The market has cooled on online food ordering enabler Just Eat recently after second quarter growth in orders in the UK were weaker than expected.
The tech firm blamed the unseasonably warm weather for its poor showing, and looking outside the window it still seems unusually mild for the beginning of November, so there is a good chance the softer trend has continued.
Worse still, the comparative figures for this time last year are strong, as the weather was as wet as pessimists expect it to be in Britain.
Despite that, Berenberg is predicting a 26% year-on-year increase in UK orders to be announced in Wednesday's third quarter update, which is roughly in line with the market consensus.
“With around a third of revenues coming from outside the UK, sterling weakness since Brexit provides a material revenue tailwind. While these regions collectively have limited EBITDA [underlying earnings] in 2016, their growth results in larger upgrades to EBITDA in the outer years,” the German finance house noted, as it upgraded its revenue forecasts by 2.5-5% over the years to end-2018.
House builder Persimmon, a bellwether for the UK housing market, also issues a third quarter update on Wednesday.
The company's interims towards the end of August showed the group suffering few signs of any effects of the Brexit decision.
“Given the results/data we have since had from other house builders and sources, we expect this pattern has not changed, especially as the group's exposure to the South East is relatively modest,” said Peel Hunt.
“Comments about land buying and site openings will give some guide as to the level of confidence management has about 2017, although ahead of the [Chancellor of the Exchequer's] autumn statement the element of uncertainty remains high,” the broker added.
Announcements expected
Interims: Indivior PLC (LON:INDV), Livanova PLC (LON:LIVN), Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC (LON:MLC), Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (LON:SKG)
Trading statements: Just Eat PLC (LON:JE.), Next Plc (LON:NXT), Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN), Wetherspoon (JD) PLC (LON:JDW)