After a week of market turmoil and around 200 company results reports, the first few days of October are hopefully going to be a little more peaceful, though there are still a healthy number of company items in the diary to keep investors interested.
Among London’s larger companies, there are updates expected from Tesco (LON:TSCO), Greggs , Imperial Brands, Mondi (LON:MNDI) and Wetherspoon’s, as well as some big macroeconomic data, including the US jobs report to close out the week.
MONDAY 3 OCTOBER
Joules Group PLC (LON:JOUL) had been due to report results on Monday but said in an update in the past week that this has been pushed back to some time in November, as the troubled clothing retailer continues to mull its financing requirements, “including a possible equity raise”.
A media report had earlier suggested the posh wellington boot seller was considering turning to an insolvency procedure in order to avert potential collapse, after a series of profit warnings and the failure to agree and investment from sector giant Next.
Joules said in a statement after markets closed on Thursday that its turnaround plan was progressing well and its new leadership team is making "good progress" in developing a turnaround plan.
Elsewhere, waste-to-product specialist Renewi PLC (LON:RWI) is still scheduled to report interims, having said in June that revenue and underlying earnings were in line with expectations.
“Most recyclate prices remain well up on pre-Covid levels, even if some have backed off recent highs, and this goes some way to encourage that FY numbers should still be met,” said broker Peel Hunt in a preview of the results.
Just under a year since it floated on AIM, the ‘fast casual’ restaurant chain Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC (AIM:MEX) should also be reporting numbers for the half-year to 3 July.
It has already revealed that like-for-like sales increased 19% versus the sector benchmark at 5.6%, while total sales jumped 60%, helped by the acquisition of the eight-strong Chilango chain, six of its own site openings, several franchise launches and delivery partnerships with Uber (NYSE:UBER) Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo.
MEX also flagged the challenging conditions that the whole restaurant sector is facing, including significant levels of cost inflation, while noting that its full year profit performance is usually weighted towards the second half of the financial year.
Significant announcements on Monday
Trading updates: Renew Holdings (AIM:RNWH), Renewi
Interims: Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC
Finals: James Halstead PLC (AIM:JHD), Joules PLC, Quadrise Fuels International PLC (AIM:QFI, OTC:QDRSF)
Economic announcements: PMI Manufacturing (US), Construction Spending (US), ISM Manufacturing (US), ISM Prices Paid (US), PMI Manufacturing (UK)
TUESDAY 4 OCTOBER
Will the ‘on a roll’ headlines remain unused when Greggs PLC (LON:GRG) releases third-quarter results on Tuesday?
Half-year results in August showed flat profits and slower sales growth in the second quarter.
Cost inflation for the full year was expected to be around 9% but new chief executive Roisin Currie, who was promoted at the start of February, kept overall expectations for the full year unchanged, with LFL sales up 13% in the first four weeks of the third quarter.
Investors will be eager to see how profits have squared up against cost inflation, as well as progress for sales (see full preview).
Elsewhere in the FTSE 100, paper and cardboard maker Mondi PLC (LSE:MNDI) will also be providing a quarterly update.
Back in August it revealed “materially higher” wood costs as Europeans look for new fuel sources amid a dearth of Russian gas, which it was able to overcome thanks to strong selling prices and cost control measures.
On the outlook, chief executive Andrew King said: "Pricing remains strong going into the second half, although we do anticipate continued inflationary pressures on our cost base and ongoing supply chain challenges."
Significant announcements on Tuesday
Trading updates: Greggs PLC, Mondi PLC
Interims: Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:IHC)
AGMs: Henderson Diversified Income PLC
Economic announcements: Factory Orders (US)
WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER
Half-year results from Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) on Wednesday should provide a more balanced idea of the state of play in the supermarket sector after the past week saw fellow ‘big six’ supermarket rival Morrisons blame a profits slump on subdued consumers and unprecedented inflationary pressures.
This ramped up uncertainty around the sector and the wider economy, which has far from abated after the government’s misfiring 'mini budget'.
However, analysts are fairly confident in Tesco’s ability to ride out the UK consumer storm.
Elsewhere, Vertu recent told the market that its first-half results will be good but it kept full year forecasts unchanged, suggesting the car dealer expects a much tougher second half.
New car profit is rising it said, but the bumper demand for used cars is starting to tail off, especially with household incomes under pressure.
