A busy week of results season kicks in on Tuesday, with a handful of FTSE 100 and 250 companies reporting, as well as another sprinkling over in Wall Street later.
There will be UK retail sector data from the CBI for July, coming after official data last week showed a stronger than expected bounce back in June.
Biggest of the London blue chips reporting will be Reckitt Beckiser PLC (LON:RB.), where its shares have risen 25% since the start of the year so the consumer goods giant has overtaken rival Unilever in the Footsie top 10.
Boosted by high demand for its cleaning products such as Dettol and Lysol as well as over-the-counter drugs such as Mucinex and Nurofen, RB reported a 13% jump in sales for the first quarter.
While the outlook remained uncertain and operating costs are expected to be higher because of implementing safety measures, the company said it expected to top full-year expectations.
For the second quarter, analysts at UBS have forecast 7.7% organic sales growth, driven by the continuously strong performance of hygiene products and health, with a 4% decline in infant formula and child nutrition.
“We believe that the higher operating costs in H1 due to various supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19 will be partially offset by a combination of higher operational leverage and positive mix,” the analysts added.
Suasage rolls and a banking aperitif
Greggs PLC (LON:GRG) has had an up and down year, having been close to all-time highs in the first two months, before the coronavirus outbreak changed things rather.
In May, the pastries and sandwiches seller abandoned plans to reopen 20 of its stores amid fears such a move could attract large crowds but then by June it was confident enough to reopen 800 shops to takeaway customers and move towards opening its whole estate by early July.
The high street baker said it was anticipating sales would be lower than normal for some time, however due to social distancing rules, lack of footfall in town centres and the small size of its stores.
Analysts at HSBC said they reckon the chain should recover better than its rivals, however, as it “will benefit from its breadth of locations, attractive product mix and strong demand”.
However, underlying sales will take time to recover and tomorrow we will see how they have done in the past few months.
Elsewhere, Virgin Money UK PLC (LON:VMUK) could provide an interesting taste of what’s to come for the big boys of the British banking sector later in the week.
The sector will be under scrutiny over whether there is there a step up in the level of bad debt provisions for the coronavirus crisis.
In April, Virgin Money reported a sharp fall in underlying half-year profit but its £232mln of charges related to the coronavirus crisis was much smaller than those of its larger peers.
As US reporting season rolls on, there will be earnings updates from Visa, Pfizer, McDonalds, Starbucks, Altria, Mondelez, AMD, eBay and Harley Davidson among Tuesday’s big names.
Significant announcements expected on Tuesday 28 July:
Trading announcements: AG Barr PLC (LON:BAG), Greencore Group PLC (LON:GNC), Virgin Money UK PLC (LON:VMUK)
Finals: IG Design Group PLC (LON:IGR), Games Workshop Group PLC (LON:GAW)
Interims: Fresnillo Plc (LON:FRES), Greggs PLC (LON:GRG), Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC (LON:MONY), Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (LON:RB.), St. James’s Place PLC (LON:STJ), Sanne Group PLC (LON:SNN), Vivo Energy PLC (LON:VVO), Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust PLC (LON:ASL), Foxtons Group PLC (LON:FOXT), Sabre Insurance Group PLC (LON:SBRE), Quartix Holdings plc (LON:QTX)
Economic data: CBI retail survey, US consumer confidence