The week ahead in business and finance

Finsbury Food
Finsbury Food will publish its interim results on Monday

Monday March 20

After publishing some of its half-year figures in January, investors will shift their attention to Finsbury Food Group’s ability to offset considerable input cost pressures when it publishes its interim results. The specialty baker has already said the scale of the current cost inflation is such that “further cost recovery will be required and will become inflationary in the second half and beyond”. In January, the cake and bread supplier said trading was in-line with management expectations.

finsbury

It revealed total group sales revenues were £156.6m in the first half of the year, with sales in the UK bakery division 2.9pc year-on-year. Meanwhile, its overseas division grew by 31.7pc. Ahead of the interim results, Peter Smedley, of Panmure Gordon, said: “Sales growth is proving hard to achieve given little category growth, so we anticipate commentary about Finsbury’s continued appetite for further acquisitions.”

Full-year results: MD Medical Group Investments, Taptica International, MaxCyte, John Laing Infrastructure Fund, Satellite Solutions Worldwide, One Media IP Group, Phoenix Group

Interim results: Volution Group, Diurnal Group, Finsbury Food Group

Economics: Rightmove HPI m/m (UK), CBI industrial order expectations (UK), PPI m/m (GER)

Tuesday March 21

UK housebuilders were in the spotlight last week after Bovis Homes received two merger proposals - from Galliford Try and Redrow - and rejected them both. This week attention turns to Bellway, as the mid-cap builder is set to unveil its interim results on Tuesday. Last month in a trading update, the FTSE 250 firm said it would build around 5pc more homes this financial year.

It also said a strong trading performance is expected to result in an operating margin of around 22pc. In the six months to January 31, Bellway said the number of homes legally completed rose by 6.5pc to 4,462, compared to 4,188 in the previous year. However, in its January update it stepped up it debt expectations to £175m.

Full-year results: Fevertree Drinks, EnQuest, EKF Diagnostics Holdings, Safecharge International Group, Hansteen Holdings, Judges Scientific, IQE, Nahl Group, Vectura Group, Smart Metering Systems, 888 Holdings, Augean, Sinclair Pharma, Mears Group, Accesso Technology, Gamma Communications

Interim results: Bellway, Earthport

Trading update: IG Group

AGM: One Media IP Group, Electronic Data Processing, Blue Prism Group

Economics: PPI input m/m (UK), public sector net borrowing (UK), core CPI y/y (UK), PPI output m/m (UK), HPI y/y (UK), RPI y/y (UK), current account (US), flash services PMI (US), flash manufacturing PMI (US), flash services PMI (EU), flash services PMI (GER), flash manufacturing (EU), flash manufacturing (GER)

Wednesday March 22

Estate agency Savills will deliver forecast-beating full-year results after a strong finish to 2016. In January, the London-listed group said that it completed a significant volume of residential and commercial transactions towards the end of the year. Forecasts point to sales of £1.3bn for the year, while pre-tax profits are expected to rise from £121.3m in 2015 to £135m. Investors will turn their attention to the trading outlook for the year ahead.

In a pre-close trading update in January, Savills retained its original expectations for the year. Clyde Lewis, of Peel Hunt, said: “We expect the group to continue to grow the US operations and there may also be scope to add to the investment management business as well.”

Full-year results: Quixant, Kingfisher, Xaar, Savills, Ferrexpo

Interim results: Softcat

Economics: HPI m/m (US), current account (EU)

Thursday March 23

After a torrid 18 months, don’t expect much from Next’s full-year results. The retailer, which trades from about 540 shops in Britain and Ireland, cut its profit forecast for the year just two months ago after a disappointing Christmas trading period. It also warned that its pre-tax profits for 2017-18 could come in a full £100m below market forecasts. Investors will turn their attention to input inflation and whether or not the retailer will pass it on to customers.

A recent survey conducted by broker Jefferies showed Next continues to lose its competitive edge in omni-channel retailing as its rivals catch up with improved websites and delivery offers. Concerns also remain about a declining number of Directory credit customers. Just last month, the retailer’s chairman John Barton announced he will retire in August.

Full-year results: Science In Sport, Curtis Banks Group, Futura Medical, SOCO International, Next, Ted Baker

Interim results: Kier Group

Trading update: Halma

AGM: Conygar Investment Company

Economics: BBA mortgage approvals (UK), retail sales m/m (UK), CBI realised sales (UK), durable goods orders m/m (US), unemployment claims (US), new home sales (US), Ifo business climate (GER), ECB economic bulletin (EU)

Friday March 24

Full-year results: Lamprell

 

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