The week ahead: Sky in focus

Here are the big company events happening over the next week that investors need to know about.

Monday 9 October

Trading Statements

XP Power, ICG Enterprise Trust, Centamin, YouGov, Plant Impact, CAP-XX, City of London Investment Group, Trinity Mirror

AGM/EGM

1pm

Tuesday 10 October

Trading Statements

Ted Baker, 1Spatial, LiDCO Group, Vedanta Resources

AGM/EGM

Scancell Holdings, Mortice

Wednesday 11 October

Trading Statements

PageGroup, Quiz, Mondi, Jupiter Fund Management, Dunelm

AGM/EGM

Hargreaves Lansdown

Thursday 12 October

Broadcaster Sky dishes up first-quarter results Thursday, but we're unlikely to get a full break down of financials and KPIs. However, there should be enough meat on the bone to get investors interested.

"Overall, we expect decent growth in financials, solid KPIs and see upside risk to FY estimates," say analysts at UBS.

Look for underlying revenue growth of 4.7% to £3.31 billion, with the UK up 4.5%, Germany 9.5% and Italy 3%. Underlying cash profit is tipped to come in up 4.3% at £546 million and underlying operating profit up 4.7% at £353 million.

"The UK should benefit from communications price rises in the prior quarter and growth in Sky Mobile, partially offset by a weak advertising environment," the broker says.

Net adds in the UK are seen up 55,000 compared with 35,000 for the fourth quarter and 35,000 a year ago.

Sky currently trades on 13 times calendarised earnings per share based on 2018 estimates. "Near-term, investor focus is likely to remain on the Fox bid and the upcoming Premier League rights auction (likely calendar Q1 2018)," writes UBS. "We think regulatory hurdles for the Fox/Sky deal are surmountable and believe Sky could see a satisfactory outcome on the Premier League auction."

Trading statements

Sky, Booker, WH Smith

Friday 13 October

Trading statements

Man Group, Provident Financial, Ashmore

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.