Friday preview: Spectris and Close Brothers update on quarterly trading

The company in February posted a 17% decline in 2015 pre-tax profit to £141.6m, blaming faltering industrial activity in North America and restructuring costs.

Chief executive Jon O’Higgins said the year was “characterised by mixed trading conditions, with growth in Europe and Asia offset by a challenging environment in North America and the Rest of the World”.

At the time, the group had guided to broadly flat revenue on a like-for-like basis in the full year 2016 with maintained margins.

Investors will be looking closely at the group's trading update to see how it weathered continued weakness in industrial trends in the first quarter.

Numis analyst Nick James said: “Given weak industrial markets in the first quarter, revenue trends are likely to have remained similar to those in the fourth quarter and confidence in an upturn as the year progresses is likely to be tentative. However tight control of costs is likely to be emphasised”.

Close Brothers also reports a trading update on Friday for its third quarter. The financial services group is not expected to report revenue or profit figures but will provide an update on the key drivers of its businesses units – Banking, Asset Management and Securities.

UBS said it forecasts the total loan book in the banking division will continue to grow at slower rates than in the past, reaching £6.1bn in the third quarter, up 2.2% quarter-on-quarter and up 6.3% in the year to date.

Total client assets in the asset management business are expected to come in at £9.5bn, up 4% quarter-on-quarter but down 4% year-on-year, excluding the negative impact of the sale of the corporate investment management business in the first half.

“We have a ‘neutral’ rating on Close Brothers and we are 1% below consensus for 2016E earnings per share,” UBS analyst Michael Werner said.

To take note of, US Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo was set to deliver a speech on Friday at 15:00 BST.

Friday 20 May

INTERIMS
Future

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
AB Dynamics, Barratt Developments, JRP Group, Kier Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Existing Home Sales (US) (15:00)
Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

FINALS
Majestic Wine

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Novae Group, Prudential

AGMS
Applegreen, Asian Growth Properties Ltd. (DI), Etalon Group Ltd GDR (Reg S), Hochschild Mining, Hydrogen Group, Menzies(John), Moss Bros Group, PJSC Pharmstandard GDR (Reg S), Richland Resources Ltd, Spectris, Wisdomtree Issuer WT Europe Equity Ucits ETF USD Hedged

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Close Brothers Group, Fusionex International, Industrial Mlulti Propety Trust , Spectris

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
BBA Aviation, Bovis Homes Group, Communisis, Costain Group, esure Group, Fidelity European Values, Greggs, IMI, Interserve, John Laing Group , National Express Group, Novae Group, Octopus AIM VCT 2, PPHE Hotel Group Ltd, Prudential, Relx plc, RPS Group, STV Group, Taylor Wimpey, Tyman, Unite Group, Vesuvius, Vitec Group