London Report: Retailer data to reveal strength of UK recovery
THE NEWLY-MERGED Dixons Carphone will report its maiden quarterly results tomorrow in a week containing a flurry of updates for retailers.
Figures for the company, whose merger only completed a month ago, will be keenly watched by investors, who will be hoping the firm’s planned synergies are starting to take effect.
Other retailers due to report this week include Associated British Foods, Dunelm, Home Retail Group, JD Wetherspoon, Next, Ocado, Thorntons and Whitbread.
Market watchers will be especially keen to track the supermarkets’ results after Tesco’s recent profits warning and dividends cut. Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips is under pressure to improve the stores’ figures, after Sir Ken Morrison said that the management strategy was “bullshit”.
The corporate calendar starts today with results from Associated British Foods, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Escher Group Holdings and Green Reit. Tomorrow Abcam, Dixons Carphone, Fenner, Hargreaves Services, Hilton Food Group and Whitbread all give figures.
On Wednesday Alliance Pharma, Alkane Energy, Advanced Medical Solutions Group, Barratt Developments, Thorntons, Manchester United, McBride and Purecircle will all update the market.
Thursday’s reports will come from Ashmore Group, Deltex Medical Group, Dunelm, Home Retail Group, Next, Ocado, Ricardo and WM Morrison. On Friday pubs group JD Wetherspoon will give full-year results and SThree will give interim figures.
On the economic front, Bank of England governor Mark Carney is in for a busy week, delivering a speech at the annual TUC conference in Liverpool tomorrow and then being quizzed by MPs about the labour market and interest rates on Wednesday. He will be joined by deputy governor Nemat Shafik and external rate setters Martin Weale and David Miles.
Think-tanks the OECD and Niesr will also release their latest forecasts.
Key data includes Friday’s release of industrial and construction output figures for July. The data will give further clues as to the pace of the UK recovery. August data suggested growth was likely to slow in the coming months.
Economic news this week includes UK industrial production, UK trade, Niesr’s monthly GDP estimate and the BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor. The RICS house price balance will be released on Thursday.