Here’s our regular look at the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies reporting from 4 October to 8 October – . We’ve picked out a few highlights below – and you’ll find the full list of reporters further down the page.
- Greggs hopes to deliver sales growth despite rising input costs and supply chain disruption
- Imperial Brand’s net debt levels will determine the rate of dividend growth
- We’ll find out if Tesco still expects profits to recover to pre-pandemic levels this year
Greggs, Third Quarter Trading Statement, Tuesday 5 October
Nicholas Hyett, Equity Analyst
“If Gregg’s [LON:GRG] half year results are anything to go by, then next week’s results are likely to see sales within touching distance of 2019’s pre-pandemic level. Profits were on course to do better still.
However, the big unknown at the third quarter is cost inflation. Food input inflation was already creeping up 3 months ago, but well reported labour shortages and supply chain disruption across the economy is likely to have increased that pressure. Still, with new products launching, new stores opening and delivery also proving popular the group will hope it can continue to deliver the impressive growth baked into market expectations.”
Imperial Brands, Trading Statement, Wednesday 6 October
Steve Clayton, Manager of HL Select Funds
“Imperial Brands [LON:IMB] update the market on Wednesday 6 October with their first trading statement of the new financial year. Investors want to see that their renewed focus on their core markets is delivering improved results. Having lagged badly in their Next Generation Products business, Imperial’s challenge here now is to show that it can still fight its weight in this critical source of future growth. Progress on debt reduction could allow the group to talk more confidently on future capital allocation, although our view is that the group will want to make greater progress here before making changes.”
Tesco, Half Year Results, Wednesday 6 October
Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst“Tesco [LON:TSCO] expects retail operating profits to recover to pre-pandemic levels this year. That comes after the enormous extra costs associated with getting the business through the pandemic, including hiring an army of extra staff, dented operating profit. We’ll find out next week if the group’s still on track for this target. Of course, a huge pillar of this will be sales growth. Sales were up 1.1% on a like-for-like basis in the first quarter. That’s because the group’s lapping the exceptional demand seen in the early days of lockdowns. We wonder if Tesco has managed to keep sales pushing forward in the second quarter – especially online sales. A lot of money’s been funnelled into digital expansion recently, so Tesco needs online sales growth to match. We also wonder if the recent petrol crisis will have any impact on Tesco’s full year outlook. Finally, we’ll be keeping an eye on Tesco Bank. The pandemic hit lending activity, which led to increased provisions for bad debts. This hurt profits in the division and we’d like to see if this trend has reversed.”
FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other companies scheduled to report
| 4-Oct | |
| No FTSE 350 Reporters | |
| 5-Oct | |
| Greggs | Third Quarter Trading Statement |
| 6-Oct | |
| Imperial Brands | Trading Statement |
| Tesco | Half Year Results |
| 7-Oct | |
| CMC Markets | Pre-Close Trading Statement |
| Mondi | Third Quarter Trading Statement |
| Volution | Full Year Results |
| 8-Oct | |
| Electrocomponents | Trading Update |
This article is 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.
