LONDON (SHARECAST) - There is a food theme to the corporate diary at the start of next week, while retailers will also be in fashion. On Friday, the week ends, as all working weeks should, with a visit to the pub.
Associated British Foods reports on Monday, and although its Primark stores will garner their usual quota of interest, the Sugar division is likely to be the outstanding performer.
Interims from Hilton Food Group on Tuesday will probably reflect the "challenging market conditions and constrained consumer demand" the meat-packing company spoke of in its trading statement back in July.
Performance in the Nordic markets is likely to be a bright feature for Hilton.
On the same day, Supergroup, the "too much, too soon" stock market story of recent years, takes another step in its attempt to repair relationships with the City.
Chief Executive and co-founder of SuperGroup Theo Karpathios abruptly quit his position in the middle of August to 'take on new challenges,' having presumably got fed up dealing with the surfeit of "old challenges" at the trendy clothing firm, which has had more than its share of teething troubles since floating on the stock exchange.
To make matters harder for the firm, the trading statement covers the first quarter (Q1) of its financial year, which last year was a bumper period for the fast-growing firm, in which like-for-like (LFL) retail sales growth of 14.4% year-on-year was achieved.
"We forecast retail sales growth of around 15% and wholesale sales growth of around 5% for Q1 2012/13, which implies group quarterly revenue growth of c.11%," Panmure Gordon said, adding that it thinks the market is slowly regaining trust in the company's management.
The broker reckons the shares are worth holding, if you already have them. "We await further evidence that our gut feel (of stronger management in the form of a new FD [finance director] and, especially, a new COO [chief operating officer) is correct before moving to a more positive stance," Panmure Gordon's Jean Roche said.
Later in the week, the somewhat more established fashion retailer Next reports on Thursday. Elsewhere in the retail sector do-it-yourself operators Kingfisher and Home Retail are set to report. while on Friday pubs group JD Wetherspoon announces full-year results, which are sure to include a rant against the government's tax policy towards boozers and, perhaps more interestingly, an update on how badly the mediocre summer weather and the competing attraction of the Olympics has affected trade.
On the economic front, the big event of the week in the UK is the release of the August unemployment figures on Wednesday.
Monday September 10
INTERIMS
Brady, PowerFilm Inc. (Reg S), Telit Communications
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
LSL Property Services
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Canaccord Financial Inc., IBM Corp., Lilly (Eli) & Co
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Canadian General Investments Ltd.
AGMS
Accsys Technologies, Anite, Artemis Alpha Trust, Darty, Photo-Me International, The Real Good Food Company
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Home Retail Group
Friday September 14
INTERIMS
M. P. Evans Group, Verona Pharma
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
4Imprint Group, Delcam, Japan Residential Investment Co Ltd., Moneysupermarket.com Group, Pearson, RM, Witan Inv Trust
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Anglogold Ashanti Ltd., Carnival, Energy XXI (Bermuda) (Di)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Business Inventories (US) (13:30)
Capacity Utilisation (US) (16:15)
Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)
Consumer Price Index (US) (13:30)
Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00)
Industrial Production (US) (16:15)
Manufacturing Inventories (US) (15:00)
Retail Sales (US) (13:45)
Retail Sales Inventories (US) (15:15)
U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (15:00)
Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)
FINALS
Wetherspoon (J.D.)
ANNUAL REPORT
Mwana Africa
AGMS
Avengardco Investments Public Ltd GDR, Eastern European Property Fund Ltd., First Property Group, Imaginatik, Imagination Technologies Group, Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings, Jupiter Green Inv Trust, Mwana Africa, Plant Impact
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wetherspoon (J.D.)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
JPMorgan Brazil Inv Trust , Latchways, New Century AIM VCT
LONDON (SHARECAST) - There is a food theme to the corporate diary at the start of next week, while retailers will also be in fashion. On Friday, the week ends, as all working weeks should, with a visit to the pub.
