The week ahead: Plus500, Balfour Beatty, KAZ Minerals
10th August 2018 16:34
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Results from miners, as well as Balfour Beatty and fast-growing AIM company Plus500, are among highlights in the week ahead. Graeme Evans reports.
Monday 13 August
Trading statements: Clarkson, ITM Power, Plus500
High-yielding AIM-listed company Plus500 Ltd is on a spectacular run of form, having raised forecasts no less than three times in as many months.
The company, which enables retail investors to trade contracts for difference on a wide range of securities including cryptocurrencies, got its latest boost from increased market volatility caused by the US-China trade war.
It has already reported a record-breaking first quarter performance, triggered by a major surge in customers wanting to bet on the price of Bitcoin and other cryptos at the end of last year and early part of 2018. This spike in activity has done wonders for attracting new customers and boosting all-important KPIs.
Analysts will no doubt be relieved that the interim results will allow them to take stock, having seen "material" increases to management forecasts in June and July.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, shares have more than doubled since the start of the year to a record high above 2000p. The projected dividend yield for 2018 is in the region of 7%.
Tuesday 14 August
Trading statements: Antofagasta, Capital & Regional, esure, Jackpotjoy, John Menzies, Mears
Wednesday 15 August
Trading statements: Admiral, Balfour Beatty, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Lookers
AGM/EGM: John Laing Environmental Assets
That Balfour Beatty has been quietly going about its business will surely be taken as a positive by investors after the collapse of Carillion at the start of this year.
Even though its shares are pretty much unchanged in 2018 so far, they are up 10% on their low point in March as sentiment improves towards the construction sector. That was highlighted by Friday’s UK GDP figures, which revealed a 0.9% jump in building-sector output in the second quarter.
In the UK, Balfour is looking to the '4Hs' - HS2, new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point C and Wylfa, smart motorways for Highways England and the third runway at Heathrow airport - to lift Government investment in infrastructure to over 1% of GDP by 2020-21.
Under chief executive Leo Quinn, Balfour has delivered an improved performance after it exited the Middle East market in order to focus on the UK, United States and Far East.
The half-year results will be a big test of whether Quinn remains on track to meet his goal of "industry-standard margins" in the second-half of 2018.
Thursday 16 August
Trading statements: Allied Minds, Filtronic, KAZ Minerals, Kingfisher, Marshalls, Megafon, Rank, Tribal
Mid-cap miner KAZ Minerals spooked investors earlier this month when it revealed it was spending US$900 million on the Baimskaya copper project in the Chukotka region of Russia.
It wasn't just the price tag that unnerved, but the estimated $5.5 billion in capital expenditure required to develop the mine, which is situated in Russia's Far East.
The copper mining specialist will hope its interim results revive sentiment after shares fell more 20% on the day of the Baimskaya announcement. In May, the Kazakhstan-based company was trading above £10 for the first time since 2012.
Peel Hunt thinks the project will require a US$6,800 copper price in order to generate a 10% cash return on the acquisition cost plus capex budget. UBS has also warned that the risk profile was much greater than other major KAZ developments.
Friday 17 August
Trading statements: Global Port Holdings
AGM/EGM: MX Oil
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