After the rush of interest rate activity, it’s company news that makes up most of the diary constituents this week with a host of big names reporting.
BT, easyJet, Land Securities, boohoo, Vodafone and Imperial Brands are just a few of the scheduled reportees and with the Bank of England pleading mea culpa again about the health of the UK’s economy, how these corporate giants see the underlying picture might be more revealing.
UK economic news is scarce, though Friday sees the latest UK consumer confidence update and again this might give a better insight into the real mood in the country than official channels.
Monday 15 May
Electricals retailer Curry's is the main update and attention will be on its struggling Nordics businesses and if UK consumer demand is as strong as some suggest.
Finals: Instem PLC, Westminister Group PLC
Trading updates: Currys PLC
AGMs: Pennant International Group
Tuesday 16 May
Land Securities is the first of the big property giants to update with British Land due on Wednesday.
Landsec's book value was £10.9 bln six months ago split across Central London office and retail (61%), retail centres and outlets (18%), mixed-use urban neighbourhoods (8%) and a rump of what up-for-sale ‘sub-scale’ assets (13%) such as retail parks.
The vacancy rate at the first-half stage was 4.9%, so it had yet to return to the pre-Covid lows notes Hargreaves Lansdown, while rental income was running at an annualised rate of £579mln in the first six months.
Net asset value is tipped to drop to 920p, which puts the shares on a mighty discount of around 40%.
An increase in the dividend to 38.5p is the consensus forecast and, if delivered, might help narrow that gap a little.
Vodafone, like LandSec, is another fallen giant.
Its new chief executive will want to get off to a bright start and kickstarting the reported 3 merger might do the trick.
Otherwise, UBS sees the expensive-looking dividend being maintained but adds evidence the German business is turning around and will not require significant investment is needed to shake the current share price torpor.
Boohoo’s turnaround plans, Imperial’s non-tobacco growth and Greggs expansion plans will also be under scrutiny today.
Finals: Angling Direct PLC, boohoo PLC, Cornerstone FS PLC, DCC PLC, Land Securities PLC, Likewise Group PLC, Smartspace Software PLC, Vodafone PLC
Interims: Britvic PLC, Imperial Brands Group PLC, Marston PLC, On The Beach PLC, Renew Holdings PLC
Trading updates: Greggs PLC
AGMs: Accesso Technology Group PLC, Chesnara PLC, Dialight PLC, Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLC, Equals Group PLC, Essentra PLC, FDM Group PLC, Henderson High Income Trust PLC, Impax Environmental Markets PLC, IQGeo Group PLC, PYX Resources Ltd, Synthomer PLC, TI Fluid Systems PLC, Vector Capital PLC
Economic announcements: Retail Sales (US), Retail Sales Less Autos (US), Capacity Utilisation (US), Industrial Production (US), Business Inventories (US), Claimant Count Rate (US), Unemployment Rate (US)
US: The Home Depot, Tencent Music
Wednesday 17 May
Watches of Switzerland updates amid reports that some of the lustre is going out of the market for really high-end timepieces, think £20,000 plus.
These are classed as investment-grade objects as they are expected to hold their value in a similar way to gold, for example.
That value longevity has proved a bonus recently with uncertainty over inflation and fiat currencies as stores of wealth, but with macro things stabilising people might be starting to realise they are just a very expensive way to tell the time.
Finals: British Land, Experian PLC, Ninety One PLC
Interims: Auction Technology Group PLC, Mitchells & Butlers PLC, RedX Pharma PLC, Sage Group PLC
Trading updates: Bank of Georgia Group PLC, Coats PLC, Conduit Holdings Limited, Keller PLC, Watches of Switzerland Group PLC
AGMs: Alpha Group International PLC, Aptitude Software Group PLC, Aston Martin Lagonda PLC, Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon PLC, Coca-Cola HBG AG, Computacenter PLC, Conduit Holdings Limited, Deltex Medical Group PLC, EKF Diagnostics Holdings PLC, Gamma Communications PLC, Georgia Capital PLC, Greggs PLC, HG Capital Trust PLC, Highcroft Investments, Impact Healthcare REIT PLC, Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, Keller Group PLC, LMS Capital PLC, Proteome Sciences PLC, Savills PLC, TI Fluid Systems PLC, Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC, TP ICAP Group PLC
Economic announcements: MBA Mortgage Applications (US), Building Permits (US), Housing Starts (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)
US: Cisco Systems, Take-Two Interactive Software
Thursday 18 May
BT might, for once, have some good news for its long-suffering investors.
Shares have risen 40% this year and not just on bid speculation.
How it is the telco managed to link its prices with retail inflation remains a mystery, but the upshot is that its annual broadband traiffs have jumped 14% which even if a huge chunk of people switch off is still worth £700mln a year, calculates Jefferies.
A pension review is upcoming but with the fast fibre rollout powering forward and rivals dropping like flies, the tone might be more upbeat than usual.
easyJet should also be exuding confidence, having already predicted it will beat City expectations this year.
Dividends and cash flow will be the things to watch from National Grid while if Burberry is not benefitting from the current luxury goods boom that will be a major disappointment for its investors.
Finals: Burberry Group PLC, BT Group PLC, Future PLC, Investec PLC, National Grid PLC, Premier Foods PLC
Interims: easyJet PLC, Nexus Infrastructure PLC, Tritax Eurobox PLC
Trading updates: Helios Towers PLC
AGMs: Belvoir Group PLC, Capital Limited, Central Asia Metals PLC, Ceres Power Holdings, ConvaTec Group PLC, Diaceutics PLC, Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC, Energean PLC, Fintel PLC, Genuit Group PLC, Inchcape PLC, JPMorgan American Investment Trust PLC, Legal & General Group PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, Merchants Trust PLC, Michelmersh Brick Holdings, MusicMagpie PLC, Network International Holdings, Next PLC, Niox Group PLC, PensionBee Group PLC, Quilter PLC, Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income PLC, Safestyle UK PLC, Science Group PLC, Secure Trust Bank PLC, Smart Metering Systems PLC, Somero Enterprises Inc, St James’s Place PLC, Tyman PLC, Unite Group, Vesuvius PLC, Vistry Group PLC, YU Group PLC
Economic announcements: Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), Philadelphia Fed Index (US), Existing Home Sales (US)
Ex-dividend: Pershing Square Holdings, Bunzl, GSK, Unilever, Shell
US: Walmart, Applied Materials
Friday 19 May
Trading Economics writes: "The GfK Consumer Confidence indicator in the United Kingdom rose to -30 in April 2023 from -36 in March, hitting its highest level since February 2022 and exceeding market expectations for a reading of -35, as Britons took a more positive view of their finances and the health of the wider economy
Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said there had been a “sudden flowering of optimism” among households.”
The consensus forecast is for a fall to minus 27 and as Trading Economics points out that is still a long way from zero.
Finals: IQE
Interims: Titon Holdings PLC
Trading updates: Smiths Group
AGMs: Bank of Georgia PLC, Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC, Sancus Lending Group Limited
Economic announcements: GFK Consumer Confidence (UK)
US: Deere & Co