Thursday preview: Consumer credit, mortgage approvals, DS Smith, Wood Group

Investors in London will have no shortage of macroeconomic news to sift through on Thursday, with net lending, consumer credit and mortgage approvals all due, while on the corporate front, full-year results from DS Smith and a trading statement from Wood Group are among the highlights.

As far as the mortgage approvals are concerned, HSBC noted that the housing market has been weakening throughout this year with the Bank of England recording month-on-month falls in the number of mortgage approvals since March.

"We expect approvals to continue to inch down to around 63,200 as consumers are faced with continued uncertainty and higher inflation. Although consumer credit has been resilient so far, it may also start to tail off a bit from here."

Meanwhile, Barclays said it expects packaging business DS Smith to maintain healthy top-line growth trends as it takes market share from smaller packaging companies. It said margins should continue to improve, driven by the integration of recent acquisitions as well as additional acquisitions as the company continues to consolidate the sector.

"We project 15.9% revenue growth, driven mainly by recent acquisitions, with £266m in adjusted profit from continuing operations. Although DS Smith will likely continue to face some pricing pressure, we believe this will be more than offset by volume growth driven by higher demand."

Pub operator Greene King will report full-year numbers, with Deutsche Bank highlighting the fact that sector data suggests a weakening backdrop, with ongoing cost pressure.

"We expect costs to rise but remain confident that Greene King has mitigation scope through scale (supplier negotiation), improved productivity (IT automation), labour scheduling and a further review of the operational cost base.

"Outlook: since GNK’s February update, issues such as rising inflation, the General Election and Brexit discussions are likely to have reduced consumer confidence, in our view."

Energy services company Wood Group is also on the slate. Jefferies said that having given only broad market-based guidance at FY16 results, it would expect the group to move to specific guidance on earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation where consensus currently sits at -8% year-on-year to $334m.

Thursday June 29

INTERIMS

Harwood Wealth Management Group

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Henderson European Focus Trust

INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Duke Royalty Limited, Electronic Data Processing, Game Digital, Globalworth Real Estate Investments Limited, RWS Holdings, Scottish Inv Trust

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Volta Finance Limited

QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Alpha Real Trust Ltd., British Land Company, Real Estate Credit Investments Ltd, Real Estate Investors

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Business Climate Indicator (EU) (11:00)

Consumer Confidence (EU) (10:00)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (11:00)

GFK Consumer Confidence (GER) (07:00)

Gross Domestic Product (US) (13:30)

Industrial Confidence (EU) (11:00)

Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)

Services Confidence (EU) (11:00)

GMS

Harvey Nash Group, Rio Tinto

FINALS

Cohort, Greene King, Purplebricks Group, Redcentric, ReNeuron Group, Smith (DS)

SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Foresight 4 VCT, Record, Triple Point Income VCT

EGMS

Adams

AGMS

3i Group, Alexander Mining, Anpario, Atlantis Resources Limited (DI), Beowulf Mining, Blur Group , Condor Gold, Crimson Tide, DCD Media, Eland Oil & Gas, Eurasia Mining, European Real Estate Investment Trust Limited Part Pref Shs, F & C UK High Income Trust , Federal Grid Company Of Unified Energy System, Public Joint-Stock Company GDR (Reg S), Fishing Republic , Gusbourne, Harvey Nash Group, Independent Oil & Gas , JD Sports Fashion, KEFI Minerals, Nautilus Marine Services, OJSC Surgutneftegas ADR, P2P Global Investments, Pacific Assets Trust, Press Corp. GDR (Reg S), Richland Resources Ltd, Rockrose Energy, Rose Petroleum, Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust, Serica Energy, Sirius Minerals, Stobart Group Ltd., Strat Aero, Strategic Minerals, Tiziana Life Sciences, Trans-Siberian Gold, Vianet Group, Volvere, Westminster Group, Wincanton, World Trade Systems

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Harvey Nash Group, John Laing Group , Wood Group (John)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

M4 Money Supply (09:30)

Mortgage Approvals (09:30)

Nationwide House Price Index (07:00)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Applegreen, Augean, British American Inv Trust, Centrica, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Tongaat-Hulett Ltd.

FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE

Anglo Pacific Group, B.P. Marsh & Partners, Babcock International Group, Bonmarche Holdings, Braemar Shipping Services, Charles Stanley Group, Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI), Cranswick, De La Rue, Fidelity China Special Situations , Gabelli Value Plus Trust , Gama Aviation , Hogg Robinson Group, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI), Nex Group , Next Fifteen Communications, Northern Investors Co, Octopus Apollo VCT, Oxford Technology 3 VCT, Oxford Technology VCT, Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd., Premier Technical Services Group , Record, Renewi , Royal Mail, Tate & Lyle, Triple Point Income VCT, Triple Point Income VCT A, Triple Point Income VCT C, Triple Point Income VCT D, Value and Income Trust, Vertu Motors