LONDON -- Company news is starting to pick up again after a lull over Easter. We don't have a great volume of updates expected, but we should be hearing from a handful of top FTSE 100 firms. Here are three popular companies due to enlighten us next week:
Tesco
Next Wednesday, April 17, brings us one of the most hotly awaited company announcements of 2013 so far -- full-year results from Tesco (TSCO -0.31%). (TSCD.Y -0.46%) After the U.K.'s biggest supermarket had a weak Christmas in 2011, and saw its share price slump as a result, Warren Buffett famously bought in big. And he's done well so far -- from a 52-week low of 295 pence back in June last year, Tesco shares are now back up 30%, to 385 pence.
January's update told us of significantly better Christmas and New Year trading this time, with group sales for the six weeks to Jan. 5 up 3.5% (3.9% excluding petrol), and we heard that the U.K. in-store turnaround plan was bearing fruit. Since then, Tesco has announced the purchase of the Giraffe restaurant chain, buying up 49 restaurants for a little under 49 million pounds.
Burberry
Shares in Burberry Group (BRBY 0.66%) have had a pretty erratic year, with disappointing second-quarter sales figures back in September sending the price into a slump. The shares have recovered since then, trading at 1,313 pence apiece today, after November's interim results actually looked pretty decent. Third-quarter revenues, reported in January, picked up further.
We should find out how the full year is turning out on Wednesday, when the fashion firm brings us a second-half trading update ahead of results due on May 21. The City is currently forecasting a rise in earnings per share (EPS) of around 8-9%, to 67 pence per share, with a dividend yield of about 2.2%. That would put the shares on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 19, which seems to be pricing in some expected future growth.
Hargreaves Lansdown
The same day will bring us an interim management statement from Hargreaves Lansdown (HL 2.55%). And what a year shareholders have had so far -- the price is up around 90% over the past 12 months, having five-bagged over five years.
The firm, which provides retail investment and brokerage services, and manages more than $30 billion in invested assets, reported a pretty strong first half for the year to 31 December, with record revenues of 140.3 million pounds (up 24%), and record pre-tax profit of 93.7 million pounds (up 30%). The interim dividend was boosted by 24%, to 6.3 pence per share.
The City is expecting a rise in EPS of more than 25% for the full year. But that would put the shares, currently priced at 879 pence, on a P/E of around 28 -- twice the long-term FTSE 100 average.
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