Monday 31 May
-Chinese purchasing managers’ indices for the manufacturing and services industries
Tuesday 1 June
-First-half results from Gooch & Housego
-Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Asia, Europe, the UK and US
-EU inflation figures
-In Europe, quarterly results from Rocket Internet
-In the US, quarter results from Zoom Video Communications and HPE
Wednesday 2 June
-Full-year results from Wizz Air and Bloomsbury Publishing
-UK mortgage lending data
-UK money supply growth data
-US monthly car sales figures
-Latest Beige Book economic survey from the US Federal Reserve
-In the US, quarterly results from Splunk
Thursday 3 June
-B&M European Value Retail full-year results
Shares in B&M European Value Retail are up by some 60% over the past year, outpacing the FTSE 100, “in recognition of how the company has kept Britain fed and watered during the multiple rounds of lockdowns that we have all endured,” according to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
March’s trading statement revealed that sales, margins and profits have all come in higher than expected. As a result analysts are now looking at sales of £4.7bn, a 24% increase on the previous year and a pre-tax profit of £469m, up from £252m in the year before.
For the year to March 2022, analysts are looking at broadly flat sales of £4.7bn and a drop in pre-tax profit to £376m as lockdowns ease. For the coming year, analysts are expecting a regular dividend of 16p a share.
-Pennon full-year results
Pennon’s shares have not done much over the past year, and are slightly down from last July when it sold waste management business Viridor for £3.7bn in cash.
It offered an ordinary interim dividend of 6.77p a share and analysts expect a final payment for the year ended in March of 15.23p for a total distribution of 22p a share, down from 43.77p a year ago. However, Pennon has a target of increasing its dividend by the CPIH rate of inflation plus 2% across the 2020-2025 K7 regulatory cycle.
On an underlying basis, sales, pre-tax profit and earnings per share are expected to be down in line with its half-year results when sales were down 2%, pre-tax profit down 15% and earnings per share down 11%.
-First-half results from Chemring
-Services industry purchasing managers’ indices (PMIs) from Asia, Europe, the UK and the US
-US weekly oil inventory data
-US weekly unemployment claims
-In Europe, quarterly results from Remy Cointreau
-In the US, quarterly results from Broadcom, Lululemon, Campbell’s Soup and JM Smucker
Friday 4 June
-US non-farm payrolls
Alongside the Challenger, Gray and Christmas job losses survey and the ADP survey released on Thursday 3 June, economists will look at the American jobs market as a gauge of US economic momentum.
Last month’s non-farm payrolls undershot expectations, according to AJ financial analyst Danni Hewson, as it showed the addition of 266,000 jobs compared to the one million expected. The shortfall is being attributed to a shortage of labour, although the official U3 unemployment rate is 6.1% and the U6 rate is 10.4%, suggesting that government stimulus checks and employment support have been so generous, workers are being tempted to stay at home.
The result of the labour shortage could be wage growth. Last month’s average monthly pay was $30.17, a fraction higher than the year before. Hewson said: “If wages really start to motor, then perhaps inflation is indeed coming our way, after nearly 40 years of lying fairly dormant.”
-US factory orders data
