Thursday's City agenda includes full-year results from AO World PLC (LSE:AO.) that come six weeks after the online retailer raised just over £40mln to avert a credit insurance squeeze.
After initially denying media reports that suggested its credit insurance had been cut, the company completed a fundraising and said the proceeds will “strengthen the balance sheet and increase liquidity back to historic levels”.
The shares have fallen 62% this year and are 91% lower than their pandemic peaks.
Directors of the white good specialist have set out plans to generate £25mln of savings and operational efficiencies by 2025, targeting medium-term UK revenue growth of 10% per year at 5% EBITDA margins.
Elsewhere, Rank Group PLC makes a reappearance after its profit warning in June, where the Grosvenor Casinos operator cut expectations for the year due to a “softer performance” in its UK venues.
It said the underlying profit for the year should be around £40mln.
But the FTSE 250 company said its performance had improved since April, but that this was “considerably” weaker than expected, with overseas customers returning to London casinos more slowly than expected, softness in visitor numbers across the UK and lower-than-average casino win margin in the final quarter.
Completing the trio of woe, perhaps unfairly, is Marshalls PLC (LSE:MSLH).
It has been hit by stock market worries about the landscaping products group’s exposure to domestic renovation work, with its shares having dropped around a third compared to a 23% fall for the wider building materials sector.
But a trading statement in July insisted that forward orders remain robust while activity in new build housing and infrastructure/commercial areas has continued to be strong.
“The integration of Marley will be closely watched while we also expect the group to have fully passed through higher costs from raw materials, freight and energy in the half,” said analysts at Peel Hunt.
Significant announcements on Thursday
Finals: Eco Animal Health Group PLC, Omega Diagnostics Group PLC, Rank Group PLC
Interims: AO World PLC (LSE:AO.), Helios Towers PLC (LSE:HTWS), Intelligent Ultrasound Group PLC, Marshalls PLC (LSE:MSLH)
AGMs: Molten Ventures VCT PLC, Oryx International Growth Fund, Simec Atlantis Energy PLC
Ex-dividends to reduce the FTSE 100 by 19.21 points: Pershing Square, Imperial Brands, GSK, Anglo American, HSBC Holdings, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, London Stock Exchange, abrdn, Legal & General, Aviva, Prudential, Berkeley Group , M&G, Entain
Economic announcements: Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), Philadelphia Fed Index (US), Existing Home Sales (US)
US earnings: Applied Materials, Estee Lauder