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The City of London’s diary is packed for the coming week, with many FTSE 100 giants and FTE 250 favourites coming to market with results or trading updates, including Greggs, Royal Mail, Vodafone, Aviva, Imperial Brands and easyJet.
With the cost of living crisis on everyone’s minds, updates from the Office for National Statistics on wages and inflation will be keenly watched.
MONDAY 16 MAY
Going into its final results, Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA) has already announced full-year traffic levels did not recover as much as it had predicted, only to around 76% of the previous year’s levels.
Full-year passenger traffic was just over 97mln at last count, compared to pre-Covid levels of 149mln and the 27.5mln seen in the first year of the pandemic.
As a result it warned that losses would be larger than expected at €350mln-€400mln for the year to end-March, compared to the €250mln-€450mln guidance it gave in December and €100mln-€200mln forecast before that.
As well as the final confirmation of the size of the loss, management’s view of the outlook will be also be key.
Elsewhere, the big question is will journalists be wheeling out the ever-popular “Greggs on a roll” headline or will there be something less savoury from the Geordie bakers.
Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG) warned in its full-year results statement back in March that surging levels of cost inflation would crimp profits in the coming year.
(Read the full Greggs preview here)
TUESDAY 17 MAY
On Tuesday we will hear from Vodafone PLC, which has already been in the news over reported talks about a merger of its UK mobile business with TalkTalk.
Having expressed an interest in M&A for its tower business or its businesses in the UK, Spain and Italy, investors will certainly be expecting an update, though with rivals having announced potential deals in Italy and Spain, hopes may not be high.
(Read the full Vodafone preview here)
There will also be half-year results from Land Securities Group PLC (LSE:LAND), where the debate on offices continues amid the work-from-home trend.
Also we will hear from cigarette maker Imperial Brands PLC (LSE:IMB), where big investor issues will be the growth of next-generation products, as well as cigarette price-mix and volumes.
“The market may also still be considering whether chief executive Stefan Bomhard’s five-year plan, launched in January 2021 after a string of profit warnings, managerial upheaval and a dividend cut, is attainable or not,” said analysts at AJ Bell.
In macro matters, wage growth will be the big number to look for as the ONS gives an update on the labour market.
The last set showed February was pretty rosy, overall, with unemployment at 3.8%, below where we were before the pandemic, employment unchanged at 75.5% and weekly wages up 5.4% year-on-year, including bonuses.
But with consumer price inflation at around 7% and retail prices inflation at 9%, real wages are negative and that is hitting people and companies hard.
WEDNESDAY 18 MAY
When Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.) reported its full year numbers in March the life insurer said it would return £4.75bn to shareholders despite seeing decline in profits.
However, the decline reflected Aviva selling eight non-core businesses over the last 12 months, as the business focusses on its core markets of the UK, Ireland and Canada.
It has also been joining other financial giants in making a wealth management acquisition, picking up Succession Wealth for £385m in an attempt to cement its position as a UK market leader.
As well as saying it was on target to make £750mln in savings by 2024, the former Norwich Union said it expects to see continued growth in its savings and retirement business in 2022 through workplace pensions and other related sales, while also pledging to up dividend spending 40% to £870mln.
Elsewhere, new Burberry Group PLC (LSE:BRBY) chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd will be making his debut after joining from Versace in mid-March.
In an update in January, the board stuck to its medium-term guidance for high single-digit top line growth and said it expects adjusting operating profit for the year to grow by 35%.
But supply chain issues, cost inflation and consumer confidence have all become a bigger issue since then.
(Read our full preview on Burberry here)
British Land Company PLC (LSE:BLND), the real estate investment trust (REIT), will also be reporting on its full year results on Wednesday.
Ahead of the update, analysts at Barclays said there was still uncertainty about the recovery of the FTSE 100-listed REIT, despite a return to profit and increase in net asset value, though analysts upped their target price to 500p from 450p.
A day after we hear about UK unemployment and wage growth, the ONS releases the latest inflation data, which will show how much the cost of living has worsened.
The consumer price index was 7% in March, its highest level in 30 years, while core prices rose to 5.7%.
Economists predict CPI could reach or even top 9% in April, which would be a record high on the CPI measure, and with the Bank of England warning that it could reach 10% towards the end of the year, hence why it has pushed through its fourth interest rate and is predicting a potential recession next year.
THURSDAY 19 MAY
After pushing the envelope during the pandemic, on the back of surging demand for online shopping deliveries and hopes of improved efficiency, Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG) shares have not delivered in 2022.
Heading in its final results on Thursday investors will be fretting about staff costs, as the group aims to cut 700 management positions but is also facing revolting workers, with unions unhappy about pay amid rocketing cost of living.
