Companies Reporting: Sainsbury, Currys, Workspace

Our regular look at the FTSE 350 and a selection of other companies reporting from 03 – 07 July.

• Is Sainsburys winning the price war?
• Has strong trading momentum continued at Currys?
• Workspace’s first quarter to provide health check of UK commercial real estate

J Sainsburys, Trading Statement, Tuesday 4 July

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown: “Last investors heard, grocery sales were on the rise, but this was being driven by higher overall prices rather than volume increases. With the cost-of-living crisis rumbling on, Sainsbury LON:SBRY is throwing a lot at becoming better value, but that comes at a cost, and analysts saw full-year profits fall as a result.

Next week’s trading statement will shed some light on trading across the first quarter. Given the tough economic backdrop and shrinking consumer budgets, Sainsbury needs to keep getting its hands dirty and fighting for market share with other supermarkets. Grocery competition is already fierce, and that puts a firm ceiling on margins in the near term. It’s unclear when things will normalise. A 3-year, £1.3bn cost-saving program has progressed well so far, providing some slight relief to margins in the meantime.”

Currys, Full Year Results, Thursday 6 July

Aarin Chiekrie: “Back in May, less than two months after a previous round of updates, Curry’s LON:CURY revised its full-year expectations again. Consumer electronics and computing sales have lagged as consumers struggle to justify quite so much discretionary spending during a cost-of-living crisis. And in the Nordic regions, the second largest segment, trading conditions remain extremely tough with sales here set to be down by double digits.

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Although like-for-like sales are set to come in 7% lower than last year, the group’s outlook for profits and debt has improved. That’s been driven by a better-than-expected display in the UK & Ireland division. Margin improvements and cost efficiencies here are helping to drive the division’s profits higher, with underlying operating profit expected to come in 40% higher when full-year results are announced next week. Trading in the last two months of its financial year was called out as particularly strong, and analysts are keen to hear if this momentum has continued into the new financial year.”

Workspace Group, Q1 Trading Statement, Thursday 6 July

Aarin Chiekrie: “Workspace Group LON:WKP, a real estate investment trust (REIT), is set to issue an update on first-quarter activity next week. REITs pool together capital from numerous investors to fund property acquisitions, providing investors with a relatively cheap way to gain diversified exposure to the real estate sector. Workspace Group owns 76 properties, mainly across the London area, and lets these offices, industrial and workshop spaces to other businesses.

Full-year underlying net rental income was up 17% to £116.6m last year, and occupancy rates remained stable above 89%, reflecting strong demand in the London area. Higher interest rates impacted the value of the overall portfolio, pushing it down 3.2% to £2.7bn, and that downward pressure’s likely to remain when the company releases its update next week.”

This article has been brought to you in association with Hargreaves Lansdown. All opinions expressed in this article are from the analysts and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Armchair Trader.

FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other companies scheduled to report