The group has a backlog of 13,000 orders for new cars but volumes have dipped due to supply chain disruption and semiconductor shortages.
Car dealerships are seeing a bit of bid activity – see Pendragon in the past month –so Vertu with its 160 outlets might feature at some point given the sector’s traditionally low valuations.
Broker Liberum said recently it expects that supply/demand dynamics are likely to remain favourable even as macro pressures build and kept a 100p target price against 41p in the market.
Significant announcements on Wednesday
Finals: Netcall PLC (AIM:NET)
Interims: Tesco PLC, Vertu Motors (AIM:VTU) PLC
AGMs: Omega Diagnostics Group PLC (AIM:ODX), Topps Tiles PLC (LSE:TPT)
Economic announcements: PMI Services (UK), PMI Composite (UK), MBA Mortgage Applications (US), Balance of Trade (US), PMI Composite (US), PMI Services (US), ISM Prices Paid (US), ISM Services (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)
THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER
Tobacco company Imperial Brands PLC (LON:IMB), whose key brands include JPS, Davidoff and Gauloises, is set to release a pre-close trading update on Thursday.
Shares in the Footsie group are one of the 10 best performing in the blue-chip index in the year to date, one of fewer than 20 companies that are in positive territory in 2022.
In the results lead-up, UBS upgraded to a “buy” and noted in a recent industry conference, the key messages from the company chiefs were about improving market share trends in its top five markets, further growth in next-generation products with losses moderating and that it was on track for a "meaningful and systematic buyback".
An announcement on this may be left until the year end, however.
In the retail sector, Topps Tiles is forecast by broker Peel Hunt to reveal fourth-quarter sales down by double-digit levels against very strong double-digit growth rates last year, when stores re-opened after lockdown.
Trading over FY22 has been very robust, benefitting from a pipeline of pre-planned home projects, in our view, with no real signs of any loss in momentum. Facing into a more subdued FY23, we would expect rising interest rates and potential housing market weakness to keep growth subdued.
Significant announcements on Thursday
Interims: N Brown PLC
Trading updates: Chemring PLC, Ferrexpo PLC (LSE:FXPO), Imperial Brands PLC, RS Group PLC (LSE:RS1), Topps Tiles PLC
AGMs: Braemar PLC, Diageo PLC (LON:DGE), T42 Lot Tracking Solutions PLC
Economic announcements: Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), PMI Construction (UK)
FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER
JD Wetherspoon PLC (LSE:JDW) is scheduled to publish its full-year results on Friday, having previously warned of higher-than-expected losses.
Boss Tim Martin's usual diatribe may be even lengthier than usual given the economic events of recent weeks.
Boris Johnson was still in power when we last heard from the Brexit-supporting pub owner back in July, though he is likely to celebrate the fact that JDW fixed its energy prices at levels that pre-date the current spike in prices.
However most of the group’s customers won't have been so lucky, so the outlook may be gloomy.
US jobs data will generate even more pages of words that Martin’s likely tirade.
The first Friday of the month brings the latest non-farm payrolls report.
“If unemployment stays low and wage growth stays firm, then the US Federal Reserve is likely to keep raising interest rates and stay the course on its US$95bn-a-month quantitative tightening programme,” said analysts at AJ Bell.
With the Fed having already jacked up interest rates from 0.25% to 3.25%, their highest level since 2008, stock markets have not been the happiest of places.
The market is pricing in further increases to 4.50% or even higher by May next year, when it then expects a pivot to rate cuts in early 2024.
NFP numbers on Friday October from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will reveal how many jobs America created in September, how that affected the unemployment rate and what wage growth is doing.
For August there were 315,000 jobs added, which was below the 12-month average of 495,000 and left the headline unemployment rate at 3.7%,
The tight labour market, led to average hourly wages growing 5.2% on the year, which was a slower pace than seen earlier in the year.
Significant announcements on Friday
Finals: JD Wetherspoon PLC, Superdry PLC (LSE:SDRY)
Economic announcements: Non-Farm Payrolls (US), Unemployment Rate (US), Wholesales Inventories (US), Consumer Credit (US), Halifax House Price Index (UK)
USA earnings
Wednesday: Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP)
Thursday: Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ), McCormick (NYSE:MKC) & Co