Anyone expecting major surprises from Anglo-Dutch outfit Unilever’s trading update on Wednesday is likely to be disappointed.
Then again, we were probably thinking the same about BT at the start of the week and that managed to surprise us.
The fast moving consumer goods leviathan reported underlying sales growth of 4.2% for the third quarter, back in October.
Of this, 2.8% was as a result of price increases and 1.3% from increased volumes.
Underlying sales growth in emerging markets of 7.2% underlines where the growth opportunities lie in the main for Unilever, but from a parochial point of view it would be interesting to get any insight into the battle over who is going to bear the brunt of sterling's collapse: Unilever or the supermarkets.
Full-year revenue is predicted to be down 1.8% year-on-year to €52.2bn. The consensus forecast for earnings per share is €1.85.
Global drinks brands giant Diageo stops for a swift half (year update).
The market is expecting organic net sales growth of 3.4% and organic operating profit growth of 2.2%.
At the investor analysts conference call last month a lot of the talk was about restoration of market share in the US, so there may be some commentary on that.
Newspaper publisher and exhibitions organiser Daily Mail & General trust is expected by Panmure Gordon to show like-for-like top-line growth of 1% year-on-year for the final quarter of 2016.
“This in line with our estimate for the full year, but with the usual volatility (subdued start for B2B at +2%, held back by weak UK property volumes, versus relatively strong start for consumer),” explained Jonathan Helliwell at Panmure.
“For consumer we forecast +1% for the quarter, (with DMGT already indicating in December that Oct/Nov saw 5% growth in circulation revenues and 1% growth in advertising).
“Despite the good Oct/Nov figure, we see marginal downward pressure to overall numbers given a weak advertising climate around Xmas, especially for retail as highlighted by Next,” he added.
Significant announcements expected
Interims: Angle PLC (LON:AGL), CPL Resources PLC (LON:CPS), Diageo plc (LON:DGE), Haynes Publishing Group PLC (LON:HYNS), ITE Group PLC (LON:ITE), Renishaw PLC (LON:RSW), Sky PLC (LON:SKY), Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR)
Trading statements: Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL), Card Factory PLC (LON:CARD), Daily Mail and General Trust PLC (LON:DMGT), Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (LON:ERM), Hansard Global PLC (LON:HSD), Kaz Minerals PLC (LON:KAZ), Lonmin PLC (LON:LMI), Paragon Group of Companies PLC (LON:PAG), PayPoint PLC (LON:PAY), Rank Group PLC (LON:RNK), RPC Group PLC (LON:RPC), SSP Group PLC (LON:SSPG), Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE), St James's Place PLC (LON:STJ), Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)