Kainos Group PLC (LSE:KNOS), the business software and IT services group, has gained more fans during the pandemic and it has held onto many of them.
Its shares are down around a quarter this year but still up around 80% since the start of 2020, with its latest updates in April and May revealing rising sales and profits.
One of the things people like about Kainos is it “has a broad mix of different customers, from both the public and private sectors, across both healthcare and commercial customers,” says analyst Sophie Lund-Yates at Hargreaves Lansdown, pointing to its £260mln contracted backlog last year.
“We don’t expect this to be interrupted in next week’s trading statement. A lot of the sorts of products on offer are things companies will still want to spend on, even with the economic outlook looking a bit gloomy.
“One thing we will be watching for is any commentary on the margin outlook. Kainos has been sacrificing margins in the name of growth. This isn’t an unusual tactic for a fast-growing tech company, but we’d like some further information on this strategy.”
Eurocell interims should be interesting, reckons broker Peel Hunt, opening the window on how the markets for renovation and new build housing are performing amid the recent economic downturn – and potentially giving some clues ahead of updates from the likes of Berkeley, Barratt and Vistry in the housebuilding sector in the coming fortnight.
“Clearly, there are major concerns about the renovation market softening as consumers cut back spending on the back of higher energy bills and interest rates,” said analyst Clyde Lewis.
“To date, the new build housing market has continued to perform strongly with big order books across the whole sector. However, there is clearly some risk of slowing demand for new houses as interest rates climb.”
Significant announcements on Thursday
Finals: Johnson Service Group plc (LSE:JSG), Omega Diagnostics Group PLC (AIM:ODX)
Interims: Alfa Financial Software Holdings Ltd, Camellia (LSE:CAM) PLC, Eurocell PLC (LSE:ECEL), Gem Diamonds Ltd, Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC, PPHE Hotel Group Ltd, Wentworth Resources PLC (AIM:WEN)
Trading updates: Kainos PLC
AGMs: Carclo (LSE:CAR) PLC, Jet2 PLC (AIM:JET2), JLEN Environmental Assets Group Ltd (LSE:JLEN), Picton Property Income Limited
Ex-dividends to reduce FTSE 100 by 9.99 points: Glencore, InterContinental Hotels, Admiral Group, Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining
Economic announcements: PMI Manufacturing (UK), Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), PMI Manufacturing (US), Construction Spending (US), ISM Manufacturing (US), ISM Prices Paid (US)
US earnings: Broadcom, Campbell Soup, Ciena (NYSE:CIEN), DocuSign, Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL), Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU)