Monday 29 November
-Full-year results from Character Group
-Nationwide UK house prices
-UK money supply growth
-UK mortgage and customer lending data
-In Asia, quarterly results from L’Occitane
Tuesday 30 November
-Full-year results from Easyjet
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould and financial analyst Danni Hewson said the airline’s shares have offered more than a few ups and downs over the past 12 months, but overall, they are 30% lower than a year ago. They have almost halved from their 2021 high and are now just 20% above the low reached in autumn 2020 when fresh lockdowns were coming into force.
“The pandemic is a key factor here and new lockdowns in Austria and the Netherlands, tighter measures in Belgium and talk of lockdowns in Germany are hitting shares in travel firms hard. While there may be bigger, public health issues at stake, the timing could hardly be worse for airlines such as Easyjet as bookings had just started to gather momentum as vaccination programmes and eased travel restrictions had started to encourage people to fly once more.”
– Full-year results from Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury is a real estate investment trust, and the commercial property landlord owns a portfolio of assets in London, including chunks of Chinatown, Soho, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden, with a book value of just under £3bn, including the Longmartin joint venture, note AJ Bell. In terms of the mix, hospitality and leisure represents just under 40% of the portfolio and retail a little more than a quarter, with offices and residential sites splitting the remainder.
“Usually, such prime real estate would be seen as highly desirable, but the pandemic changed all of that, at least for a while. Rental income and asset valuations have plunged but the shares have rallied by a quarter over the 12 months,” said Mould and Hewson.
-Full-year results from Future
Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Nicholas Hyett said Future has had a busy 12 months. February saw the GoCompare acquisition complete, while the group has subsequently bought Money Week and The Week owner Dennis for £300m.
“The work to integrate all these new businesses could make full year results a bit messy. Not only will there likely be restructuring costs but sifting genuine year-on-year growth from acquired businesses will be key to understanding how the core business is performing. Management have pointed to improving digital advertising momentum when guiding for ‘adjusted operating profit to be at the top end of expectations’. If that’s been sustained even as consumers return to a more normal pace of life that bodes well for the future.”
-Full-year results from Future, Greencore and Marston’s
-First-half results from Pennon
HL Select Funds manager Steve Clayton said with the group having set out its stall to the City in a capital markets event only a few weeks ago, big surprises are unlikely.
“We expect to see the group reporting strong operational controls and an ongoing recovery from the impact of Covid upon client billings. With the balance sheet in a strong position following the Viridor disposal and earnings growth set to benefit from the Bristol Water acquisition, Pennon has set a dividend policy of CPIH+2% growth per annum, which should give it one of the most attractive rates of dividend growth amongst the UK’s utility companies.”
-First-half results from GB Group
-Trading statement from MicroFocus
-Japanese unemployment figures
-Chinese purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) for manufacturing and services
-US Case-Shiller house price index
-US Conference Board consumer confidence
-In Europe, quarterly results from Rocket Internet
-In the US, quarterly results from Salesforce.com, HP Enterprise and oil tanker owner Frontline
Wednesday 1 December
-Full-year results from Brickability
-Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Asia, Europe, the UK and USA
-ADP US payrolls figure
-US monthly car sales
-US oil inventories
-Federal Reserve Beige Book
-In Europe, quarterly results from Soitec
-In the US, quarterly results from Costco, Snowflake and Splunk
Thursday 2 December
-Full-year results from Auction Technology
-Trading statement from Go-Ahead Group
-OPEC+ meeting
-Challenger, Gray & Christmas monthly job losses survey in the US
-US weekly jobless claims
-In the US, quarterly results from Marvell Technology, Dollar General and Kroger
Friday 3 December
-US jobs and wage data
Mould and Hewson said the latest readings for monthly levels of job creation, unemployment and wage growth in the US could help to set the tone for the Federal Reserve when it next meets on 14-15 December.
-First-half results from Marlowe
-Services industries’ purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Asia, Europe, the UK and US
-US factory orders
