With the prospect of a rise in fuel duty in this week's budget, the trading update from Kalibrate Technologies PLC (LON:KLBT) is well-timed.
The software firm provides data to retail fuel forecourts, with analysis on local competitors’ prices, historic rates and even on whether the time of day has an impact on the fee it should charge for fuel.
In essence, it allows companies to adjust their prices based on data in almost real-time, so there is a good chance its software will be put through its paces on Wednesday evening after the chancellor of the exchequer's Budget speech.
At the time of its full-year results in September Kalibrate unveiled a new exclusive partnership, which took it into the realm of in-store pricing.
In November it announced a deepening of its relationship with BP, with the energy giant signing up to use Kalibrate's Strategic Location Solutions to access potential long-term opportunities for profitable market entry into new territories.
So, the news flow has been good, and petrol prices have certainly been volatile, suggesting the company should be well on the way to meeting full-year profit before tax expectations of £1.9mln when it announced its half-year results.
The Gym Group PLC (LON:GYM) only listed in November so Tuesday will be the first set of full-year results as a public company, although the gyms operator did issue a pre-close trading statement back in January.
That update revealed results are expected to be in line with consensus market expectations reflecting a further year of strong growth in both revenue and underlying earning (EBITDA).
The group operates 74 low-cost gyms, and said the average number of members had grown by 31% in 2015 to 355,000, which was exactly in line with the forecast by Numis Securities, the house broker.
“For immature units, the company’s objective is to grow the membership from 3,000 on opening to 6,000 after two years. Given this objective, and assuming it was met in the mature estate, the implied outcome of 5,300 average membership for 2014 openings and average membership of 4,300 for 2015 openings (to reach the 355,000 total) would be an encouraging result, in our view,” Numis said.
The broker said the key performance indicators it will focus on are: membership growth in immature units; average revenue growth in mature units; and potential increases in the expansion programme.
Significant announcements expected
Finals: Evraz plc (LON:EVR), Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM), Gem Diamonds Ltd (LON:GEMD), Hansteen Holdings plc (LON:HSTN), Hastings Group Holdings PLC (LON:HSTG), Huntsworth PLC (LON:HNT), Premier Technical Services Group PLC (LON:PTSG), The Gym Group PLC (LON:GYM), Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO)
Interims: Kalibrate Technologies PLC (LON:KLBT), Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN), Sainsbury (J) PLC (LON:SBRY)
Economic: US – Producer prices, Retail sales, Empire State manufacturing index