LONDON -- We've had a good number of results from major FTSE 100 firms over the past few weeks, and though results season for companies with years ending December is starting to tail off, we still have some more to come.
Here are three due to bring us full-year results next week:
Antofagasta
The big FTSE 100 miners have been under the hammer of late, with talk of Chinese measures to tackle an overheating housing market leading to fears of further falls in commodities demand. With prices falling, copper-focused miner Antofagasta (ANTO 2.82%) (NASDAQOTH: ANFGY) has seen its share price tumble by 20% since early January, to 1,084 pence today.
On Tuesday, we're due full-year results to Dec. 2012, with analysts expecting a fall in earnings per share (EPS) of 10% to 83 pence, putting the shares on a price-to-earnings (P/E) of 13 -- but individual forecasts cover a fairly wide range, from 75 pence to 93 pence.
Though metal prices are down, Antofagasta reported increased production in its final quarterly report for the year. Copper volumes over the year increase by 11% to 709,600 tons, with gold production up 52% to 299,900 ounces.
Inchcape
Inchcape (INCH 9.32%) is also due to bring us final results on Tuesday, and the firm is expected to continue with its recent strong run and present us with a 7% rise in earnings per share to around 38 pence. There's also a dividend of 12.4 pence per share forecast, for a yield of 2.4%.
At the halfway stage, the motor dealer turned in earnings per share of 20.9 pence with an interim dividend of 4 pence per share, and based on that, full-year forecasts look reasonable. And in October, Inchcape announced a "robust quarter" for the period ending Sept. 30, with third-quarter revenue up 4% to 1.52 billion pounds and nine-month revenue up 5.4% to 4.63 billion pounds. We were told that "demand for new cars was strong and in line with our expectations as we continue to benefit from our scale exposure in the premium and luxury segments."
Inchcape shares are up more than 40% over the past 12 months, to 520 pence.
G4S
Wednesday brings us 2012 figures from G4S (GFS), a company that ace U.K. investor Neil Woodford has been buying into for his Invesco Perpetual High Income Fund. After snapping up lots of shares after the price was depressed by the firm's Olympics troubles, his total investment in the firm now stands at over 200 million pounds.
Although G4S lost approximately 70 million pounds on its Olympics contract, the City is expecting earnings to come in flat for the year to December, indicating a P/E of 13. There's also a dividend yield of around 3% predicted, which is close to the current FTSE average, though that is expected to rise in the coming years.
And according to November's interim update, a reduction in overhead costs brought about by restructuring should boost margins for the current year, so news of that on Wednesday will be welcome. Since a low of 242 pence in November, G4S shares are up 22% to a current price of 296 pence.
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