Next week on the stock market

What to expect from a selection of FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other companies reporting next week:

• Inflation set to squeeze Associated British Foods' margins.
• More price hikes expected for Unilever, can volumes hang on?
• Have strong hotel bookings and prices continued for Whitbread?

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FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other stocks scheduled to report next week:

24-Apr
Coca-cola*	Q1 Results

25-Apr
Alphabet*	Q1 Results
Anglo American	Q1 Production Report
Associated British Foods*	Half Year Results
IWG	Q1 Trading Statement
Jupiter Fund Management	Q1 Trading Statement
McDonalds*	Q1 Results
Microsoft*	Q3 Results
Nestlé*	Q1 Trading Statement
Petrofac*	Full Year Results
PepsiCo*	Q1 Results
Quilter	Q1 Trading Statement
Travis Perkins	Q1 Trading Statement
Verizon*	Q1 Results
Visa*	Q2 Results
WAG Payment Solutions	Q1 Trading Statement
Whitbread*	Full Year Results

26-Apr
Bunzl*	Q1 Trading Statement
Drax Group	Q1 Trading Statement
Fresnillo	Q1 Production Report
GlaxoSmithKline*	Q1 Results
Glencore	Q1 Production Report
Meta*	Q1 Results
Persimmon*	Q1 Trading Statement
Reckitt Benckiser*	Q1 Trading Statement
Smith & Nephew*	Q1 Trading Statement
Standard Chartered*	Q1 Results

27-Apr
Amazon*	Q1 Results
AstraZeneca*	Q1 Results
Barclays*	Q1 Results
Capricorn Energy	Full Year Results
Caterpillar*	Q1 Results
Howden Joinery	Q1 Trading Statement
Inchcape	Q1 Trading Statement
Indivior	Q1 Results
J Sainsbury*	Preliminary Q4 Results
Lancashire Holdings	Q1 Trading Statement
London Stock Exchange Group	Q1 Trading Statement
Schroders	Q1 Assets Under Management
Spectris	Q1 Trading Statement
St James's Place	Q1 Trading Statement
Taylor Wimpey*	Trading Statement
Unilever*	Q1 Trading Statement
Weir Group	Q1 Interim Management Statement
WPP*	Q1 Trading Statement

28-Apr
Chevron*	Q1 Results
Computacenter	Q1 Trading Statement
Hikma Pharmaceuticals	Trading Statement
Morgan Advanced Materials	Full Year Results
Natwest*	Q1 Results
Pearson*	Q1 Trading Statement
PureTech Health	Full Year Results
Rotork	Q1 Trading Statement
Smurfit Kappa	Q1 Trading Statement

*Events on which we will be updating investors.

Associated British Foods – Aarin Chiekrie, Equity Analyst

In a trading statement at the end of February, Associated British Foods announced it expects half-year sales to be more than 16% ahead of last year, ignoring exchange rate impacts. That's thanks to consumer spending which has so far proved to be more resilient than initially forecast.

The food businesses, which encompass household brands like Kingsmill, Ryvita and Ovaltine, are expected to post sales and underlying profit figures well ahead of the same period last year - but at a lower margin. Inflated input costs have been running ahead of pricing and cost-saving activities, and we're keen to see how much this has squeezed margins.

Next week's results should also give us an updated look at ABF's expectations for the second half. While inflation looks like it could be near its peak and some commodity costs have pulled back, there are still plenty of headwinds to battle. The cost-of-living crisis remains a dark cloud over consumers’ heads, and ABF has already said it's cautious about potential effects on discretionary spending – which could have knock-on consequences to Primark's fortunes.

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Unilever – Matt Britzman, Equity Analyst

Investors are awaiting Unilever's upcoming trading statement detailing first-quarter sales performance, curious to see how the company's strategy to protect its strong branded products amidst consecutive price hikes has played out.

While Unilever's full-year results exceeded market expectations, the company has struggled to maintain volumes amidst price hikes and a cost-of-living crisis. We expect more rises over the first half as the group aims to grow underlying sales toward the top end of 3-5% over the year.

For now, at least, Unilever's brand power has helped to offset some of the volume declines. That makes protecting the quality of their brands a top priority. To that end, brand and marketing spend is crucial, and we saw a €0.5bn increase in investment over the last year. It's a non-negotiable expense for a brand machine like Unilever, and markets will be watching the volume picture closely.

We'll also be on the lookout for any commentary on how the €600m cost-saving program is going. It's expected to be weighted toward the second half, but early progress would be well received.

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Whitbread, Derren Nathan, Head of Equity Research

Whitbread carried strong momentum in its hotel business into the final furlong of the financial year. For the first five weeks of the quarter, UK accommodation sales were up 35% over the prior year and 36% ahead of pre-pandemic sales. Whitbread has been expecting pricing to remain strong. There are some signs that the market has remained resilient although there can be no guarantees. We'll be looking to see if bookings remain strong into the current year. Food and beverage sales were also up in low double digits but not quite back at 2020 levels.

For the full year, consensus forecasts are expecting group revenue growth of about 50%, although this is flattered by Covid restrictions that were in force early in the comparative period. The forecasts also expect dividends for the full year to jump 66.3% to 57.7p, which if achieved implies a final pay out of 33.3p. This can't be assured and the final dividend if any will depend on management's confidence in the outlook.

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Unless otherwise stated estimates are a consensus of analyst forecasts provided by Refinitiv. These estimates are not a reliable indicator of future performance. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Investments rise and fall in value so investors could make a loss.

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