We’ve had Serco, now it’s the turn of another outsourcing firm that has previously upset the government, G4S, to report.
“G4S chose not to issue AGM or six months trading updates citing that its transformation programme was a long term initiative and it would be unfair to judge management on a quarterly basis,” notes Iain Armstrong, an equity analyst at Scottish stockbroking firm Brewin Dolphin.
“We think that there is some justification to this as evidenced by the H1 results. Organic growth will be held back by three tailwinds of important contract losses in the UK, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands in the first quarter. This will slightly flatter the second quarter and second half recovery. However, we expect significant upside from the major transformation programme which is at least two years ahead of the one at Serco,” he added.
Hargreaves Lansdown, meanwhile, reckons plans to sell further businesses could be announced by G4S.
Given the scale of the drop-off in business from the government outlined by Serco, news on government contract wins would be warmly welcomed by worried shareholders.
It’s only a month or so since support services and construction group Interserve issued an upbeat trading statement, so there may not be many surprises in the interims.
“The only area of moderate concern is in the UK construction business so any comments about that will be closely followed by the market. Prospects for the group’s future workload, in particular any signs of a return to business as usual by the government following the general election, will also be a major focus for investors,” suggests Graham Spooner at The Share Centre.
Significant announcements expected
Interims: Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY), Capital & Regional (LON:CAL), CLS Holdings (LON:CLI), G4S (LON:GFS), Interserve (LON:IRV), JSC TBC Bank (LON:TBCB), Lookers (LON:LOOK), New Europe Property Investments (LON:NEPI)
Economic: UK - Average earnings, RICS house price balance, Unemployment rate. EU - Industrial production. US - Crude oil stockpiles