Thursday preview: EU summit, UK retail sales in the spotlight

17th Oct 2018 13:59

(Sharecast News) - The spotlight on Thursday will be on the result of the European Union leaders' summit in Brussels.Nevertheless, little is expected in terms of fresh progress. Indeed, expectations appear to be building for both sides to pursue delaying tactics in a bid to take any decision right down 'to the wire'.Against that backdrop, at 0930 BST, ONS will report on UK retail sales volumes in September.Consensus is for an acceleration in the year-on-year rate of growth from the 3.3% pace observed in August to 3.6% for September.Stateside, the main release of the session will be the Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing sector survey for the month of October, at 1330 BST.The flow of corporate updates is scheduled to pick-up on Thursday, with the likes of consumer goods giant Unilever and Domino's Pizza set to update shareholders.For the former, UBS was forecasting an acceleration in its underlying sales growth (in euros) from the 2.5% seen over the first half of the year to 5.0% (2.3% volume, 2.7% price), versus a median consensus forecast for an increase to 4.3%.The main driver, but by no means the only one, was expected to be a roughly 40% jump in the average price of its products in Argentina.Nevertheless, the Swiss broker was below consensus in its projections for the company's sales volumes, predicting that demand would be impacted by price increases, especially in the emerging markets space. For Domino's Pizza, Numis analyst Richard Stuber had penciled-in third quarter UK like-for-like sales growth (ex splits) of 0.5%, on the back of the atypically hot and dry July and early August, which would mark a substantial slowdown from growth of 5.9% observed over the front half of the year.Tough comparators was another factor expected to weigh on the company's LFLs, although anything above 1% "should be supportive", he said.Other aspect of the firm's trading to focus on was the rate of new openings, the analyst added, given concerns in some corners that franchisees were unwilling to open new establishments.System sales in the UK and Ireland were seen at up by 7% year-on-year to £280m with international revenues 10% higher to £28mAn extension of its share buybacks was also expected.In Stuber's opinion, the shares had been "unfairly" marked down and were trading at about 14 times' his estimate for fiscal year 2019 earnings - a nine-year low - versus rivals at roughly 30 times profits.Thursday October 18INTERIMSHarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited A ShsINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEGamma Communications, Octopus AIM VCT 2, TT ElectronicsINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAmati AIM Vct , BAE Systems, Downing Three VCT F Shs, Downing Two VCT F Shs , Downing Two VCT G Shs, Inspired Energy, Intu Properties, Kerry Group 'A' Shares, Lookers, M. P. Evans Group, Marshalls, Mears Group, Menzies(John), Moss Bros Group, Saga , Stilo International, Witan Pacific Inv TrustQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATECity of London Inv Trust, Supermarket Income ReitINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSContinuing Claims (US) (13:30)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)Philadelphia Fed Index (US) (13:30)Wholesale Price Index (GER) (07:00)Q3Domino's Pizza Group, UnileverGMSSocietatea Nationala De Gaze Naturale Romgaz S.A. GDR (Reg S)FINALSApplied Graphene Materials , TristelSPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEKubera Cross-Border Fund Ltd.EGMSSocietatea Nationala De Gaze Naturale Romgaz S.A. GDR (Reg S)AGMSFalcon Oil & Gas Ltd., Myanmar Investments International Ltd, Rank Group, RenishawTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSDomino's Pizza Group, International Personal Finance, Renishaw, Rentokil Initial, RWS HoldingsUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSRetail Sales (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAvationFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEGrit Real Estate Income Group Limited NPV (DI), Henderson EuroTrust, Jupiter UK Growth Investment Trust, Photo-Me International, Schroder Japan Growth Fund, Smiths Group, Sylvania Platinum Ltd (DI), Wilmington