RE: Quarterly Update3 Apr 2020 14:07
Tesco checks its receipts
Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) is scheduled to release its finals on Wednesday.
The grocer has been one of the few companies seeing improvement amid the coronavirus crisis, as consumers have been stocking up their cupboards and given up on dinners out.
Analysts at AJ Bell said that the panic buying gave Tesco some respite from the war with Aldi and Lidl, while its share price has “only” dropped 16% in the past month, against the wider FTSE 100 index tanking 28%.
Analysts also pointed out that the acquisition of wholesaler Booker in 2017 is helping sales and earnings momentum at the group.
Investors will want to see whether the firm is on track to meet the goals of generating synergies of £140mln by January 2020 and £210mln by next year.
What’s more, its Thai and Malaysian operations are going to be sold for £8bn, helping to erase the pension deficit and fund a £5bn special dividend - amounting to 51p per share.
In the results, the market will be interested in like-for-like sales growth, which have been pressured by discounters.
However, pre-tax profit is expected to rise to £1.9bn against last year’s £1.5bn, while dividend should come in at 8.27p per share up from 5.77p a year ago.
When it comes to forecasts, consensus full-year pre-tax profit its now £2.3bn for a 10% increase in the ordinary dividend to 9.13p per share.
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/916601/tesco-and-asos-to-report-results-next-week-as-both-grapple-with-coronavirus-fallout-916601.html