Friday preview: Silver lining for UK retail sales, Segro results due

Data from the Office for National Statistics is unlikely to lift the dark clouds over UK retail but a better month is expected and could prove a thin ray of sunshine.

Retail sales fell by over 1% in December, as the real wage squeeze continued to weigh on spending, even over the festive season.

"That said," noted HSBC, "January saw a four-point rise in consumer confidence from December’s post-referendum low. Against this backdrop, and given the sizeable fall in December, we expect a small rise in volumes in this January reading."

The consensus forecast is expected to show a 0.5% month-on-month gain after the 1.5% fall the month before.

Together with the favourable base effect should leave the annual pace of growth at around 2.5%.

"However, looking ahead," said analysts at Daiwa, "we continue to expect the downward trend in retail sales growth to be maintained at least for a while, given that real wage growth is likely to remain absent and consumer sentiment is set to remain subdued."

Property developer Segro will release its full year results, following a solid third quarter trading update where £36.4m of total space had been contracted in the first nine months of 2017, which was 3% ahead of strong results a year earlier.

New leases in the UK were being signed 15% ahead of prior levels while vacancy fell to 4.1% from 5.5%, while some 313,000 square metres of development was delivered, generating £12m of rent, including the 156,000sq m fulfilment centre for Amazon in Rome.

UBS analysts forecast EPRA net asset value per share of 533p driven by operational results and 8.7% like-for-like revaluation, of which 3.6% from the second half of the year, leading to recurring earnings per share of 19.6p and a dividend of 16.8p per share.

"We expect an upbeat statement as we see continued momentum driven by e-commerce related tailwinds, driving both occupier demand for space and investor demand for assets. We look for a development pipeline update."

The Swiss bank's analysts were also look for some news on leasing progress – such as further details on Ikea's pre-lease of a 50,000 square metre warehouse at Port de Gennevilliers in France.

Friday February 16

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Consort Medical, Fletcher King, Solid State

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
Import and Export Price Indices (US) (13:30)
Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)

FINALS
Segro

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Victrex plc

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Autins Group, Baring Emerging Europe, CYBG , Dunedin Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Shaftesbury, Third Point Offshore Investors Limited, Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. GBP Shares, Tracsis, TUI AG Reg Shs (DI), Victrex plc