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Companies Reporting: JD Sports, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Experian

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Here’s our regular look at the FTSE 350 and a selection of other companies reporting from 10 to 14 January.

  • All eyes will be on JD Sports’s remuneration packages for its top team
  • Medium-term demand will be the main focus at Vistry
  • Tesco’s festive market share will be in the spotlight
  • Marks & Spencer should update us on how the mammoth strategy shift is going
  • Shareholders are keen to know if the full year profit guidance upgrade is still in on the cards at Halfords
  • Persimmon will show if it can offset cost pressures through resilient volumes and house price increases
  • A robust Q3 trading update is expected from Experian

JD Sports Fashion, Trading Statement, Wednesday 12 January

Susannah Streeter, Senior Investment and Markets Analyst, ‘’Queues seen forming around the blocks for the latest trainer styles should bode well for JD Sports [LON:JD] and investors will be keen to find out if the flurry of interest in new coveted products has translated into bumper festive sales. Nike’s better than expected performance in the US in December sparked fresh interest in the company which had been on the back foot, as worries surfaced about the effect of Omicron on high street sales. The long drawn out battle with the competition regulator of the takeover of Footasylum has also cast a shadow over the company’s prospects, given that in attempting to hang on to the chain, JD Sports highlighted just how increased direct sales from Nike and Adidas could eat into revenues. Any news of whether the company intends to give up the fight, amid interest from rival Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group for Footasylum will be keenly watched. The board says it’s also made more changes to its new remuneration policy and fresh details of the nature of the amendments will be of interest to investors, following the shareholder backlash against the bumper pay-outs for executive chairman Peter Cowgill which came at the time when the company took pandemic support from the taxpayer.’’

Vistry, Trading Statement, Wednesday 12 January

Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst, Vistry [LON:VTY] is the first of three major housebuilders to report next week, so its results will give some indication of what’s to come for its peers. Housebuilders in general have come out of the pandemic in much better shape than we’d feared. To that end, we’ll largely be looking to see that it’s business-as-usual for Vistry next week, rather than looking for any specific landmarks.  It was only November when the group said it was “firmly on track” to deliver full year underlying pre-tax profit of £345m. We’d like to see that target is still intact. That will partly depend on the cost inflation environment, where rising costs have been affecting the whole industry. We believe Vistry will have this under control, as it’s able to offset the costs thanks to higher house prices. We’ve heard in recent days that UK house prices are continuing to reach new records. That’s good news in the short term but we’ll be keeping an eye on the outlook statement. Rising prices plus increasing interest rates could take some of the heat out the housing market. This isn’t exactly a crisis in the making at this point, but we wonder if management expects demand to temper over the medium term.”

Tesco, Christmas & Q3 Trading Statement, Thursday 13 January

Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst, “Just how well the supermarket giant stood up to the German discounters over the all-important Christmas season will be under the spotlight in this trading statement. Tesco [LON:TSCO] has done very well in its efforts to compete with Aldi and Lidl, with lowered prices, proposition improvements and a rapidly growing online business all playing their part. But we wonder if Tesco’s market share has continued to grow as inflation spikes and customers’ income doesn’t stretch as far. And speaking of online, we’ll be looking at this very closely. The group’s ambitions are high as it looks to capitalise on the permanent increase in deliveries brought on by the pandemic. Tesco is investing heavily in new capacity to achieve this. Excitement around this is partly why the market’s so excited by the stock. A price to earnings ratio of 13.6 is a little above the ten-year average and could be sensitive to any missteps.”

Marks & Spencer, Q3 Trading Statement, Thursday 13 January

Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst, “Christmas is a big deal for Marks & Spencer [LON:MKS] – not only does its premium food offering lend itself to festive-feast shopping, but its wider Clothing & Home operation is a classic place to buy gifts. While this is technically a quarterly trading statement, we should get some commentary on how trading over Christmas has fared. Zooming out from Christmas, we’d like to know how Marks & Spencer’s Clothing & Home sales are doing. The group is in the midst of a major strategic overhaul, after years of disappointing performance. Truckloads of work has gone into improving stock and buying processes, product proposition and store estate streamlining. Now’s the time to see if the plan has continued to bear fruit.  At the half year, Clothing & Home sales were down just 1% on pre-pandemic levels, with huge uplifts in online sales which offset declining in-store sales.”

Halfords, Q3 Trading Statement, Thursday 13 January

Susannah Streeter, Senior Investment and Markets Analyst, Halford’s [LON:HFD] shift of gears to online continues to benefit the retail side of the business, and shareholders will be keen to find out if there the full year profit guidance upgrade is still in the company’s sights. Supply chain disruption has been another headwind to navigate and all eyes will be on whether there continues to be improvement in terms of product availability on the shelves. It’s been slower going for Halford’s autocentres, with margins ultra-slim and profits going nowhere fast, and so if the expected increase in lucrative MOTs in the second half of the year fails to materialise, there may well be a jolt of disappointment. The new mobile expert offer which sees Halfords technicians come straight to the driveway, offers significant potential and if expansion continues could help with cross selling into the autocentres business.”

Persimmon, Trading Statement, Thursday 13 January

Steve Clayton, Manager of the HL Select Funds, Persimmon [LON:PSN] update on recent trading when they report on 13 Jan. With signs that the property market continues to be strong investors will be looking for reassurance that Persimmon can continue to offset cost pressures through resilient volumes and selling price increases. Persimmon have said they will return to their pre-pandemic pattern of capital returns, which should see a pay-out made in early spring this year. Any hints of upside, above the historic 110p per share level will likely be well received.”

Experian, Q3 Trading Statement, Friday 14 January

Steve Clayton, Manager of the HL Select Funds, Experian [LON:EXPN] should provide a robust Q3 trading update on 14 Jan. Previous updates last year were increasingly confident and with economies returning to growth and consumer activity buoyant in both the key US market and back home, the conditions are favourable. In a world of Big Data, Experian are well placed, maintaining vast databases and analytic tools to help their banking and retail clients make their lending and marketing strategy decisions.”

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

10-Jan
No FTSE350 reporters
11-Jan
B&M Q3 Trading Statement
Electrocomponents Trading Statement
Rathbones Group Q4 Trading Statement
12-Jan
Grafton Group Q4 Trading Statement
J Sainsbury Q3 Trading Statement
JD Sports Fashion Trading Statement
Page Group Q4 Trading Statement
Vistry Trading Statement
Whitbread Q3 Trading Statement
13-Jan
Asos Trading Statement
Dunelm Q2 Trading Statement
Halfords Q3 Trading Statement
Hilton Food Group Trading Statement
John Wood Group Q4 Trading Statement
Marks & Spencer Q3 Trading Statement
Persimmon* Trading Statement
Safestore Holdings Q4 Trading Statement
Taylor Wimpey Trading Statement
Tesco Christmas & Q3 Trading Statement
14-Jan
Currys Q3 Trading Statement
Experian Q3 Trading Statement

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.

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This article does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research or consult a professional advisor.

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