There has been a significant recovery in the G4S PLC (LON:GFS) share price since this time last year; in fact, the stock has almost doubled in the past 12 months.
That rise has come on the back of reassuring results and the market warming to the restructuring implemented at the start of 2016.
Speaking of which, investors will be looking out for further improvements to efficiency and cost-cutting when the security services company publishes its first half update on Wednesday.
Given the recent terror attacks both at home and around the world, demand for its services is likely to have been strong during the opening six months of 2017.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank are looking for a pre-tax profit of £235mln in the first half with 8% organic growth and a margin of 6.3%
Elsewhere, Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) investors are likely to turn their focus on the outlook for the pension de-risking business when the financial services firm reports its first half earnings on Wednesday.
At the group’s capital markets event last month, it said its investment management arm generated £16.8bn of net inflows and had assets under management of £950bn. The bulk annuity business had completed deals worth £1bn, with a UK pipeline of over £12bn.
“That reduces the chances of an unpleasant surprise waiting in next week’s numbers,” said Hargreaves Lansdown. “However, with no major bulk annuity deals announced in the quarter, commentary around the outlook for the lumpier pension risk transfer business will be a key focus.”
Shareholders are also likely to look out for any Brexit contingency plans given its predominant UK exposure.
Wednesday August 9
Significant events expected:
Interims: G4S PLC (LON:GFS), Hastings Group PLC (LON:HSTG), Interserve PLC (LON:IRV), Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN), Riverstone Energy Limited (LON:PSE), Shares PLC (LON:SHRE), Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC (LON:SPX), Stock Spirits Group PLC (LON:STCK)
Trading updates: Quantum Pharma PLC (LON:QP.)