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Wednesday preview: Wizz Air Holdings, CMC Markets, Pets at Home Group

Published: 15:39 25 Jan 2022 GMT

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Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) had been seeing a recovery in demand building last summer which was postponed by sharply rising Covid cases and restrictions introduced in Central & Eastern Europe, even ahead of the rise of Omicron, which then impacted in December and into January.

Broker Peel Hunt expects consensus forecast losses for the full 2022 fiscal year will become €50-100mln larger, “but this should not surprise the market given Ryanair’s warning in December”.

For the third quarter, passenger numbers of 7.8mln out of 10.1mln capacity have already been reported, with the analysts looking for revenue of €675mln, an operating loss of €203mln and a loss before tax of €226mln.

Investors will be keen to see an update on Ukraine, where Wizz operates from six airports and hd had plans to expand after an ‘open skies’ deal in October 2021.

Volatility is good for CMC Markets

A trading update is expected from CMC Markets, with the sharp rise in volatility this past week likely to haven woken up day-traders after what had been a languid start to the year.

Volatility often means commission and margin for CFD and spread betting operations.

Indeed, the easing of Covid lockdowns saw most stocks do well in recent months but things proved stickier for trading firms like CMC – as last year they saw a ‘trade from home’ boom boost customer numbers and account activity.

More recently, however, CMC flagged a 45% fall in revenue in its latest half year as active customer numbers dropped 9% – though this is still well up on the pre-pandemic total.

Some investors may indeed look past the financial metrics and KPIs to instead focus on outlook and strategy.

An ‘exploratory review’ was launched in December over a possible break up to unlock shareholder value, with CMC’s retail derivatives – or ‘leveraged’ operations potentially being split from its investment platform and business-to-business operations.

The group pledged to start the review before the end of 2021 and complete it before the end of June, so, perhaps investors shouldn’t get their hopes up too high just yet.

Interim results in November reiterated full-year guidance with core underlying business said to be trending well above pre-pandemic levels.

Cats and dog stock

Pets at Home Group PLC (LSE:PETS) is scheduled to publish its third-quarter trading statement.

The FTSE 250-listed retail chain, which sells food, toys and bedding, and offers grooming and veterinary services, last reported in November when it revealed like-for-like sales growth of 22.2% for the 28-week period to 7 October, with two-year growth of 28.6%.

Helped by strong growth in pet ownership continues, Pets said growth was “stronger than expected” and that it expects full-year profits will be at the top end of the range of City expectations.

While it was not immune to the supply chain problems, the company noted that the vast majority of its product range is sourced domestically on lead times, with boss Peter Pritchard declaring “our business has never been more robust”.

Announcement expected on Wednesday 26 January:

Trading updates: Brewin Dolphin Holdings Plc (LSE:BRW) (Brewin Dolphin Holdings Plc (LSE:BRW)), CMC Markets PLC (LSE:CMCX) (CMC Markets PLC (LSE:CMCX)), Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) (Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES)), Pets at Home Group PLC (LSE:PETS) (Pets at Home Group PLC (LSE:PETS)), Quilter PLC (LSE:QLT) (Quilter PLC (LSE:QLT)), The Sage Group PLC (LSE:SGE) (The Sage Group PLC (LSE:SGE)), Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ) (Wizz Air Holdings PLC (AIM:WIZZ))

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