Monday 28 September
– First-half results from newspaper and online publisher Reach
– Nationwide UK house price index
Tuesday 29 September
– Ferguson full-year results
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said plumbers’ merchant Ferguson (formerly known as Wolseley) gets nearly 90% of its revenues from the US with the rest coming from Canada and the UK, after 2017’s sale of the Scandinavian business.
He said this exposure to the US is supporting the shares, which are more or less back to their all-time peak a quarter higher than a year ago.
“One positive indicator for Ferguson is the recovery in the numbers of permits for and starts and sales of new houses in America,” he added. “This may be one reason why July’s trading statement revealed that sales in the USA were down just 0.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, compared to an 8% drop in Canada and a 29% slide in the UK.
“With those trends in mind, analysts will then assess the headline profit and dividend figures.”
– Full-year results from Hotel Chocolat
– First-half results from Card Factory and AA
– Trading statement from Greggs
– UK mortgage approvals data
– US Case-Shiller house price index
– US Conference Board consumer confidence data
– In the US, quarterly results from silicon chip maker Micron, food ingredients firm McCormick and Carnival
Wednesday 30 September
– Boohoo first half results
Mould said just when it looked like online fast fashion retailer Boohoo had fended off the attentions of short-seller Shadowfall and its critical report of the company’s governance, accounting and 2017 acquisition of Pretty Little Thing (PLT), the shares took a fresh hit in July from concerns over its ESG practices, amid allegations over the use of sweated labour.
See also: Boohoo shines spotlight on fast fashion in funds peddled as responsible investments
“The company responded by launching a full, independent review, chaired by Alison Levitt, QC, and promised an update on the report alongside these first-half figures.
“The questions raised by the allegations of poor pay and poor working conditions in and around Leicester in particular return to the core question of how Boohoo can make, according to the last set of annual accounts, gross margins of 54% and operating margins of 8.7% on an underlying basis when its average selling prices are so competitive.”
– FCA rules and guidance on illiquid assets and open-ended funds for non-Ucits retail schemes come into force.
See also: Ucits exclusion from FCA liquidity rules sparks concern
– Compass Group Q4 2020 sales and revenue release
The Share Centre said the market will be hoping for better news from catering group after it was heavily affected by the lockdowns around the world. By June, around 60% of its operations were back up and running, so investors will be looking to see if revenues have recovered from the 44% drop seen in the third quarter, it said.
“The company said its recovery was fairly slow but profit margins had improved through the quarter, so that will also be a focus for the market. Any comments on cost cutting and guidance on future dividends will also be of interest given that payments are currently suspended.”
– First-half results from gambling services provider 888
– Trading statements from catering giant Compass and Topps Tiles
– China PMIs
– Third and final reading for Q2 UK GDP growth
– Third and final reading for Q2 US GDP growth
– ADP non-farm payrolls data in the USA
– Chicago PMI in the USA
– US oil inventory data
Thursday 1 October
– Nikhil Rathi joins the FCA as chief executive
– Full-year results from floorings expert James Halstead
– First-half results from litigation funder Burford Capital
– Quarterly Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan (or Tankan) from the Bank of Japan
– Final manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices from Asia, Europe, the UK and USA
– Challenger, Gray & Christmas job cuts survey in the USA
– US PCE index and personal spending data
– US new car sales data
– In Europe, quarterly results from H&M
– In the US, quarterly results from PepsiCo and wine-to-beer group Constellation Brands
Friday 2 October
– US non-farm payrolls
Mould said the good news is that the number of weekly unemployment claims is well below the spring peak of 6.9 million, but the rate of improvement appears to be stalling, with the number of new claims getting stuck at just under the 900,000 mark.
“That is prompting some economist to argue the US labour market and US economy are stalling a bit, perhaps as a result of fresh local Covid flare-ups and lockdowns, so the new non-farm payrolls number should be interesting.”
– Trading statement from logistics group Wincanton
– US factory orders data
