Aberdeen Group, formerly abrdn and before that Standard Life Aberdeen, unveils half-year figures this week and analysts will be looking for signs of stronger momentum under CEO Jason Windsor.
A dip in assets under management to £500.1 billion to the end of March from £511.4bn at the turn of the year was a result of market volatility.
Strong inflows in its DIY business interactive investor (ii) of £1.6bn were offset by net outflows in its Investments (£6.4bn) and Adviser (£0.6bn) divisions.
Panmure Liberum analysts said that in the first quarter activity levels at ii were strong and customer acquisition has continued. Adviser net outflows slowed on reduced redemptions. Investments saw outflows as anticipated but the company landed a material new mandate in April.
Mr Windsor said at the time that the company had made good progress against its objectives, despite the current heightened levels of market uncertainty.
Aberdeen-based Wood Group faces the latest in a series of deadlines for its suitor Sidara to decide whether or not it should bid for the group. Last week it emerged from key sources that the Dubai-based company may push for a price lower than its 35p per share indicative offer. (See update).
This is a particularly busy week for corporate reporting in the UK, with seven of the ten largest dividend payers in sterling terms due to publish results.
Shell’s shares are down by around 6% in the past year. The oil & gas producers group is the seventh worst performer within the 39 sectors that make up the FTSE All-Share thanks, in the main, to soggy oil prices, say analysts at AJ Bell.
At the same time, the share price seems to be doing its best to ignore a steady recovery in natural gas, although is still not actually that far below May 2024’s all-time high.
On a statutory basis, analysts are looking for $5.5 billion pre-tax profit in the second quarter, down from $9 billion in the first three months of this year and $7.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
HSBC reports figures on Wednesday and earnings forecasts have ebbed a little, in contrast to the more UK-facing banks, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds, where analysts continue to increase their profit estimates.
A big factor in HSBC’s figures and outlook will be China’s economic performance, as Beijing wrestles with a real estate bust, the effects of Trump’s tariffs and gathering debts.
HSBC is expected to show a year-on-year drop in full-year profit, to $29.7 billion from $32.3bn. It paid an unchanged $0.10 dividend in the first quarter and analysts expect the same for the second.
A ruling is expected from the Supreme Court on Friday on the car financing controversy.
DIARY
Monday 28 July
- Deadline for Sidara to confirm its takover intentions towards Wood Group (5pm)
- Quarterly results from Heineken and Porsche
Tuesday 29 July
- Full-year results from Games Workshop
- First-half results from AstraZeneca, Barclays, Unite, Greggs
- Trading update from AG Barr
- BRC UK shop price index
- UK mortgage approvals
Wednesday 30 July
- Full-year results from Hargreaves Services
- First-half results from Aberdeen Group, HSBC, Rio Tinto, GSK
- Nationwide UK house price survey
Thursday 31 July
- First-half results from Unilever, London Stock Exchange, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Weir, Drax
- Trading updates from Next and Pets at Home
Friday 1 August
- First-half results from International Consolidated Airlines (British Airways)
- US non-farm payrolls, unemployment and wage growth
- US car sales
- Supreme Court ruling on car finance
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