It’s a big week for blue chips next week with several big names scheduled to report to the market in one form or another.
A couple of housebuilders are expected to provide trading updates next week. First up is Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC (LON:CRST), which should update the markets on Tuesday (15 November).
It’s been a while since we heard from Crest, in fact this will mark the company’s first official trading update since the Brexit vote.
Back then in the middle of June, the housebuilder reported robust underlying trading conditions with forward sales up 20% compared to the same period of 2015.
The obvious thing investors will be looking out for is the effect – if any – that the Brexit vote has had on trading conditions and the outlook for the business as a whole.
“Within this statement, investors are also likely to focus on the land market and whether the group has continued to actively purchase sites, as well as whether Crest has made changes to its build schedule,” noted Deutsche Bank.
The last point is particularly important. At its last update Crest reiterated its target of delivering 4,000 new homes and £1.4bn of revenue by 2019, so keep an eye on these figures to see if they’ve been revised.
Its peer Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) is expected to follow close behind and release an update – likely to be fairly short – the following day (Wednesday 16 November).
Unlike Crest, Barratt has reported back to the market since the referendum, noting in early September that it hadn’t felt any headwinds from the vote.
Again, investors will be looking for an update on this and they’ll also want to find out more about the London region in particular.
Barratt is more London-focused than some of its rivals and it was predicted that the capital might take the biggest hit from Brexit, while investors will also want an update on the London management team given the recent arrest of a Barratt London employee.
Away from the housebuilders, low-cost airline Easyjet PLC (LON:EZJ) is due to report its final results on Tuesday (15 November).
The Luton-based company released a disappointing pre-close statement a couple of weeks ago, guiding the markets that profit before tax would come in at between £490 and £495mln.
That forecast was well below market consensus, and investors will be hoping that that was a conservative figure provided by management.
If they are correct, attention should turn to Easyjet’s plans for 2017 and 2018.
And Royal Mail is set to publish its interims next Thursday (17 November).
Jefferies International thinks the UK postal giant will post a 2% increase in operating profits to around £348mln.
This improvement comes against a backdrop of falling revenues and cost savings, so investors should keep an eye out for any news on further cost cutting initiatives.
Analysts have said that foreign exchange tailwinds have helped the company, so it will be interesting to see if Royal Mail offers any comment on Brexit and what it has or hasn’t done for business.
DHL has started to become a major rival in Royal Mail’s business-to-customer parcel delivery services, so investors should keep an eye out on any mention of competition, while some forecasts for the traditionally busy Christmas period would be handy, too.
Monday 14 November
Interims: Akers Biosciences Inc (LON:AKR), Nord Gold (LON:NORD)
Finals: Lonmin PLC (LMI), Carrs Group Plc (CARR)
Trading statements: Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.), William Hill PLC (LON:WMH), Dignity PLC (LON:DTY), Irish Continental Group PLC (LON:ICGC)
Tuesday 15 November
Interims: McKay Securities PLC (LON:MCKS), Land Securities Group Plc (LON:LAND), Oxford Instruments PLC (LON:OXIG), Talktalk Telecom Group PLC (LON:TALK), Intermediate Capital Group PLC (LON:ICP), FirstGroup PLC (FGP), Picton Property Income Ltd (LON:PCTN), BTG PLC (LON:BTG), Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD), Imimobile Plc (LON:IMO)
Finals: Mccarthy Stone Plc (LON:MCS), Easyjet PLC (LON:EZJ)
Trading statements: Amec Foster Wheeler PLC (LON:AMFW), Card Factory Plc (LON:CARD), Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC (LON:CRST), Meggitt plc (LON:MGGT)
Wednesday 16 November
Interims: MHP S.A GDR (LON:MHPC), HICL Infrastructure Co Ltd (LON:HICL), Fenner PLC (LON:FENR), British Land Co PLC (LON:BLND), ICAP PLC (LON:IAP), Schroder Real Estate IT (LON:SREI)
Finals: None
Trading statements: Aggreko PLC (LON:AGK), Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV)
Thursday 17 November
Interims: QinetiQ Group PLC (LON:QQ.), Majestic Wine PLC (LON:WINE), Royal Mail Plc (LON:RMG), Investec PLC (LON:INVP), Creston PLC (LON:CRE), NewRiver Retail Ltd (LON:NRR), Great Eastern Energy Corporation (LON:GEEC), Great Portland Estates PLC (LON:GPOR), Johnson Matthey PLC (LON:JMAT)
Finals: Tracsis PLC (LON:TRCS)
Trading statements: Safestore Holdings PLC (LON:SAFE), Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO), Ted Baker PLC (LON:TED)
Friday 18 November
Interims: Fuller Smith & Turner PLC (LON:FSTA), Electrocomponents PLC (LON:ECM)
Finals: None
Trading statements: Industrial Multi Property Trust Plc (LON:IMPT)