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The week ahead in business and finance

Burberry seeks to get back on trend after strategy fears
Burberry seeks to get back on trend after strategy fears

Monday

The turnaround effort at funeral service provider Dignity will be back under the spotlight to kick off this week’s packed corporate diary.

Dignity shares halved in valuation earlier this year following a disastrous profit warning, and the company has slashed its prices to entice customers away from its undercutting competitors. It said in April that trading has improved following an increase in deaths but investors will be looking for stronger signs that recovery is on a firm footing.

Interim results: Diploma, Victex

Trading update: Centrica, Dignity

Tuesday

Virgin Money investors will be taking extra interest in Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group’s interim figures after its challenger banking rival made a £1.6bn all-share takeover bid last week.

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CYBG has offered 1.13 of its shares for each Virgin share, giving it a 36.5pc stake in the combined group.

After making just a small dent in the big four banks’ market share, CYBG believes that the merged group could offer SME customers a “genuine alternative”.

Virgin Money is mulling over the takeover approach but some City analysts believe that CYBG’s current offer undervalues the company.

Full-year results:  BTG, DCC, Land Securities, Vodafone

Interim results: CYBG, easyJet

Trading update: Hargreaves Lansdown, Spirax-Sarco Engineering

Economics: Labour figures (UK), GDP growth second estimate (EU)

Wednesday

Shares in trench coat maker Burberry are still reeling from new boss Marco Gobbetti’s major strategy shift and the FTSE 100 fashion house has now lost the backing of revered Belgian billionaire Albert Frère.

The activist investor dumped a 6.6pc stake last week, unsettling investors still to be won over by Burberry’s plan to tap the luxury market. The full-year figures will mark the company’s first under its new management team but Berenberg warned that trading is unlikely to have accelerated in its fourth quarter.

Burberry sales struggled in the previous quarter as a surge in tourists snapping up luxury goods following the pound’s post-Brexit slump slowed.

Mr Gobbetti insisted that it was still on track to meet its full-year profit guidance but will be hoping to impress investors to help reverse a 9.7pc share price slide since unveiling the revamped strategy.

Full-year results: Burberry

Interim results: Brewin Dolphin, Marston’s, Mitchells and Butlers, SSP

Trading update: Coats, Crest Nicholson, Galliford Try, Mondi, National Express

Economics: Housing data (US), industrial production (US), CPI (EU)

Thursday

Royal Mail boss Moya Greene will face her final full-year figures at the parcel deliverer with its shares hitting an all-time high on Friday.

After shepherding the firm through its controversial privatisation and resolving a bitter pensions dispute with workers, Ms Greene will step aside as chief executive in June. With letter volumes expected to continue to decline and strong competition in the UK parcel market, Royal Mail still faces “plenty of external pressure”, according to Hargreaves Lansdown’s Nicholas Hyett.

Full-year results: 3i, British Land, Experian, Investec, Mothercare, National Grid, Royal Mail, Sophos

Interim results: Countryside, Euromoney Institutional Investor, Grainger, Thomas Cook

Trading update: Just Group

Economics: Construction output (EU)

Friday

Copycat drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals will be looking to rebound after swinging to a loss last year amid fierce competition in the generics market.

The company is hoping to secure approval in the US to launch a copycat version of GSK’s asthma drug Advair but its shares have plunged following lengthy delays.

Trading update: AstraZeneca, Hikma Pharmaceuticals