Companies Reporting: Salesforce, Frasers, Berkeley

Our regular look at the FTSE 350 and other companies reporting from 02 – 06 December.

• Salesforce bets big on AI agents
• Frasers looking to keep full-year targets on track ahead of Christmas
• Berkeley hoping to build on a solid start to the year

Salesforce, Q3 Results, Tuesday 3 December

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown: After a poor start to the year and a reset of expectations, Salesforce NYSE:CRM looks to be back on the right track. But it’s still a tough market to be a major software player, businesses are taking longer to commit to big deals and some are still kicking the can down the road altogether. The 7% top-line growth expected in the third quarter is a far cry from the mid-twenties of years gone by.

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But despite the tough macro conditions, there’s a renewed sense of optimism with AI now a major part of their growth story. Investors will be watching closely for updates on how clients are using Salesforce’s latest innovation, Agentforce. Going beyond chatbots, this platform allows companies to build autonomous agents that can both make decisions and take actions. The real question is how useful they are in real life, and how long it’ll take Salesforce to monetise this new product – with answers hopefully forthcoming next week.

Frasers, Half Year Results, Thursday 5 December

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown: Frasers LON:FRAS has been involved in a war of words lately with Boohoo as it looks to secure two seats on the rival fashion company’s board. As of late October, Frasers owned a 27% stake in Boohoo, and it’s clear that it’s grown weary of the current management team. It’s an interesting dynamic, and one that will evolve over the coming weeks.

Increased automation at warehouses has reduced inventory levels impressively. With more to come, this should free up more cash to funnel into growing other areas of the business or fund more acquisitions. The Sports Direct owner is aiming to grow pre-tax profits to a range of £575-625mn over the full year, up around 10% at the midpoint. It will be interesting to see if this remains on track at the halfway mark.

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There should also be early insight into how trading’s fared in the run-up to the important Christmas period. Frasers, with its high brick-and-mortar exposure, relies heavily on shoppers heading to the high street, so it’s more vulnerable than most if there’s any pullback in footfall.

Berkeley Group, Half Year Results, Friday 6 December

Aarin Chiekrie: Berkeley’s LON:BKG is expected to have had a solid start to the year, with operating margins eclipsing the group’s long-term 17.5-19.5% range as performance looks set to be first-half weighted. The new government’s proposed changes to the planning system should ease some of the struggles that housebuilders like Berkeley are having, helping the group deliver the new homes the country sorely needs.

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There’s little debate that the chancellor’s recent decision to hike employer national insurance contributions will hurt companies’ profits. But by just how much is something Berkeley can hopefully put a rough figure on next week. There are also fears that it could have inflationary impacts in the long run. That could see interest rates remain higher for longer and keep buyers’ hands tied by affordability pressures, so it will be interesting to see if Berkeley tweaks its full-year outlook as a result, which had been pencilling in underlying pre-tax profits of £525m.

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