In a week focused on housebuilders, Tuesday sees Persimmon reporting its first half results, a day after its rival Bovis Homes reported a record number of first-half home deals.
Bovis increased pre-tax profit by 9% to £53.8mln against a year earlier on a 9% rise in revenue to £350.7mln.
Investors will be keen to see if Persimmon can match, or indeed surpass, its smaller rival’s growth.
The housebuilder’s half-year trading update back in early July saw it reporting a 12% increase in revenues to £1.34bn.
Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Pre-tax profit for the half year is forecast to have risen about 21% to £254mln, with current trading topping the agenda for investors.”
Meanwhile, Cairn Energy will catch the eye, although the numbers are likely to be secondary to an update on its exploration plans.
Deutsche Bank said Cairn could unveil the timing and drilling locations for three wells in Senegal. While they are in deep water off the west African coast, they aren’t technically challenging.
Financially, the bank’s analysts reckons Cairn has been in cash preservation mode, and estimates it has around £750mln on the balance sheet – the equivalent to half its current market capitalisation.
In economic news, investors will be interested in the consumer price index (CPI) figures to see whether the Bank of England (BoE) is likely to raise interest rates sooner or later.
City analysts are expecting the official figures to show CPI remained at 0% last month.
Samuel Tombs of Capital Economics said: “CPI inflation probably held steady at zero in July, but the recent fall in oil prices suggests that the UK is likely to experience another bout of negative inflation before the end of the year.
“As a result the MPC should be able to take its time over raising interest rates next year.”
Tuesday
Interims: Cairn Energy PLC (LON:CNE), Persimmon (LON:PSN), Chime Communications (LON:CHW), Menzies (LON:MNZS), H&T Group (LON:HAT), John Wood Group (WG.), Alpha Pyrenees (ALPH)
Economic: UK – Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producer Price Index (PPI), US – Housing starts, building permits.