logo-loader

B&M, Pennon and Dr Martens the results royalty in jubilee-shortened week ahead 

Last updated: 05:00 30 May 2022 BST, First published: 17:50 27 May 2022 BST

Pennon Group PLC -

B&M European Value, Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY) and Dr Martens PLC (LSE:DOCS) are the big names reporting in what will be a very short week in the Square Mile.  

There are just three working days in the coming week, as investors will take a break from Thursday for the Queen’s jubilee celebrations. 

MONDAY 

On a very quiet start to the week’s diary, Speedy Hire PLC (LSE:SDY) will publish delayed results.  

Delayed results have been a theme since the start of the pandemic and investors have recently been seeing them as a hint and heading for the exit, though the results are not always as bad as expected. 

We last heard from Speedy earlier in the month, when it was announced that chief executive Russell Down was leaving the building.  

Down, who has been with the equipment and plant hire group for seven year, will retire once a successor is in place 

TUESDAY 

Things are scheduled to be a bit busier on Tuesday, with results from two FTSE 100 companies on the calendar.  

Retailer B&M European Value is also losing its boss, with founder and chief executive Simon Arora giving his 12 months’ notice back in April. 

However, the discounter might be expected to give a confident update on current trading and the outlook alongside its results, given the likely appeal of its value offering amid the consumer cost-of-living crunch.  

"Worried consumers will continue to trade down into B&M's value offering (given the state of reported consumer confidence) and current trading may be positive,” said broker Peel Hunt. 

Analysts said the departure of Arora and previously his operations chief Martin Roberts "does lead us to believe that life will ultimately get tougher for B&M”. 

Elsewhere, Pennon Group will follow rival water companies Severn Trent and United Utilities with its results.  

Pennon gave a pretty detailed preview of its full year numbers with a trading update in April, but as UU showed recently the sector still has the capacity for unforeseen surprises. 

UU posted a net loss as its net interest bill more than doubled thanks largely to a £228mln charge, up from £53mln a year earlier, on inflation-linked borrowing. 

Pennon, too has inflation-linked debts.  

In the April update, the South West Water owner said 26% of its regulated water businesses' gross debt of £3.1bn was index linked, meaning a 1% increase in inflation results in an additional £8min of financing costs. 

At half way, the interest bill rose by £8.9mln to £37mln but inflation is a lot higher now and this will be something to watch closely in the full year numbers. 

WEDNESDAY 

Will investors continue to stick the boat into Dr Martens PLC (LSE:DOCS) after it releases its full-year results on Wednesday? 

The shares currently trade around 210p having floated in January of last year at what now looks like an overhyped price of 370p. 

Supply chain difficulties and Covid-lockdown effects have all played their part in the poor share price performance but there were signs in the fiscal third quarter that it was kicking on. 

(Read the full Dr Martens preview here

Wednesday will be ex-dividend day, due to the jubilee bank holidays, with 9.31 points being knocked off the FTSE 100 as Vodafone PLC, National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.), Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) and Severn Trent PLC (LSE:SVT) go ex-div.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

There are national holidays in the UK on Thursday and Friday but across the Atlantic, there is no rest for Wall Street, with the big jobs report on Friday the centre of attention.  

There’s a great deal of uncertainty about the resilience of the US economy.

US non-farm payrolls - ie new jobs added - have risen by more than 400k for 12 consecutive months, the longest streak in history.

"Under President Biden we’ve seen the largest increase in jobs ever in American history. But all the media can talk about is inflation, inflation, inflation," said market analyst Marshall Gittler at BDSwiss.

"Furthermore, when the NFP figure fails to hit economists’ forecasts, journalists always frame it as “payrolls disappoint,” as if it’s the responsibility of the data to hit economists’ expectations instead of economists’ responsibility to accurately forecast the data (which we all know is impossible, but they go through the routine constantly anyway)."

US and Chinese earnings of interest include Tesla rival NIO, meme stock Chewy and sportswear brand Lululemon.

  

Monday 30 May 

Finals: Speedy Hire PLC (LSE:SDY) 

AGMs: Adriatic Metals PLC (LSE:ADT1, ASX:ADT, OTCQX:ADMLF), IQ-AI PLC 

Tuesday 31 May 

Finals: B&M European Value Retail SA (LSE:BME), Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY) 

AGMs: Billington Holdings Plc (AIM:BILN), Curzon Energy PLC (LSE:CZN), GYG PLC (AIM:GYG), Lookers PLC (LSE:LOOK), McColls Retail Group PLC, Microlise Group PLC (AIM:SAAS), PageGroup PLC (LSE:PAGE), Petershill Partners PLC (LSE:PHLL), Sportech PLC (LSE:SPO), Tekcapital PLC (LSE:TEK) 

Economic data: Nationwide House Price Index (UK), Consumer Credit (UK), M4 Money Supply (UK), Mortgage Approvals (UK), House Price Index (US), Chicago PMI (US), Consumer Confidence (US),  

Wednesday 1 June 

Finals: Dr Martens PLC (LSE:DOCS) 

Interims: Impax Asset Management (AIM:IPX) Group PLC 

AGMs: Caerus Mineral Resources PLC (LSE:CMRS), Dianomi PLC (AIM:DNM), East Imperial PLC (LSE:EISB), Everyman Media Group PLC (AIM:EMAN), Flowtech Fluidpower (AIM:FLO) PLC, One Media iP Group PLC (AIM:OMIP), Parsley Box Group PLC (AIM:MEAL), RTC Group PLC (AIM:RTC), United Oil and Gas PLC. 

Ex-dividends: 9.31 points being knocked off the FTSE 100 (Vodafone, National Grid, Scottish Mortgage and Severn Trent)

Economic data: BRC Shop Price Index (UK), PMI Manufacturing (UK), MBA Mortgage Application (US), PMI Manufacturing (US), Construction Spending (US), ISM Manufacturing (US), ISM Prices Paid (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)

Thursday 2 June

UK bank holiday  

Economic announcements: Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), Factory Orders (US) 

Friday 3 June

UK bank holiday 

Economic announcements: Non-Farm Payrolls (US), Unemployment Rate (US), PMI Composite (US) PMI Services (US), ISM Prices Paid (US), ISM Services (US) 

 

US earnings 

Monday: Weibo  

Tuesday: Salesforce.com, HP  

Wednesday: NIO, HPE, Chewy  

Thursday: Broadcom, Lululemon, Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL), Ciena (NYSE:CIEN)  

 

Oriole Resources outlines 2023 achievements and future exploration plans

Oriole Resources PLC (AIM:ORR) CEO Tim Livesey and chief financial officer Bob Smeeton join Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with details of the company's 2023 financial and operational performance. Livesey highlighted successful exploration programs in Cameroon, at the Bibemi and Mbe projects,...

8 minutes ago