The week ahead: US interest rates, Micro Focus, Bellway, Carpetright

As the City starts to wind down for the festive season, company reports will be noticeably thin on the ground. Keep your eyes peeled for news from Micro Focus and the US Fed.

Monday 12 December

AGM/EGM

Concha

Tuesday 13 December

There should be no surprises at housebuilder Bellway's AGM Tuesday, given we had full-year results and an update in October, according to analysts at Peel Hunt.

Carpetright brought us up to speed six weeks ago, too, and finance director Neil Page and chief executive Wilf Walsh have been buying shares since at 200p or less.

We already know that UK like-for-like sales were down 2.9% in the 25 weeks to 22 October, a sharp deterioration from the 1% decline in the first weight weeks.

So Peel Hunt expects interim results to show a decline in half-year pre-tax profit to £5.7 million from £9 million a year ago. That reflects a decline in gross margin of 200 basis points as the floorings giant battles competitors.

Trading statement

Begbies Traynor, Zytronic, Hollywood Bowl Group, Pressure Technologies

AGM/EGM

Tristel, Bellway, Ediston Property Investment Company

Wednesday 14 December

The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting concludes Thursday, and rate-setters are widely-tipped to raise borrowing costs by a quarter-point to a target range of 0.5-0.75%.

If they do - and few doubt they will - it'll be a year since the last hike and only the second in a decade. But because a move this time is so widely expected, the focus is likely to be more on hints as to the pace of future hikes.

Currently, markets are pricing in three further 25-basis point increases during 2017 as Donald Trump's policies are tipped to trigger an increase both in economic growth and inflation.

Soon to be one of the world's largest infrastructure software businesses, Micro Focus will release it's first results after announcing its acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Software Business Segment (HPES) on Wednesday.

The deal is expected to close by the third quarter of 2017, but results from Hewlett Packard last month showed the software business was "moving along the expected path in a reassuring fashion", Numis analyst David Toms said at the time. Margins were improving and turnover was stable.

The broker still has his target price for the Newbury-based tech company under review, but now reckons his forecasts are conservative. Toms has pencilled in $1.4 billion of sales for the 2017 financial year, with pre-tax profit of $547.6 million and earnings per share of 174 cents, representing growth of 10%/26%/18% respectively.

Earnings is expected to grow by 6-8% the year after, although revenue will be stagnant.

Micro Focus's market value has swelled by 60% over the last year, and investors will be hoping they are in for a repeat.

Trading statement

Micro Focus, Dixons Carphone, FreeAgent Holdings, John Wood Group

AGM/EGM

Bowleven, Orchard Funding Group, Mobile Streams

Thursday 15 December

Trading statement

Falanx Group, Centrica, PZ Cussons, Petrofac, Go-Ahead Group

AGM/EGM

Sareum Holdings, Tiso Blackstar, Innovaderma, Gunsynd, GCM Resources, Leaf Clean Energy Company

Friday 16 December

Trading statement

Polar Capital Technology Trust

AGM/EGM

Upland Resources

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.