DFS Furniture Plc (LON:DFS) will post its full-year results on Thursday and investors already have a pretty good idea of what’s coming.
In July, the sofas and dining tables retailer pushed out a profit warning, blaming the heatwave and supply issues.
Guidance was hardly cheerful either, with DFS telling investors that it expected the furniture retail market to “remain challenging” for at least the next year.
Investors will want to hear more on this, has the start to the new year been as slow as feared? Or has there been a pick-up in trading?
The company has often said that it uses difficult trading conditions to build market share and it has looked to do just that with the acquisition of Sofology and Sofa Workshop. Keep an eye out for how these new additions are performing.
Slowdown expected at Electrocomponents
UBS analyst Rory McKenzie is expecting to see a ‘slight slowdown’ as Electrocomponents Plc (LON:ECM) gives the market a trading update on Thursday.
The first quarter delivered 10% growth for the group, as McKenzie highlighted, and the analyst expects the sUBSequent period to achieve ‘high-single-digit growth’ but he reckons it will somewhat be due to the tougher year-on-year comparatives.
Some slowing in the electronics cycle will also be a factor, he added.
“We also expect a comment on overall outlook vs. consensus expectations.
“We (and consensus) forecast +8% organic growth for FY’19e overall, so some slowdown is already well-reflected in forecasts.”
The UBS man added: “Electrocomponents guides for flat gross margins in FY’19e, but we note that timing of supplier rebates may see H1 gross margins be up y/y and H2e down y/y.”
In terms of forecasting, McKenzie noted that overall market consensus currently sees full-year pre-tax profit at £209mln, while the Swiss Bank anticipated £210mln. And, the analyst does not expect changes to forecasting at this point in the year.
Thursday, October 4:
Trading update: Electrocomponents PLC (LON:ECM)
Finals: DFS Furniture Plc (LON:DFS)
Interims: e-Therapeutics PLC (LON:ETX), Morses Club Plc (LON:MCL)
Traffic figures: easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ)
Ex-dividends: British American Tobacco plc (LON:BATS), British Land PLC (LON:BLND), Intertek Group PLC (LON:ITRK), Smith & Nephew PLC (LON:SN.), Travis Perkins PLC (LON:TPK), Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.), WPP PLC (LON:WPP)
Economic data: US weekly jobless claims; US Challenger job cuts; US factory orders