It’s a case of après le deluge on Friday, though there are a few heavy hitters set to make a splash.
After Shell’s results on Thursday, the Anglo-Dutch firm’s shareholders will take more than a passing interest in the interim from BG Group, the company it is planning to buy.
The company has previously indicated it expects full-year production to be in the range of 650-680k barrels of oil per day.
Investec expects the fiscal first quarter will see output to be below the bottom of that range.
“Although production in Brazil should benefit from the ongoing ramp-up of the second FPSO [floating platform] on the Sapinhoá field in late November and the first production from QC LNG in Australia, BG noted at its full-year results in February that the benefits from start-ups in the UK (West Franklin) and Norway (Knarr) were offset by some pipeline problems in the UK North Sea during the quarter,” Investec noted.
The broker thinks the decline in the oil price since the final quarter of the previous fiscal year will be partly offset by a lower level of write-offs on the exploration side.
The broker has pencilled in clean net income for the quarter of US$269mln.
The tax-man, meanwhile, will be poring over the update from state-controlled lender Lloyds Banking.
“The main restructuring of the business is now over so investors will now be looking to the future and hoping that there are no more unpleasant surprises,” reckons Graham Spooner at The Share Centre.
“Areas to focus on will be underlying profits and bad loans, with hopes that the former will have risen. As is the case for banks it will be fingers crossed with regard to PPI mis-selling. The group’s view on the UK economy and housing market will be important,” he added.
Significant announcements expected
Interim: Alent (LON:ALNT), BG Group (LON:BG.), COLT Telecom Group SA (LON:COLT), Essentra (LON:ESNT), IMI (LON:IMI), International Consolidated Airlines (LON:IAG), Jardine Strategic Holdings (LON:JDS), Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY), UBM (LON:UBM), Vedanta Resources (LON:VED), Vesuvius (LON:VSVS)
Trading statement: Sophos Group (LON:SOPH)
Economic: EU – Consumer prices; Unemployment