It’s another busy week for retailers, with the retail sales monitor out on Tuesday and big names such as Burberry, Dixons Carphone and Sports Direct reporting.
Dixons is to become the umpteenth British retailer to attempt to crack the USA, in partnership with US mobile network operator Sprint.
Focus on Thursday, however, will be on trading in Europe. A number of the company’s competitors have reported a softening in sales of televisions sets, as watching TV on handheld devices becomes more popular.
The market is expecting pre-tax profit of £377.5mln on sales of £10.66bn. The full-year dividend, which last year was 6p, could be cranked up to 7.77p, analysts reckon.
Significant announcements expected
Monday
Economic: EU – Finance ministers meeting
Tuesday
Finals: Begbies Traynor Group (LON:BEG)
Trading statements: Carillion (LON:CLLN), Michael Page International (LON:MPI)
Economic: UK – BRC retail sales monitor, Consumer price index. EU – Industrial production. US – Retail sales
Wednesday
Finals: Falanx Group (LON:FLX), Heath (Samuel) & Sons (LON:HSM)
Trading statements: Burberry (LON:BRBY), Severn Trent (LON:SVT)
Economic: UK – Unemployment, Average earnings. US – Producer prices, Industrial production, Fed’s Beige Book
Thursday
Finals: Dixons Carphone (LON:DC.), Sports Direct (LON:SPD)
Trading statement: Anglo American (LON:AAL), Experian (LON:EXPN), Rio Tinto (LON:RIO)
The following widely-held stocks are trading ex-dividend on Thursday: WH Smith
Economic: EU – Consumer prices, ECB announcement. US – Weekly jobless claims
Friday
Economic: US – Consumer prices