The Week Ahead: Lloyds, BP, Sky, Taylor Wimpey

Monday 25 July

Trading Statements

Hiscox, Magnit Ojsc, Globaldata, XP Power, Hammerson, Great Eastern Energy Corporation, Tungsten Corporation, Cranswick

AGM/EGM

Helical Bar, Jiasen International

Tuesday 26 July

Second-quarter results from BP on Tuesday will likely show cash flow under continued pressure from the huge costs of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, as well as restructuring charges at the oil major.

But that "should not take away from a business that is clearly in re-set mode and where the benefit of the higher cash outflow now will be seen in 2017," according to Barclays analyst Lydia Rainforth.

A higher oil price and the expected benefits of massive cost-cutting measures mean BP is "heading towards a sweet spot offering top-line momentum, better operational efficiency and lower costs", she concludes.

Barclays forecasts adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 3.56p for the three months to June, down 24% on last year but a 77% boost from the first-quarter. Likewise, replacement cost (RC) operating profit is expected to be down 31% at $1.68 billion, yet up 69% quarter-on-quarter.

The broker's price target of 600p - higher than BP has been since before the 2010 disaster - represents 33% of potential upside.

Trading Statements

Man Group, Huntsworth, Capital & Counties Properties, Croda International, GKN, Provident Financial, Drax, Unite Group, Segro, Victoria, Sage

AGM/EGM

Globalworth Real Estate Investments, Keller Group, Greka Drilling, Puma VCT 11, Green Dragon Gas

Wednesday 27 July

Taylor Wimpey's mid-week update will be closely watched. As one of the last housebuilders to report on its first half, it will have an extra three weeks of data. "We will be looking for comments about movements in cancellation rates, regional trading, use of incentives and to what extent land spend has been curtailed," says Gavin Jago at Peel Hunt. 

A 2016 price/net asset value of 1.3 times is in line with the sector, but income seekers will want confirmation that the £450 million dividend flagged earlier this year is safe.

Trading Statements

St James's Place, Mitchells & Butlers, Taylor Wimpey, Megafon, Tullow Oil, Lancashire Holdings, Morgan Advanced Materials, Tarsus, Primary Health Properties, ITV, GlaxoSmithKline, Rightmove, Capita Group, Burford Capital, ETFS 3x Short JPY Long USD, Shire, ARM Holding, Smurfit Kappa Group, Dignity, Renishaw, Sage Group, Jupiter Fund Management, Antofagasta

AGM/EGM

Rapidcloud International, Market Tech Holdings, Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund, Xcite Energy, FlyBe

Thursday 28 July

Domestic lenders have suffered most post the EU referendum, and Lloyds shares are still down 24%. April's first-quarter results were good enough, but with interest rates at record lows and set to fall further, margins are vulnerable and there are real risks to volume growth and loan losses.

Deutsche Bank has slashed its dividend forecast for 2016 from 5p to 2.9p, although that's still a prospective yield of 5.3%. We'll get confirmation in half-year results on Thursday.

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

Look for half-year reported pre-tax profit of £2.35 billion, double last year's number. In the first six months of 2015, the lender made £1.19 billion, which included a charge of £1.4 billion for PPI and £660 million relating to the sale of TSB.

On the same day, we'll see fourth-quarter and final results from Sky, a pay-TV pioneer and broadband provider dogged by competition from aggressively-marketed rival Virgin Media.

Hoping to haul up revenues, it's spent months cutting off subscribers on discounted tariffs, constricting the numbers of net additional customers. Not for long, though, reckons UBS analyst Polo Tang, who predicts the net new subscriber figure will remain "soft" at around 60,000 in the UK, but then grow much faster from first-quarter 2017 onwards.

UBS expects underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) up 11% to £1.6 billion on revenue up 6.7% to £12 million. The price target comes down 40p - from 1,300p to 1,260p - to reflect lower forecast advertising growth in the UK, offset by foreign exchange benefits. That's 43% of possible upside.

Tang reckons the shares are far too cheap and reaffirms the broker's 'buy' rating: "We remain optimistic on longer-term growth and see Sky as inexpensive on c13.5x calendarised EPS for 2017."

Trading Statements

Intu Properties, National Express Group, Telefonica, International Personal Finance, Beale, BAE Systems, AstraZeneca, Anglo American, Lancashire Holdings, Mandarin Oriental International, Merlin Entertainments, Informa, Weir Group, Sky, Just Eat, Smith & Nephew, Royal Dutch Shell, Genel Energy, RELX, Dairy Farm International, Schroders, Rolls-Royce Group, Countrywide, Henderson Group, BT Group, Vesuvius, British American Tobacco, Centrica, Hong Kong Land Holdings, Spectris, Greencoat UK Wind, Diageo, Angle, Thomas Cook, Kaz Minerals, Compass Group

AGM/EGM

Goldstone Resources, EPE Special Opportunities

Friday 29 July

Trading Statements

Foxtons, Pearson, International Consolidated Airlines, IMI, UBM, Diageo, FBD Holdings, Jardine Matheson Holdings, Indivior, Jardine Strategic Holdings, Barclays, RBS Market Access Daxglobal Asia IDX Fund

AGM/EGM

China New Energy, StratMin Global Resources

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.