Next week on the stock market

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

• Investors will be hoping for a sweet outlook from Associated British Food's sugar business
• Insurance profitability and policyholder levels in the spotlight for Direct Line
• Streaming will be in the spotlight at Disney

Among those currently scheduled to release results next week:

*Events on which we will be updating investors

06-Nov
No FTSE 350 Reporters

07-Nov
3I Infrastructure	Half Year Results
Associated British Foods*	Full Year Results
Beazley	Q3 Results
Direct Line*	Q3 Trading Statement
IWG	Q3 Trading Statement
Persimmon*	Trading Statement
RS Group	Half Year Results
Watches of Switzerland	Half Year Results

08-Nov
Disney*	Q4 Results
Hiscox	Q3 Trading Statement
ITV*	Q3 Trading Statement
J D Wetherspoon*	Q1 Trading Statement
Marks & Spencer*	Half Year Results

09-Nov
3i Group	Half Year Results
Apax Global Alpha	Q3 Results
AstraZeneca*	Q3 Results
Auto Trader	Half Year Results
B&M	Half Year Results
Domino's Pizza	Q3 Trading Statement
Endeavour Mining	Q3 Results
Flutter Entertainment	Q3 Trading Statement
IMI	Q3 Interim Management Statement
Indivior	Q3 Results
John Wood Group	Q3 Trading Statement
Lancashire Holdings	Q3 Trading Statement
National Grid*	Half Year Results
Tate & Lyle*	Half Year Results
Taylor Wimpey*	Trading Statement
TBC Bank	Q3 Results
Urban Logistics REIT	Half Year Results
Wizz Air	Half Year Results
WH Smith	Full Year Results

10-Nov
No FTSE 350 Reporters

Associated British Foods – Aarin Chiekrie, Equity Analyst

The key Primark business has benefitted from a changing retail landscape over the past few years, especially with the demise of Debenhams and Topshop. That’s driving expectations of 9% like-for-like sales growth at Primark, up to around £9.0bn for the full year. Price hikes are also playing their part, and new store openings are performing well too. Margins here have been catching the tailwinds of falling costs - with energy, freight, and fabric prices all now much lower than their peak levels. In next week’s results, Associated British Foods expects to see underlying operating profits for this area of the business come in moderately ahead of the previous year.

The Sugar businesses will be in focus too. Unhelpful weather last year severely dented production volumes and ultimately caused a drag on profits. Since then, we’ve seen Sugar volumes and prices pick back up, so we’re keen to hear how much progress has been made to date, and what the group’s outlook is for the new financial year.

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Direct Line – Matt Britzman, Equity Analyst

Investors will be approaching Direct Line’s third-quarter trading update with a sense of cautious optimism. Something they haven’t had the luxury of heading into results over the past couple of years. It’s been tough going - claims numbers have been running high, while cost inflation’s meant underwriting profitability has been under serious pressure. But following some positive updates back at the half-year mark, it looks like things are trending in the right direction.

There’s a couple of things to look out for. First is progress on returning insurance back into the land of profitability. New policies are being written at levels that look healthy. It’ll take time to feed through but there could be early signs, or at least ongoing commentary, to suggest that trend remains. The second will be policy numbers, expect a dip as price hikes get pushed through and consumers shop around – the magnitude of any move could be important.

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Disney – Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst

All eyes will be on the streaming business for Disney. Operating losses have been in the spotlight for this area of the business and we’d like to see strong momentum here – especially given CEO Bob Iger was brought out of retirement to stem the profit leaks. But within that, we’d like to see that cost-cutting hasn’t gone too far, doing so risks limiting the appeal of content offerings which is a risky move in the current competitive environment.

Last quarter, Disney+ subscriber numbers disappointed. This could largely be put down to the loss of popular cricket rights in India, but we’ll be hunting for clues that things have stabilised.

Of course, we’ll also be monitoring performance at the group’s theme parks. We’re optimistic that ticket and merchandise sales have continued climbing, but the outlook statement will be important to understand if economic uncertainty’s having any impact on next quarter’s expectations.

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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.

This article is not advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any investment. No view is given on the present or future value or price of any investment, and investors should form their own view on any proposed investment. This article has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is considered a marketing communication. Non-independent research is not subject to FCA rules prohibiting dealing ahead of research, however HL has put controls in place (including dealing restrictions, physical and information barriers) to manage potential conflicts of interest presented by such dealing. Please see our full non-independent research disclosure for more information.

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