Clocks go forward this weekend to British Summer Time after an appropriately sunny week, but with ominous clouds continuing to loom from Ukraine, there’s a dark backdrop for companies releasing results in the coming week, including Bellway, AG Barr, Keywords Studios, Pennon, S4 Capital and Team17.
The week finishes on April Fools day, which for followers of interest rates is no joke, as the closely watched non-farm payrolls report could have major repercussions in terms of the US Federal Reserve's next move.
TUESDAY 29 MARCH
Bellway PLC (LSE:BWY) was one of those cited by fund manager Abrdn recently in its call for housebuilders to pay more of the costs of removing the cladding on properties they have built.
Don’t expect that to figure too prominently in the builder’s interim statement on Tuesday, but what should be clear is how much cash it is generating at present.
UBS forecasts revenues of £1.78bn and an operating profit of £338mln or a 19% margin.
Cost rises, staffing issues, housing demand (now interest rates are rising) and of course cladding removal are things to watch in the outlook statement.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, AG Barr PLC (LSE:BAG) has said full-year results will show evidence of a strong performance to the year to end January.
The manufacturer of drinks such as Irn-Bru and Rubicon previously announced that revenue was expected to be around £267mln, a 17.5% increase compared to the previous year.
It would be an impressive feat for the London listed company, as it would exceed even the 2019/2020 performance, which was completely uninterrupted by regulations.
Profit before tax and exceptional items is also expected to be marginally ahead of previous guidance of £41mln.
The share price bounced slightly, up 14p to 514p since the trading update in February, with investors hoping a confirmation of the expectations, alongside a positive outlook, can send it climbing further.
WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH
After more than doubling during the pandemic, along with most of its video game sector peers, shares in Team17 Group PLC (AIM:TM17) have dropped by almost a third so far in 2022.
Media analysts at Berenberg put out a note recently where they suggested medium- and long-term investors should “start building their wish list” of companies to buy in the sector, with the sell-off of the likes of Team17 and Keywords Studios presented “a rare opportunity to buy diversified growth which has historically traded at a significant premium to the market”.
Despite some many M&A deals in the sector in recent years, they said the video game industry remains highly fragmented and with significant scope for further consolidation.
In January Team17 completed an £80mln fundraise to pay for the acquisition of simulation games developer Astragon Entertainment, which generated €26mln of revenue and underlying profits of €5.7mln its previous full year.
Also in January, Keywords Studios PLC (AIM:KWS, OTC:KYYWF) nudged financial guidance higher for the second time in as many months.
The technical and creative services provider to the video games industry said revenue is expected to be around €512mln and adjusted profit before tax at roughly €86mln.
Keywords, which said it expects costs to rise again, alongside further investment in its platform and people, had net cash of around €103mln in the bank at year-end.
THURSDAY 31 MARCH
Acquisitive ad-man Martin Sorrell’s digital marketing group S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR) is releasing its annual results a few weeks late after the accountants took longer than expected to tot up the numbers after Covid issues.
The number of deals S4 undertakes might also be a factor, with the latest deal a merger between Media.Monks and 4 Mile analytics unveiled in January.
Alongside that, like-for-like revenue and gross profit/net revenue growth were said to be well ahead of company guidance of 40% while underlying margins had improved significantly in the second half.
Veteran boss Sorrell said the budget is “set at 25% like-for-like gross profit/net revenue growth” as part of a three-year plan until 2024.
Provident Financial (LSE:PFG) Group Plc publishes full-year earnings on the same day, with Shore Capital’s Gary Greenwood expecting the company to swing back to profit.
The subprime lender has recently restructured management to align its Vanquis Bank business with the rest of the group and brought in a new director to oversee cards.
A trading update in January led Greenwood to up upgrade his forecasts for adjusted ongoing profit before tax by roughly £20mln to £166mln, with a dividend of 13p also expected.
FRIDAY 1 APRIL
The start of a new month on Friday brings the US jobs report around again, which will be important to assess just how tight the employment market is for a potentially bigger interest rate rise from the US Federal Reserve.
As the market is so tight, it means growth in the number of new jobs is likely to be limited to a maximum of 500,000 with wage pressures continuing to build, economists at ING said.
“While we know demand is incredibly strong, the issue is a lack of supply of workers to fill the vacancies available,” they added.
The last non-farm payrolls report revealed 678,000 jobs were added on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics saying the national unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%.
In UK company news, Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY) will be one of the first reporters of the month, with shareholder returns, debt and pollution among the big issues for the owner of South West Water and Bristol Water.
“With lockdown restrictions behind us, the shape of demand recovery is the most important thing to watch,” said analyst Laura Hoy at Hargreaves Lansdown, as the beginnings of a strong recovery were evident at the half-year following the fall in demand when businesses were locked down.
Pennon upped its full year revenue expectations to £644.6mln, though rising debt levels are worth watching too, Hoy said, amid rising interest rates.
It should be interesting to hear Pennon explain how regulator Ofwat’s investigation into river pollution and sewage treatment works might impact profits.
