Housebuilder Berkeley Group PLC should see the benefit of a stronger London housing market in its interim results says JP Morgan, which has upgraded its profit estimate to £280mln.
Data recently points to strong new build demand, rents and home buying interest says JPM, which expects Berkeley to upgrade its guidance with its interims.
Berkeley Group shares are down 8% year to date, significantly underperforming the sector adds the US bank, putting them on an average valuation for the sector compared to a historical premium of 50%.
JPM says that is attractive, even though it has tweaked its share price target down to 5,500p from 5,848p.
Stagecoach merger talks the focus
Stagecoach Group PLC (LSE:SGC) (Stagecoach Group PLC (LSE:SGC)) has been shrinking for a good few years and is now back to its core of running buses.
The potential merger with National Express is still being discussed, the deadline is now14 December, so the speed of recovery in bus passenger numbers is likely to be the focus.
In early October, passenger volumes within the regional bus division were approximately 70% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019, which has risen to 80% in some areas.
UBS said it will also be watching “the outlook for wage increases and driver availability and the group’s balance sheet and leverage position,”
The broker expects revenues for the six months will be £532mln with an adjusted operating profit of £25.7mln.
Wednesday 8 December
Finals – Hardide PLC, SSP Group plc (LSE:SSPG) (SSP Group plc (LSE:SSPG)), TUI AG (LSE:TUI) (TUI AG (LSE:TUI))
Interims- Berkeley Group Holdings PLC, Ince Group PLC, Quiz PLC (AIM:QUIZ) (Quiz PLC (AIM:QUIZ)), Stagecoach PLC
Trading announcements- McColls Retail Group PLC
AGMs- Alternative Liquidity Fund Ltd, Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust PLC (LSE:AIE) (Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust PLC (LSE:AIE)), Europa Oil & Gas Holdings, International Biotechnology Trust plc, Volta Finance Ltd
Economic announcements- MBA Mortgage application (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)