Tuesday’s session will see the release of results from DIY retailer Kingfisher and an update from catering company Compass, along with UK borrowing figures.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said analysts will home in our four sets of figures when it comes to B&Q owner Kingfisher’s half-year results.
“The first is any guidance for sales the second half of the year to January 2022 and whether Q3 and Q4 will be able to show positive like-for-likes against a very tough base. Analysts are currently looking for a second-half like-for-like drop of 6.6% to leave like-for-like sales down 1.9% for the year,” he said.
“Analysts”will then delve into the geographic sales trends. Sales in the UK/Ireland, Romania and Spain were up in Q2, but France was down and e-commerce finally cooled a touch after a barnstorming run.
“Attention will then switch to checking out adjusted pre-tax profit against guidance for the first half, but investors will be more interested to see if M Garnier gives a steer for the whole year. The current consensus forecast is £913m, against £786m last year, before a drop in the year to January 2023 as DIY ardour cools and consumers can – hopefully – get out of the house a bit more.”
Mould said the last headline figure to come under scrutiny will be the dividend. “A run of nine straight increases in the annual payment ended in the year to January 2019 and Kingfisher cancelled its final dividend for January 2020 as the pandemic began to take hold.
“Nor did the FTSE member pay an interim dividend last year but it then weighed in with a final payment of 8.25p a share. For this fiscal year as a whole, analysts are looking for 11.2p a share, so it seems likely that the company will declare an interim payment.”
Catering group Compass is due to release a pre-close trading update.
Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “As a contract caterer, sales collapsed for Compass over the course of the pandemic, but spending cuts helped keep the group from amassing piles of debt. While social restrictions are loosening, which is adding to demand, the recovery may be patchy with the delta variant still looming. That means it might have been more difficult for the group to reach its targets.
“The group expected to operate at 80-85% of 2019 levels over the past quarter, which should translate into operating margins between 5.5% and 6%. This will be an important barometer of how much further Compass has to before reaching its margin goal of 7%. The cuts Compass made over the past year have created a leaner, more efficient organisation, so we’re optimistic that the group can deliver on its margin objectives even if demand isn’t quite as rosy as expected. Remember, nothing’s guaranteed though.”
Market participants will also be eyeing interim results from funeral services provider Dignity.
On the macro front, meanwhile, UK government borrowing figures for August will be released in the morning, while US housing starts and permits for August are scheduled for release in the afternoon.
Tuesday 21 September
INTERIMS
Alliance Pharma, Alphawave IP Group , Cambridge Cognition Holdings, Dignity, Fintel, JTC, Kingfisher, Learning Technologies Group , M&C Saatchi, PensionBee Group , Personal Group Holdings, SIG
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
4Imprint Group, London Stock Exchange Group
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
TotalEnergies SE
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
Current Account (US) (13:30)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
FINALS
Litigation Capital Management Limited (DI), Time Finance
ANNUAL REPORT
Time Finance
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Glencore
AGMS
Augmentum Fintech, Knights Group Holdings , Manolete Partners, Oxford Instruments, Regional REIT Limited
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Compass Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Public Sector Net Borrowing (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Ashtead Group, BHP Group
