The week ahead: Centrica, Kingfisher

There's no end to the stream of results, and investors have some big ones to look out for in the days ahead. Lee Wild talks us through some of the likely headline makers.

Monday 19 November

Trading Statements

MTI Wireless Edge, Sirius Real Estate, 600 Group, Diploma, Redx Pharma

AGM/EGM

Tau Capital 

Tuesday 20 November

Trading Statements

Coats Group, Spectris, AFI Development, Halma, Electrocomponents, Imimobile, Telecom Plus, Solid State, Eckoh, SRT Marine Systems, Homeserve, Big Yellow, AVEVA, AO World, CML Microsystems, EI Group, easyJet, CYBG, Compass

AGM/EGM

Sqn Asset Finance Income Fund, Pan African Resources, CAP-XX, Meikles, Wilmcote

Wednesday 21 November

Kingfisher

Things look precarious at Kingfisher ust now. The past two sets of results have been poorly received, the shares down 15% in the days following full-year numbers in March then around 7% after interims in September. 

But Kingfisher shares have underperformed the market all year, but especially since February during which time they're down 33% versus a flat FTSE 100. 

Half-year figures came in below forecasts, not helped by larger-than-expected losses in Russia and Romania, while margin improvement was well short of what's required.

• This is why Kingfisher just plunged again
• Kingfisher shares slide on "guarded" outlook

Kingfisher's ONE transformation plan was on track earlier this year, and was expected to deliver "strategic milestones for the third year in a row". However, chief executive Véronique Laury sounded much more cautious in September, talking of "challenges", a "mixed" outlook, and trading environment that made her job "more difficult than expected". 

Again, progress toward a more digital and efficient business will be the focal point of these third-quarter results. There'll need to be evidence of success turning round the French operation. We've been told that action has been taken to prop up performance in the second half, but proof is needed that this is working. Fixing Castorama is unlikely to be either a swift or easy job.

Source: TradingView (*) Past performance is not a guide to future performance

Trading Statements

Kingfisher, NewRiver Retail, Creightons, Babcock International, Liontrust Asset Management, United Utilities, TalkTalk Telecom, Biffa, Helical Bar, Johnson Matthey, Marston's, C4x Discovery Holdings, Sage Group, Solid State, Paragon Banking Group

AGM/EGM

Celtic, F&C UK Real Estate Investments

Thursday 22 November

Centrica

Centrica shares began a long, slow decline in 2013 when the share price was at or around 400p. A four-year decline appears to end in 2018, or at least pause, and the shares currently trade where they started the year at about 141p.

It's certainly not been plain-sailing, and the shares remain volatile, but there have been opportunities to either make a trading profit or lock-in a dividend yield nudging 10% at the share's nadir in February. 

Of course, all the talk is of the dividend and whether Centrica will keep paying shareholders 12p a year. Whether it does depends on delivering adjusted operating cash flow and net debt in line with its target range. 

Watch closely for clues that all is well. If it is, chief executive Iain Conn will tell us that net debt is below £3.25 billion and operating cash flow is between £2.1 billion and £2.3 billion.

• Should you be optimistic about Centrica and its 8% dividend yield?
• A blue chip to buy for huge yield
• Centrica's dividend survives, for now

Source: TradingView (*) Past performance is not a guide to future performance

Trading statements

Centrica, Keller, First Property Group, Assura Group, CMC Markets, Majestic Wine, Severn Trent, TR Property Investment Trust, Caledonia Investments, John Laing Environmental Assets, Redcentric, BGEO Group, Charles Stanley, MITIE Group, HICL Infrastructure, Euromoney Institutional Investor, Mitchells & Butlers

AGM/EGM

Davictus, URA Holdings, Berkeley Energia

Friday 23 November

Trading statements

Future

AGM/EGM

MC Mining, Base Resources, Crystal Amber Fund, Sylvania Platinum

*Horizontal lines on charts represent levels of previous technical support and resistance. Trendlines are represented in red