Another busy week is in store, though there are not too many truly big beasts scheduled to report; BHP Billiton and WPP are probably the biggest.
Anglo-Aussie mining giant is not releasing its results at a particularly auspicious time for the mining sector, and there remain concerns that its cash flow does not come anywhere close to covering its dividend at current spot commodity prices, assuming it sticks with its capital expenditure (capex) programme.
Broker Liberum think it is the capex guidance that will be cut, not the dividend, in Tuesday’s results statement.
Advertising conglomerate WPP reports half-year results on Wednesday and will almost certainly not be slow to point out that in the first half of last year, its performance was boosted by advertising spending associated with the FIFA World Cup.
“The group’s early June (2015) four month trading update saw like-for-like net sales up 2.3% compared with over 4% in the same period last year. Nonetheless and with an ongoing focus on costs, accompanying management comments in relation to profitability remained comforting, whilst currency headwinds are likely to have proved more modest than during 2014,” notes Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Furthermore, recent results from rivals Omnicom and Interpublic provide a reassuring read-across,” he added.
Numis Securities is forecasting profit before tax of £590mln and earnings per share of 33.3p, with the latter putting it 0.4p below consensus.
Infrastructure firm is probably still thanking its lucky stars basket case sector peer Belfour Beatty rebuffed its bid approach last year.
It’s been a case of steady as she goes for Carillion, and focus on Wednesday is likely to be on the state of the order book.
Temporary office space provider Regus releases interim results on the Tuesday with broker Investec expecting the update to highlight the continued strength of underlying trading and the benefits of the company’s significant operational leverage.
The broker is forecasting operating profit of £62.3mln on the back of revenue of £924.2mln.
“This update should underline the strong underlying trading momentum in the business, particularly in the North American market. A continued improvement in centre performance and greater overhead efficiency should serve to accentuate its significant operational leverage,” said analyst Andrew Gibb.
On the economic front, the Federal Reserve talking shop at Jackson Hole gets underway on Thursday, and the theme will be ‘Inflation Dynamics and Monetary Policy.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen is not planning to attend, which is almost unprecedented.
“With the event taking place just a few weeks ahead of the 17 September FOMC amidst much discussion over whether rate lift-off could take place at this point, we are keen to see which other Fed representatives are set to speak and whether their words provide any further guidance on the prospect of a September hike. We suspect they may not, given Ms Yellen’s non-attendance at the conference may be a ploy to avoid having to guide markets, too far ahead of time, on the chances of a September hike,” Investec’s economics team said.
Significant announcements expected
Monday
Interims: Amlin (LON:AML), BATM Advanced Communications (LON:BVC), Bunzl (LON:BNZL), FBD Holdings (LON:FBH), Headlam Group (LON:HEAD), Industrial Multi Property Trust (LON:IMPT), Kingspan Group (LON:KGP)
Tuesday
Interims: Al Noor Hospitals Group (LON:ANH), Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Capital Drilling (LON:CAPD), FBD Holdings (LON:FBH), Fisher (James) & Sons (LON:FSJ), Gulf Marine (LON:GMS), Nostrum Oil & Gas (LON:NOG) Petrofac (LON:PFC), Polymetal International (LON:POLY), Puretech Health (LON:PRTC), Regus (LON:RGU),
Final: BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)
Economic: UK – BBA mortgage approvals; Index of services. US – Consumer confidence; Services PMI; New home sales
Wednesday
Interims: AFI Development (LON:AFRB), Anglo Pacific Group (LON:APF), APR Energy (LON:APR), BH Macro (LON:BHMG), Bioquell (LON:BQE), Cambian Group (LON:CMBN), Cape (LON:CIU), Carillion (LON:CLLN), Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS), HSS Hire Grp (LON:HSS), NMC Health (LON:NMC), Optimal Payments (LON:OPAY), Paddy Power (LON:PAP), Skyepharma (LON:SKP), WPP group (LON:WPP)
Trading statement: Stagecoach Group (LON:SGC)
Economic: UK – CBI realised sales, Nationwide house price index; BBA mortgage approvals. US – Durable goods; Crude oil inventories
Thursday
Interims: Aldermore Group (LON:ALD), Allied Minds (LON:ALM), Amec Foster Wheeler (LON:AMFW), Arrow Global Group (LON:ARW), Atlas Mara Co-invest (LON:ATMA), Cairn Homes (LON:CRN), Churchill China (LON:CHH), CRH (LON:CRH), Evraz (LON:EVR), Grafton Group (LON:GFTU), Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP), Hansteen Holdings (LON:HSTN), Hunting (LON:HTG), IFG Group (LON:IFP), International Public Partnership (LON:INPP), John Laing Group (LON:JLG), Lamprell (LON:LAM), Macfarlane Group (LON:MACF), Oxford Biomedica (LON:OXB), Petropavlovsk (LON:POG), Playtech (LON:PTEC), PPHE Hotel Group (LON:PPH), PV Crystalox Solar (LON:PVCS), Servelec Group (LON:SERV), Signet Jewelers (LON:SIG), STV Group (LON:STVG), TCS Group Holding (LON:TCSA), The Renewables Infrastructure Group (LON:TRIG), Xaar (LON:XAR)
Final: Hays (LON:HAS)
The following widely-held stocks are trading ex-dividend on Thursday: Acacia Mining, Hikma, Intercontinental Hotels, Imperial Tobacco, Lancashire Holdings, London Stock Exchange, Rank Group, Rexam, Stagecoach, and Tullow Oil
Economic: UK – GfK consumer confidence. EU – Pending home sales; Preliminary GDP price index. US – Jackson Hole symposium; GDP; Weekly jobless claims
Friday
Interims: 888 Holdings (LON:888), BBGI Sicav (LON:BBGI), Boot (Henry) (LON:BHY), British Polythene Industries (LON:BPI), bwin.party digital entertainment (LON:BPTY), Candover Investments (LON:CDI), Cathay International Holdings (LON:CTI), Charles Taylor (LON:CTR), Chesnara (LON:CSN), Computacenter (LON:CCC), Exova Group (LON:EXO), Harworth Estates Group (LON:HWG), Huntsworth (LON:HNT), John Laing Infrastructure Fund (LON:JLIF), Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR), Lavendon Group (LON:LVD), Marshalls (LON:MSLH), Matomy Media Group (LON:MTMY), MHP S.A GDR (LON:MHPC), Restaurant Group (The) (LON:RTN), UTV Media (LON:UTV)
Trading statement: Computacenter (LON:CCC)
Economic: UK – Preliminary business investment; GDP. US – PCE price index; Goods trade balance; Personal income & spending; Jackson Hole symposium