Banks gear up to report on the first half of a tough year
The market’s attention is likely to be dominated this week by the banks, which will be reporting their first-half results during the five days. But there will be plenty more for investors to sink their teeth into, with insurers, bookmakers and industrials all on the radar too.
Barclays and HSBC kick the week off this morning. Analysts at UBS expect Barclays to confirm that it is “business as usual”, but notes that the £5.3bn gain on the proposed sale of Barclays Global Investment to BlackRock will not be included in these figures. Deutsche Bank expects HSBC to report a $943m (£562) pre-tax loss for the first half of the year, while Standard Chartered, which reports tomorrow, is forecast to report a profit for the period.
Power station owner Drax also reports its interim results tomorrow, and UBS will be focused on the company’s full-year guidance. Consensus is around £300m, but the broker expects “modest” downward pressure on the guidance.
Bookmaker William Hill’s interims should reveal the effect of the company’s rights issue earlier this year, with analysts expecting a small decline in pre-tax profit versus a sharp decline in earnings per share.
Defence company Qinetiq will issue a first-quarter trading statement, which should shed light on the state of trading at its most recent acquisitions.
Insurer Legal & General, miner Xstrata and engineer GKN will also report interims.
Wednesday will bring updates from more insurers – Axa, Old Mutual and Standard Life – plus Lloyds Banking Group’s maiden first-half results.
Numis expects Taylor Wimpey to confirm on Wednesday at its interims that the market conditions have “improved materially since the start of the year, feeding through to a strengthened forward order book and more stable pricing”.
Premier Foods will also update the market, and UBS forecasts organic sales growth of seven per cent.
Thursday will see a Ladrokes report on its first half, following a disappointing trading update in May.
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Inmarsat, Cobham, RSA Insurance, Aviva, ITV and Mecom will also update on the first-half, while Thomson Reuters and Unilever will give second-quarter results.
But investors are unlikely to rest until Friday, when mostly-nationalised RBS will give the tax-payer a glimpse of its performance over the past six-months.