Monday: Pearson could surprise
Pearson PLC (LSE:LON:PSON) (Pearson PLC (LSE:PSON)), the London-listed educational publishing house with a market cap of more than £5.5bn, is due to release its interim results for the first half of 2022 on Monday.
The broker consensus is that the educational and textbook publisher will outperform the market. Pearson is forecast to post annual turnover of £3.7bn in 2022, up from the £3.4bn it generated in 2021, and to beat last year’s pre-tax profit this year.
Interims: GlobalData PLC (AIM:DATA), Spectris PLC (LSE:LON:SXS)
Trading announcements: Pearson plc, Senior PLC (LSE:SNR)
Econ announcements: UK PMI manufacturing and same for US
Tuesday: BP profits in the spotlight
If Shell (LON:RDSa) is a reliable gauge (and broadly speaking it is) then BP PLC (LSE:BP.) will on Tuesday likely reveal an embarrassment of riches as the extent of its profits amidst the energy crisis is laid bare.
With benchmark oil and gas prices soaring through the first six months of the year, the translation into pounds and dollars on BP’s P+L has always been quite obvious – even if pinning down an actual guidance figure has proven elusive.
Of course, there’ll be talk of energy transition and re-investment into renewables, and hydrogen perhaps.
The giant oily elephant in the room though will be vast profits and cashflow, and, what to with all the money. Shift as much of it off the table is a likely answer – so, like, Shell this week, perhaps expect another batch of share buy-backs, maybe a dividend hike, and even more pledges for investments into the UK.
Finals: NWF Group PLC (AIM:NWF)
Interims: BP plc (LON:BP), Braveheart Investment Group PLC (AIM:BRH), Fresnillo (LON:FRES), Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG), Keller Group (LON:KLR), Rotork PLC (LSE:LON:ROR), Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:LON:STAN), Travis Perkins (LSE:LON:TPK) plc, Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LSE:DLG)
Trading announcements: Virgin Money (LON:VM) UK PLC (LSE:VMUK), Sage Group (LON:SGE) plc
AGMs: Caffyns PLC (LSE:CFYN), Syncona Limited (LSE:SYNC), Tanfield Group (AIM:TAN) Plc
Wednesday: Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) rounds off housebuilder results
Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.) (Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.)) reports its half-year results on Wednesday, 3 August, against tough comparatives after a record first half last year.
In April, the housebuilder told investors it was trading in line with full-year expectations, and remained on track to deliver against guidance set out at the time of its 2021 annual results. At that time it said continued levels of house price growth were offsetting inflationary labour and material costs.
Market consensus price targets estimate some 50% of upside to the current price, so expectations may be high given current market conditions and the expected rising cost of mortgages as interest rates increase.
Housebuilding peers have so far failed to give a reliable steer, with mixed fortunes across the bunch.
Finals: Van elle plc
Interims: IP Group PLC (LSE:LON:IPO), LSL Property Services Plc, Taylor Wimpey plc, Just Eat Takeaway, Hiscox (LON:HSX)
Trading announcements: Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV, TSX:EDV, OTCQX:EDVMF), Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES), Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ)
AGMs: Block Energy PLC (AIM:BLOE), D4T4 Solutions, Edenville Energy PLC (AIM:EDL), JZ Capital Partners Ltd, Molten Ventures PLC (LSE:GROW), RiverFort Global Opportunities Plc, Scirocco Energy, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Ltd.
Thursday: WIll Next over-deliver once again?
Next PLC (LSE:NXT) (Next PLC (LSE:NXT)) often underpromises and over-delivers, and investors will be hoping it repeats that trick ahead of its second quarter trading update next Thursday.
The FTSE 100 fashion retailer maintained full-year profit guidance in the first quarter, with sales boosted by the re-opening of stores as COVID restrictions ended, albeit this was at a lowered range of £795mln to £895mln.
A recent note from Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) on the retail sector was less optimistic on Next, downgrading it to 'hold' from 'buy' with its target price cut to 6,250p from 7,850p. Analysts at the German bank believe retailers are currently too optimistic about the impact of the cost of living crisis, with consumers set to really feel the squeeze.
Finals: Revolution Beauty Group plc
Interims: ConvaTec Group PLC (LSE:CTEC), Evraz PLC (LSE:EVR), Glencore PLC (LSE:LON:GLEN), Gym Group plc, Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LON:HIK), Mears Group PLC (AIM:MER), Mondi PLC (LSE:LON:MNDI), Morgan Sindall Group PLC (LSE:MGNS), Spirent Communications (LSE:LON:SPT) plc, Rolls-Royce (LON:RR), Hikma, Serco, and Meggitt (LON:MGGT)
Trading announcements: Next plc (LON:NXT), Sanderson Design Group Plc
AGMs: Clontarf Energy (AIM:CLON) plc, Investec PLC (LSE:INVP), Starcrest Education Ltd, STM Group PLC (AIM:STM)
Econ announcements: BoE interest rate decision, Monetary Policy Summary, BoE’s governor speech, UK construction PMI
Friday: Outlook remains positive for WPP
LON:WPP PLC (LSE:WPP)’s interim results due on Friday August 5, equities analysts at Shore Capital remain firmly in the “buy” lane.
“The group’s first-quarter release summarised a strong start to the year with revenue less pass-through costs ahead by an impressive 9.5% year on year on a like-for-like basis and positive progress recorded across all business sectors,” noted Shore Cap.
The interim results follow the completion of two acquisitions this season: Australia-based marketing agency Bower House Digital and Latin American e-commerce company Corebiz.
Headline EBITDA guidance is £840mln and earnings per share estimates are set at 3.3p.
Finals: Hargreaves Landsdown plc
Interims: FBD Holdings (LSE:FBH) plc, WPP plc, Capita
Trading announcement: Pets at Home Group PLC (LON:PETSP) (LSE:PETS), London Stock Exchange
AGMs: JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Global Core Real Assets Limited, Petrel Resources PLC (AIM:PET), Verditek PLC (AIM:VDTK)
Econ announcements: US nonfarm payrolls, UK Halifax house price index