In another episode of high-street retail woe, troubled homewares firm Dunelm will be hoping to draw a line under a tough year when it reports its full-year results on Wednesday.
Analysts at UBS are forecasting pre-tax profit for the group of £102mln, in line with guidance issued in July when Dunelm said it had struggled to sell its discounted product lines during the summer period, resulting in a £3mln dent to its earnings.
The Swiss bank added that the market was weaker than expected a year ago, with continued pressure on discretionary incomes as well as lower consumer confidence and a weaker housing market recently showing up in the figures of fellow retailer John Lewis.
Despite the circumstances, UBS said Dunelm was “much better positioned for the next five years” as a result of its stronger online offering, which had seen sales increase by 40% in the fourth quarter with active customers on dunelm.com up 18% year-on-year.
Galliford on the road to recovery
Housebuilder and construction firm Galliford Try plc (LON:GFRD) looks to be making a decent fist of recovering from the devastation caused by its partnership with Carillion.
Having tapped the market in May for £150mln, it expects to end the year with net debt of £30mln after having to spend more to build Aberdeen’s new ring road following the collapse of project partner Carillion in February.
The company has already revealed that its Linden Homes business delivered 3,442 housing completions in the year to end of June 2018, up from 3,296 last year, and that the average private sales price rose to £367,000 from £354,000, so the focus will be on trading in the second half of the calendar year.
Shareholders’ fingers will be crossed that there are no more provisions being made for the ill-fated Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project.
Liberum Capital Markets is expecting pre-tax profit of £182.7mln and a full-year dividend of 76p, which is in line with consensus forecasts.
Bad weather behind Goals now?
A quick look at the Goals Soccer Centres PLC (LON:GOAL) share price and you can tell it has been a tricky year for the five-a-side football pitches operator.
The ‘Beast from the East’ earlier in the year sent the number of bookings plummeting, while it wasn’t able to take full advantage of the glorious summer, with some of its regulars finishing their normal seasons later than usual because of the bad weather.
In Wednesday’s interim results, investors will be hoping to see evidence that things have returned to normal. If the after-effects of the weather are still being felt this far down the line, the shares could take another whack.
Significant events expected on Wednesday 12 September:
Finals: Dunelm Group PLC (LON:DNLM), Galliford Try plc (LON:GRFD), 1pm PLC (LON:OPM)
Interims: Goals Soccer Centres PLC (LON:GSC), Advanced Medical Solutions PLC (LON:AMS), Diversified Gas & Oil PLC (LON:DGOC), Epwin Group PLC (LON:EPWN), IGas Energy Plc (LON:IGAS), Medica Group PLC (LON:MGP), Ten Entertainment Group PLC (LON:TEG), Property Franchise Group PLC (LON:TPFG)
Trading update: Safestore Holdings PLC (LON:SAFE)