“With environmental responsibility becoming increasingly important to both investors and the government, the outcome could dent profitability if it is unfavourable,” Hoy said.
Significant announcements in the week ahead
Monday 28 March
Final results: Dialight PLC (LSE:DIA), Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust PLC (LSE:ORIT), Pershing Square Holdings (LSE:PSH), RTC Group PLC (AIM:RTC), Tandem Group PLC (AIM:TND)
AGMs: Conygar Investment Company PLC (AIM:CIC)
Tuesday 29 March
Interim results: Bellway PLC (LSE:BWY), Genedrive PLC, Orchard Funding Group PLC, SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (AIM:SBTX)
Final results: AG Barr PLC (LSE:BAG), Animalcare Group (AIM:ANCR) Plc, Aquis Exchange Limited, Bank Of Cyprus Holdings Plc, Burford Capital Limited (LSE:BUR), Central Asia Metals, CPP Group (LSE:CPP) Plc, EKF Diagnostics (AIM:EKF) Holdings plc, Ergomed PLC (AIM:ERGO, ETR:2EM), FireAngel Safety Technology Group plc, Flowtech Fluidpower (AIM:FLO) Plc, Good Energy Group PLC (AIM:GOOA), IQE PLC (AIM:IQE), NAHL Group PLC (LSE:NAH), Personal Group Holdings PLC (AIM:PGH), S&U PLC (LSE:SUS), STM Group PLC (AIM:STM), Ten Entertainment Group PLC (LSE:TEG), The Mission Group PLC, Xaar PLC (LSE:XAR), XLMedia PLC (AIM:XLM, OTC:XLMDF)
AGMs: Impax Asset Management (AIM:IPX) Group Plc, Tekmar Group PLC (AIM:TGP)
Economic announcements: Nationwide House Price Index (UK), Mortgage Approvals (UK), House Price Index (US), JOLTS Job Openings (US), Conference Board Consumer Confidence (US)
Wednesday 30 March
Final results: Equals Group PLC (AIM:EQLS), Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC, Keywords Studios PLC (AIM:KWS, OTC:KYYWF), Michelmersh Brick Holdings, Strix Group PLC (AIM:KETL), Team17 Group PLC (AIM:TM17)
AGMs: Brunner Investment Trust (LSE:BUT) PLC, Mediazest PLC (AIM:MDZ), Oxford BioDynamics PLC (AIM:OBD), Power Metal Resources PLC (AIM:POW), Sureserve Group PLC (AIM:SUR)
Economic announcements: Gross Domestic Product (US), ADP Payrolls (US) Personal Consumption Expenditures (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)
Thursday 31 March
Trading statement: 3I Infrastructure PLC
Interim results: Aptamer Group PLC (AIM:APTA), Gattaca PLC (AIM:GATC), James Halstead PLC (AIM:JHD)
Final results: BBGI Global Infrastructure PLC, Eleco plc, Hostelworld (LSE:HSW) Group plc, Mears PLC, Provident Financial (LSE:PFG) Group PLC, Reach plc, RTW Venture Fund Ltd (LSE:RTWG), S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR)
AGMs: Aukett Swanke Group PLC (LSE:AUK), Banco Santander (LSE:BNC) SA, BiVictriX Therapeutics PLC (AIM:BVX, OTC:BVTXF), Cloudcoco Group plc, Guild Esports PLC (LSE:GILD, OTC:GULDF), Pressure Technologies PLC (AIM:PRES), Red Rock Resources PLC (AIM:RRR), Toople PLC (LSE:TOOP), Various Eateries PLC (AIM:VARE)
Ex-dividends: AIB Group PLC (LSE:AIBG), ConvaTec Group PLC (LSE:CTEC), Fidelity European Trust PLC (LSE:FEV), GlobalData PLC (AIM:DATA), Hammerson PLC (LSE:HMSO), InterContinental Hotels Group plc, Maven Income & Growth VCT 5 plc, Moneysupermarket.com (LSE:MONY), Phoenix Group Holdings PLC (LSE:PHNX), Quartix Technologies plc, Smith & Nephew PLC (LSE:SN), Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.), Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) plc, Wynnstay Group Blackrock Sustainable American Income Trust plc, ContourGlobal PLC (LSE:GLO), Value and Indexed Property Income Trust, Finsbury Growth & Income Trust plc, Lowland Investment Company plc, RIT Capital Partners (LSE:RCP) plc, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust plc, Smart Metering Systems PLC (AIM:SMS), The European Smaller Companies Trust plc Quartix Technologies PLC, Rotala PLC (AIM:ROL),
Economic announcements: Gross Domestic Product (UK), Current Account (UK), Personal Income (US), Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), Personal Consumption Expenditures (US), Personal Spending (US), Chicago PMI (US)
Friday 1 April
Trading statement: Pennon PLC, Renew Holdings (AIM:RNWH) PLC
Economic announcements: PMI Manufacturing (UK), Non-Farm Payrolls (US), Unemployment Rate (US), PMI Manufacturing (US), Construction Spending (US), ISM Manufacturing (US), Car Sales (US)