Monday 24 February
– Associated British Foods Q2 earnings release
Analysts at the Share Centre are not expecting many surprises in this first half update given it is only a few weeks since the last statement.
They said: “The focus for most in the market will once again be very much on value retail chain Primark with its UK performance and overseas expansion plans. Sales in European markets such as France and Italy have been strong recently although Germany is seen by many investors as the main opportunity for growth.”
Tuesday 25 February
– Germany GDP
– US Case-Shiller house price index
Wednesday 26 February
– Rio Tinto Q4 2019 earnings
Rio Tinto has already updated the market for the full year of 2019 showing various issues hitting overall production. “Copper production was down due to falling ore grades, technical issues affected aluminium production and severe weather in Australia hampered iron ore production,” said the Share Centre. “During 2019 iron ore prices were on average higher than in 2018 so this will have a positive contribution, however the restarting of production by Vale and the lingering effects of the Covid-19 are expected to result in falling iron ore and other commodity prices during 2020.”
– Taylor Wimpey full year results
– US crude oil inventories
Thursday 27 February
– St James’s Place full-year results
– Persimmon Q4 2019 earnings
Persimmon’s shares have had a stellar run over the past six months, rising almost 80%. That comes despite an independent report published in December which was extremely critical of Persimmon and highlighted some severe failings in its building standards, said the Share Centre. “The new CEO Dave Jenkinson is now trying to address those and the actions he is taking are expected to result in a drop in revenue in these full year figures for 2019.”
– Reckitt Benckiser Q4 2019 earnings
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said at first glance, Rakesh Kapoor looks to have timed his exit from the CEO position at Reckitt Benckiser rather expertly.
“The company is still looking to shake off the reputational damage caused by the South Korean humidifier scandal and a data hack in 2017 and prove to analysts that buying Mead Johnson for $16.6bn was the right thing to do. Moreover, the first thing new boss Laxman Narasimhan had to do in October was dole out a profit warning, as he cut both like-for-like sales and operating margin targets for 2019.”
– British American Tobacco full-year results
Mould noted BAT shares are up by a quarter over the past 12 months, despite the ongoing push back against smoking tobacco by regulators and health authorities alike and the US investigation into vaping.
He said: “Chief executive officer Jack Bowles, who took over from Nicandro Durante in April, responded to these challenges by announcing a four-pronged ‘simplification programme’ in September, the net result of which will be the elimination of 2,300 managerial roles, or around a fifth of senior positions within the company.”
– Standard Chartered Q4 2019 earnings
Standard Chartered is midway through a strategic plan aimed at hitting a return on equity of over 10%, further cost cutting, scaling back on some retail banking to focus on wealth and digital banking, noted the Share Centre. “2019 was a difficult year for banks and despite beating forecasts in October management remains cautious on the outlook,” analysts said. “Any comment on the recent effects of the coronavirus will be worth noting, along with their outlook for emerging markets.”
Friday 28 February
– Eurozone inflation report
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management investment manager Sam Buckingham said the European Central Bank’s attempts to spur inflation towards its target continue to be ineffective. In fact, the central bank has started looking at shaking up how it calculates inflation, in particular by giving more weight to housing costs.
“Headline CPI for the eurozone is currently at 1.4% and we may well see this rise further after witnessing the UK inflation report received last week. The report showed higher inflation than forecast, particularly for the headline figure, which was boosted by the cost of energy, motor fuel and air fares.”
– Rolls-Royce Holdings Q4 2019 earnings
The Share Centre noted Rolls Royce has faced a tough year or so with flaws in its Trent 1000 engine causing disruptions in the group’s supply chains and the deterioration of some of its end markets.
“All in all, there are a lot of updates that investors will anticipate progress on. If difficulties show no signs of improving, the outlook remains relatively bleak for the group. Although the valuation has come back in line with its longer-term average it is clear there are still a number of risks associated with this British icon.”
