Monday 24 February
- EU inflation
- German Ifo business confidence survey
- Belgian Courbe Synthetique business confidence survey
- In Europe, quarterly results from Bank of Ireland
- In the USA, quarterly results from Berkshire Hathaway, Diamondback Energy, Domino’s Pizza and Cleveland-Cliffs
Tuesday 25 February
- Full-year results from UNITE
- First-half results from DotDigital
- Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia
- Japanese inflation
- US S&P/Case-Shiller house price index
- US Conference Board consumer confidence survey
- In Asia, quarterly results from Budweiser Brewing APAC
- In Europe, quarterly results from ASM International, Fresenius Medical Care, SIG, and Saipem
- In the USA, quarterly results from Home Depot, Intuit, American Tower, Workday, Axon Enterprise, Keurig Dr Pepper, Amer Sports and Novanta
- Smith & Nephew full-year results
- Croda full-year results
Smith & Nephew full-year results
Smith & Nephew will produce its full-year results on Tuesday 25 February, following a year where share price has dropped by a tenth.
In the past five years, the orthopaedic implant and sports medicine specialist has experienced a share price fall of 40%. Now, chief executive Deepak Nath has enacted a 12-step turnaround plan, but it has yet to yield results with the company issuing a profit warning in the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Analysts currently project sales of £5.8bn, up 4% year on year, and a slightly-higher operating margin of 17.8%, up from 17.5%.
Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, and Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis, said: “Geographic trends will be of interest, especially when it comes to the US orthopaedic market and China. In the latter case, American medical equipment firm Medtronic has already warned of the lingering impact of China’s bulk-buying volume-based procurement (VBP), albeit in the field of vascular devices.
“Meanwhile a new divisional reporting structure could persuade some investors and analysts to revisit sum-of-the-parts calculations and explore whether Smith & Nephew would be cheap on the basis of a potential asset sale or break-up.”
Croda full-year results
Croda will share it’s full-year results as the company passes 100 years.
Despite the longevity of the brand, recent years have provided challenges, with the share price dropping over a third in the past year. The fall makes it the current worst year-on-year performer in the FTSE 100.
“Part of that is down to how higher interest rates have persuaded investors to pay lower multiples for perceived secular growth stocks – Croda has derated from a prospective price/earnings multiple of around 40 times down to barely 20 (although that is still a hefty premium to the FTSE 100). Part of it is down to earnings disappointment after a series of profit warnings. Ultimately, both the price multiple, or P, and earnings estimates, or E, in the PE calculation have gone down,” Mould and Hewson said.
“The company has built a strong competitive position as a supplier of key chemicals to its customer base in the life sciences, personal care and consumer care industries, where clients range from Pfizer to L’Oréal to Unilever to Boots. In many cases, its clients cannot produce their goods without the vital inputs from Croda.”
Analysts will watch for Croda to meet it’s downgraded pre-tax profit goal of £260m to £280m. In 2023, it achieved a pre-tax profit of £309m. While the business has struggled, analysts still expect it to continue growing the dividend, which it has done since 1999.
Wednesday 26 February
- Full-year results from Hikma Pharmaceuticals, ConvaTec, Aston Martin Lagonda, Hammerson and Morgan Sindall
- First-half results from Avingtrans
- Interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
- British Retail Consortium UK shop price index
- US new homes sales
- US oil inventories
- In Europe, quarterly results from Deutsche Telekom, AB InBev, Munich Re, Danone, Wolters Kluwer, Stellantis, E.On, Beiersdorf, Uniper and Adecco
- In the USA, quarterly results from NVIDIA, Salesforce, Lowe’s, CRH, Snowflake, Agilent, eBay, Dollar Tree and Paramount Global
Thursday 27 February
- Full-year results from Aviva, London Stock Exchange, Rolls-Royce, Haleon, Hiscox, Taylor Wimpey, WPP, Howden Joinery, Ocado, Drax, Metro Bank, Serco and Shaftesbury Capital
- First-half results from Genus
- German unemployment
- US durable goods orders
- US pending homes sales
- US weekly initial unemployment claims
- In Asia, quarterly results from Hong Kong Exchanges and Galaxy Entertainment
- In Australia, quarterly results from Ocado partner Coles
- In Europe, quarterly results from Iberdrola, AXA, Saint Gobain, ENI, Swiss Re, Ferrovial, Telefonica, Puig, Ageas, Subsea7 and Vallourec
- In the USA, quarterly results from Dell, Autodesk, HP Inc, Formula One, Warner Bros Discovery, Hormel Foods, Norwegian Cruise Line, JM Smucker, Birkenstock and Liberty Broadband
Friday 28 February
- Full-year results from Pearson, IMI, Rightmove, Spectris, Morgan Advanced Materials and Tritax Big Box
- German inflation
- US Personal Consumption Expenditure index
- In Europe, quarterly results from Allianz, Holcim, BASF, Amadeus, Clariant and Shurgard
- In the USA, quarterly results from Frontline