It’s all change at the top of sausage roll and coffee group Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG) with a new chief executive in the shape of Roisin Currie.
To be accurate, Currie joined the board in February as CEO designate after twelve years as head of retail and does not take over fully until Roger Whiteside departs after May’s AGM but Tuesday’s full year results will give a flavour of what’s to come.
Whiteside will be a tough act to follow and indeed he has left his successor targets until 2026 described by broker Shore Capital as "demanding".
Sales of £1.23bn for the 52 weeks ended 1 January, up from £811mln the year before, have already been flagged so interest will be focused on how margins are being affected by rising raw material costs and the impact of the return to work now that Covid restrictions have been lifted.
With the gold price hitting US$2,000 this week and the silver price up 6% over the past month as many investors seek out haven assets in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this should puts some extra juice into full-year result from Fresnillo PLC's (LSE:FRES).
The FTSE 100 group is the world’s biggest silver miner and it has seven low-cost gold and silver mines, three development projects and four advanced exploration sites, all in Mexico.
Until recent events intervened, silver prices had slumped over the past year but is now roughly flat, while Fresnillo shares have tumbled almost 18% on a number of disappointments, including missed production targets a year ago and a recent output downgrade for 2021 and 2022 amid tough pandemic times in Mexco and new local labour laws that limit the use of subcontracted labour.
Although the new Juancipio ore processing plant was commissioned on time, the state power utility said the site would be connected much later than expected.
Outside of production numbers, with the target for 2022 most recently set at 50.5-56.5mln oz silver and 600,000 to 650,000 oz of gold, attention will be on costs.
"Higher labour and energy costs and movements in the Mexican peso against the dollar meant that cost of goods rose 17% year-on-year in the first half, so it will be interesting to see how that trend developed in the second six months of 2021," said analysts at AJ Bell.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are expected to rise 11% to US$1.3bn, a slowdown from the 59% growth in the first half. Analysts forecast a further drop for 2022 to around US$1.25bn.
Elsewhere, favourable results are expected by UBS when insurer Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LSE:DLG) releases results on Tuesday, with pre-tax profit forecast at £469mln. The Swiss bank meanwhile forecasts a £325mln underwriting result, up from £268mln.
UBS has a ‘buy’ rating for the insurer, with a 33p target.
Ready-meal maker Bakkavor Group PLC (LSE:BAKK)also reports Tuesday, and, amid a rising cost environment its expected - by stockbroker Peel Hunt – to show a strong performance along with a material improvement in net debt.
“Our forecasts for the current year take into account the material increase in costs and inevitable timing for price increases to benefit, the stockbroker said in a note. “Some of the other consensus forecasts have yet to include these costs, so we expect numbers at the top end of the range to move towards our level.”
Significant announcements expected on Tuesday 8 March
Finals: Bakkavor Group PLC (LSE:BAKK), Bango PLC (AIM:BGO, OTCQX:BGOPF), Capital & Regional PLC (LSE:CAL), Capricorn Energy PLC, ConvaTec Group PLC (LSE:CTEC), Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LSE:DLG), Domino’s Pizza Group PLC, ENGAGE XR Holdings PLC, Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES), Glenveagh Properties PLC (LSE:GLV), Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG), Gresham Technologies plc (LSE:GHT), H&T Group PLC (AIM:HAT), IWG PLC (LSE:IWG), Johnson Service Group plc (LSE:JSG), Keller Group PLC (LSE:KLR), M&G PLC (LSE:MNG), Made.com Group PLC, Midwich Group PLC (AIM:MIDW), Robert Walters PLC (LSE:RWA), Wood Group (John) PLC
Trading announcements: Ashtead Group Plc (LSE:AHT)
AGMs: Caretech Holdings PLC, Driver Group (AIM:DRV) PLC, RedX Pharma PLC, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust PLC
Economic data: Wholesale Inventories (US)