remote and rural areas in Scotland. The company, which is holding talks with the Scottish government to select around 50 sites for the upgrade to increase access to broadband, has already successfully trialled new technology at its Inverness, Culloden and Dingwall exchanges. Meanwhile, the UK government has revealed controversial plans to impose a 50p-per-month broadband tax on everyone with a fixed-line telephone. Shares closed at 132.2p.

 

Burberry: Luxury retailer Burberry ditched its “chav” image to be feted by A-list celebrities -- including current face of the brand, Harry Potter actress Emma Watson -- at its fashion show during London Fashion Week. Designer Christopher Bailey’s collection wowed fashion editors and helped push up shares by over 5%, as did comments by chief executive Angela Ahrendts that the brand’s UK business was “on fire”. In a further endorsement for Burberry, the show was attended by Arcadia’s owner Sir Philip Green and M&S chief executive Sir Stuart Rose. Shares closed at 493.4p.

 

Portfolio: Shares update

 

We managed to keep our heads comfortably above water last week after one or two of our share tips suffered from a wave of profit-taking in the wake of recent good rises.

Three out of our four portfolios recorded further gains, with only the 2009 selections showing a small fall as the result of a drop in the price of waste treatment specialist Shanks. We are prepared to hold on to this investment for the time being as we are still showing a 70% gain and expect further appreciation as the Glasgow-registered group shows the benefits of the stronger euro on its largely Continental operations.

But we will certainly join others in taking profits by selling the shares if they should slip further to our published stop-loss level of 96p.

Shanks looks to be the only share in imminent danger of triggering a sell signal at present, although we are keeping a close eye on our investment in Mothercare after its price suffered a further fall from recent peaks.

Fortunately, the majority of our tips continued to make progress and there was a particularly good showing by the 2008 portfolio, which hit another record high at our review on Wednesday morning.

All four of its tips showed some improvement and satellite broadband group Avanti put on more than 10% after its annual figures showed a boost from contracts with the Scottish government to provide internet services to rural users.

The 2006 portfolio also moved ahead as a further rise in Livingston medical software group Craneware cancelled out the slippage in Mothercare shares and a small fall in the price of Dundee’s Axis-Shield.

The 2007 list managed a further modest improvement after gains in BT and Northern Foods, although it is still showing an overall loss of 28.9% as a result of past mistakes.