This Week: Results from KBC, Glanbia and Kerry Group

Figures for car sales in July to give pointer to performance for remainder of year

KBC Bank Ireland is due to release results on Thursday. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien
KBC Bank Ireland is due to release results on Thursday. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

MONDAY

Results: Marriott International, Sotheby's.

Indicators: euro-zone retail PMI (Jul); UK car sales (Jul); German factory orders (Jun), construction purchasing managers' index (Jul).

TUESDAY

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Results: Mylan, Deutsche Post DHL, Aralez Pharmaceuticals, GW Pharmaceuticals, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Avis Budget Group, Crocs, Walt Disney, Office Depot.

Indicators: Irish industrial production (Jun); UK house price index (Jul); German exports and imports (Jun), industrial production (Jun).

WEDNESDAY

Results: Paddy Power Betfair, Corbion, Horizon Pharma, 21st Century Fox, New York Times, Yelp.

Indicators: Irish consumer confidence (Jul), residential property prices (Jun); US mortgage applications and rates (Aug).

THURSDAY

Results: Glanbia, Kerry Group, KBC Bank Ireland, News Corp, Dropbox, Viacom.

Indicators: Irish inflation (Jul); US producer price index (Jul).

Glanbia’s first-half results on Thursday are the first since it set out its five-year strategy in May.

Speaking at the time and ahead of its Capital Markets Day in the US, group managing director Siobhán Talbot said the ambition was to grow total group revenue from €3.6 billion in 2017 to more than €5 billion by 2022.

“We are well positioned to capture growth from global consumer nutrition trends related to health and wellness, active lifestyles and clean ingredients,” she said.

Davy is forecasting half-year ebita (earnings before interest, tax and amortisation) of €124.6 million, down 11 per cent year on year.

“New targets, which were announced in May, struck a healthy balance between growth, capital discipline and cash conversion,” it said. “The targets reflect a group that anticipates growth through both organic measures and selective M&A.”

It also anticipates a margin decline in the first half of the year for Glanbia Performance Nutrition but a “significant” recovery in the second half.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power Betfair has interim results on Wednesday following a period of significant activity in the market.

In June, the announcement of a new tax for online betting in Queensland, Australia, was thought to have the potential to significantly dent its earnings there. The measure is due to come into force in October, ahead of the anticipated January time line.

In advance of the results, Investec noted that previous ebita guides for financial year 2018 stood at between £470 million and £495 million (€528 million and €556 million).

It said that due to the early introduction of the Queensland tax, as well as other factors, it revised its forecast from £480.8 million (€540 million) to £467.4 million (€525 million) below the bottom of the current guided range.

FRIDAY

Indicators: Irish new vehicle sales (Jul); UK balance of trade (Jun), GDP (Q2), construction output (Jun), manufacturing and industrial production (Jun), business investment (Q2); US inflation (Jul).

With car sales down significantly in the first half of the year, July figures released by the Central Statistics Office on Friday will give an early indication of how the remainder of the year might pan out.

This official round of data, which records new vehicles taxed for the first time, gives a partial understanding of car sales.

The most recent CSO data recorded 83,037 vehicles taxed for the first half of 2018, a near 5 per cent reduction on 2017 levels.

However, the number of used (imported) private cars licensed rose by almost 12 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.

Friday's CSO figures are only one part of the picture. Last week the Society of the Motor Industry Ireland published July figures based on its own data drawn from vehicle registrations, an arguably more up-to-date metric.

The first round of new 182 car sales last month, it said, were 26,944, down 2.75 per cent on the same month last year.

Including July, the total number of new registrations since January totalled 114,059, a drop of 4 per cent on the same seven-month period last year.

The fall in new car sales has been explained by the Brexit effect on sterling and the resulting preference for used car imports from the UK.