There are other key factors to watch, says analyst Laura Hoy at Hargreaves Lansdown, in particular how much inflation of construction costs is having on automation investments, and whether parcel volumes are settling at a higher than pre-pandemic level.
Also on Thursday any investors who have had flights cancelled in recent weeks are likely to be keen to hear from easyJet PLC, which last month provided said first-half losses had been trimmed as capacity was increased back towards pre-pandemic levels, though it continued to be hampered by increasing numbers of crew testing positive for Covid-19.
Losses would be between £535mln and £565mln, it said, and said it had cancelled 6% of its scheduled flights over the previous week due to staff absences.
For the third quarter, capacity was expected to be around 90% of 2019 levels, with sales for the fourth quarter said to be “near” equivalent levels from the year before the pandemic.
FRIDAY 20 MAY
Close Brothers PLC, the financial services firm, issues a fiscal third-quarter trading update on Friday with Peel Hunt expecting banking loan growth to be one of the areas of concern.
The first half of the year saw banking loan growth rise by just 1.9% year-on-year, with the performance held back by property book repayments.
The broker is going for full-year growth of 4.2% so Close Brothers has some catching up to do.
Also of concern is the collapse in profits of Winterflood, its broking arm, due to less favourable market conditions.
Elsewhere, there are some notable AGMs, including for Reckitt Benckiser PLC and the first for Deliveroo PLC as a listed company, with pay among the key issues.
Voting agency Glass Lewis recommends shareholders support Deliveroo’s annual remuneration report but oppose the company’s new remuneration policy.
“It is unhappy with the long-term incentive scheme, which presents a maximum opportunity of 600% of salary for the finance boss, rising to an exceptional 750% in the case of recruitment. The voting group says there’s potential for “extremely high pay-outs”, which significantly outpace those of standard-listed peers and those available to executives in the FTSE 250,” said analysts at Interactive Investor.
In macro news, UK retail sales are also due, having followed a strong start to the year but having slumped sharply amid rising prices and a slump in consumer confidence.
March saw a slide of 1.4% driven by a sharp fall in fuel sales as the rising cost of living prompted consumers to pare back non-essential spending and drive their cars less, with downward revisions also to February’s numbers, from -0.3% to -0.5%.
“In cutting back on their spending, consumers will also have had one eye on the upcoming surge in energy bills, as well as other price rises, which were due to hit their wallets in April,” said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.
“The most recent BRC retail sales numbers showed that like for like sales fell 1.7% in April, so higher prices are certainly having an effect.”
Significant announcements expected for the week ahead
Monday 16 May
Finals: Ryanair PLC
Interims: Diploma PLC (LSE:DPLM), Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC
Trading update: Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG)
Economic announcements: Rightmove UK house price index, Chinese retail sales, and industrial production growth
Tuesday 17 May
Finals: C&C Group PLC (LSE:CCR), DCC PLC (LSE:DCC), Imperial Brands PLC (LSE:IMB), Land Securities PLC, Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD)
Interims: Britvic PLC (LSE:BVIC), Tritax Eurobox PLC (LSE:EBOX)
Trading update: TI Fluid Systems PLC (LSE:TIFS)
Economic announcements: UK unemployment and wage growth, US retail sales, US industrial production, US NAHB housebuilding, EU GDP growth
Wednesday 18 May
Finals: Assura PLC, British Land Company PLC (LSE:BLND), Burberry PLC, Experian (LSE:EXPN) PLC, Ninety One PLC (LSE:N91)
Interims: Future PLC (LSE:FUTR)
Trading update: Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.), Premier Foods PLC, TBC Bank (LSE:TBCG) Group PLC
Economic announcements: UK inflation, US oil inventories, EU inflation figures
Thursday 19 May
Finals: Great Portland Estates (LSE:GPOR) PLC, Investec PLC (LSE:INVP), National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.), QinetiQ Group PLC (LSE:QQ.), Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG), Young & Co’s Brewery PLC
Interims: Countryside Partnerships PLC (LSE:CSP), easyJet PLC, Euromoney Institutional Investor (LSE:ERM) PLC
Trading update: Essentra PLC (LSE:ESNT), Fevertree Drinks (AIM:FEVR) PLC, Tyman (LSE:TYMN) PLC, Watches of Switzerland PLC
FTSE 100 ex-dividends to reduce index by 15.47 points: Bunzl PLC (LSE:BNZL), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LSE:GSK), Kingfisher PLC (LSE:KGF), Pershing Square PLC, Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL), Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO), Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR)
Economic announcements: US weekly unemployment claims
Friday 16 May
Finals: Wincanton PLC (AIM:WIN)
Trading update: Close Brothers PLC
Economic announcements: GfK UK consumer confidence survey, UK retail sales
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