Monday 10 March
- Full-year results from Clarkson
- Japanese GDP
- In the US, quarterly results from Oracle, BioNTech and Franco-Nevada
Tuesday 11 March
- Full-year results from Spirax Group, Rotork, STV, Costain, Synthomer and Domino’s Pizza
- First-half results from Supermarket REIT
- British Retail Consortium UK retail sales figures
- US NFIB small company survey
- US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
- In Asia, quarterly results from Asustek
- In Europe, quarterly results from Volkswagen and Henkel
- In the US, quarterly results from Ferguson, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ciena, Nio and Kohl’s
Housebuilder Persimmon will share its full-year results on 11 March after watching its share price fall by a sixth this year.
The past five years have proved difficult for the business, as high interest rates and the end of the Help-to-Buy scheme put a damper on customer interest.
A trading update in January showed that completions rose by 7%, to 10,664, and prices rose by 5%, to £268,00, in 2024.
Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, and Dan Coatsworth, AJ Bell investment analyst, said: “It is possible that the early stages of 2025 are getting a boost from the combination of lower interest rates and the imminent end to 2022’s lowering of stamp duty land tax thresholds, which will return to their prior levels on 1 April this year. Overall, however, housing affordability remains a key issue.”
According to Halifax, the average price of a house in the UK is £300,000, which outpaces the yearly average salary of £36,920 by more than eight times.
“As such, wages need to rise more rapidly than house prices, and for some time, or house prices need to come down,” Mould, Hewson and Coatsworth said.
“The latter will be a difficult prospect for many, and thus for politicians, so lower interest rates are needed to help boost demand, but a return to the go-go, Help-to-Buy propelled housing market of the 2010s seems unlikely, so housebuilders’ profits and dividends in this decade may struggle to match those of the last one. This is why the UK sector now trades on around one times net asset value, on average, compared to a multiple nearer to two at prior peaks.”
Wednesday 12 March
- Full-year results from Balfour Beatty, Hill & Smith, Hochschild Mining, Ferrexpo and Forterra
- US inflation
- Bank of Canada interest rate decision
- US oil inventories
- In Asia, quarterly results from Temu-owner PDD, Cathay Pacific Airways and Samsonite
- In Europe, quarterly results from Inditex, Porsche, Rheinmetall and Puma
- In the US, quarterly results from Adobe and Lennar
Legal & General will produce its full-year results on Wednesday, with its new strategic plan put in place for near half a year.
After experiencing flat share prices across the past 10 years, the business will now place its focus on pension risk transfers for work pensions, asset management and private pensions.
“The company has already announced the sale of its UK housebuilding and US insurance operations, a plan to merge Legal & General Investment Management and Legal & General Capital and its intention to maximise the value of non-core assets through a new Corporate Investments Unit. The UK housebuilding arm, CALA, is one such non-core operation,” the AJ Bell trio said.
New targets for the company include a 5% dividend growth in 2024 and 2% for following years and compound annual earnings per share growth of 6% to 9%.
“Legal & General looks to have sufficient surplus regulatory capital to back up such plans, too, as based on its requirements under the Solvency II regime,” Mould, Hewson and Coatsworth said.
“This measures the ability of an insurer to meet any claims that it may encounter and its financial strength in the face of unexpected and extreme falls in asset prices or increases in liabilities.”
Thursday 13 March
- Full-year results from Deliveroo, Savills, Restore and Bridgepoint
- First-half results from DFS Furniture and Volution
- US weekly initial unemployment claims
- In Europe, quarterly results from ENEL, Generali, Hannover Re, Swatch and Brunello Cucinelli
- In the US, quarterly results from DocuSign, Dollar General and Jabil
Friday 14 March
- Full-year results from Vanquis Banking and Bodycote
- UK construction, industrial and manufacturing output
- In Asia, quarterly results from AIA and Hon Hai Precision
- In Europe, quarterly results from BMW and Daimler Truck