Friday preview: Coca-Cola HBC to steal the spotlight on quiet day

14th May 2015 16:08

Friday is set to be a relatively quiet session in terms of economic data and corporate earnings after a busy few days for financial markets, so a trading update from blue-chip bottler Coca-Cola HBC is likely to garner some attention.CCH, the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world in terms of volume, is set to report on how trading has fared in its first quarter.After changing how it reports slightly, the company will no longer provide P&L details for its first and third quarters, but will only give sales and volumes numbers.Analysts at Numis Securities pointed out that given the first quarter is a seasonally weak period for CCH accounting for just a fifth of its annual sales, comments from management about the outlook "will be of prime importance".When the company reported its annual results in February, it said adverse currency movements and general market uncertainty in some countries would continue into 2015, though self-help cost-cutting measures, easier comparatives in Europe and lower input costs should partly mitigate this."Since then, anecdotal comments from Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever have suggested the Russian market (19.5% of 2014 volume [for CCH]) has not slowed as badly as feared, whilst the election of a new president in Nigeria has positive ramifications [...] with the naira stabilising (after prior losses) since February," Numis said. Nigeria accounted for 10.5% of volumes in 2014.The broker said 2015 "may be less taxing than seemed probable" for CCH.Numis has pencilled in €1,404.3m of sales at CCH for the first quarter, up 5.5% from €1,331.1m the year before. Friday 15 MayINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECarr's Group, Kier GroupQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEAbbott Laboratories, Marsh & Mclennan Cos Inc.INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSCapacity Utilisation (US) (14:15)Industrial Production (US) (14:15)U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (14:55)Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)ANNUAL REPORTAndrews Sykes Group, London SecuritySPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE888 Holdings, Novae Group, OMG, Plus500 Ltd (DI)AGMSBovis Homes Group, Brammer, British Smaller Companies VCT 2, Byblos Bank SAL GDR (Reg S), Chesnara, Highcroft Investment, Highcroft Investment, Hochschild Mining, Intertek Group, Menzies(John), Ocado Group, Polyus Gold International Ltd, Princess Private Equity Holding Ltd., Restore, Tribal Group, Tyman, ValirxTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSCoca-Cola HBC AG (CDI)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE888 Holdings, AL Noor Hospitals Group, Arbuthnot Banking Group, ARM Holdings, Aviva, British Polythene Industries, Clarke (T.), Communisis, Devro, Drax Group, Glanbia, InterContinental Hotels Group, Johnson Service Group, JPMorgan American Inv Trust, Kerry Group 'A' Shares, Kingspan Group, Lighthouse Group, Man Group, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, Mithras Inv Trust, Novae Group, Plus500 Ltd (DI), Quartix Holdings , RSA Insurance Group, Sagicor Financial Corp., Secure Trust Bank, St James's Place, Vitec GroupQ1New Europe Property Investments