Market Watch: City seeks data on UK consumers

Published on Saturday 28 November 2009 12:22

AN INSIGHT into the mood of the UK consumer will emerge this week when leading firms from the holiday and pub sectors report results.

Tour operators Thomas Cook and Thomson parent TUI Travel report full year figures tomorrow and Tuesday amid growing concerns over the outlook for holiday firms.

The two groups have came under pressure on the London market in recent days after gloomy comments from analysts. A research note from Morgan Stanley said that "demand is still weak, cost pressures remain and capacity is getting harder to cut".

Analysts in the City predict Thomas Cook will report adjusted full-year profits of 299 million, down marginally on the 309.3m result the previous year.

Morgan Stanley is expecting Crawley-based TUI to deliver underlying profits of 360 million, up from 320m.

Pub and brewing groups Greene King and Marston's have both been strong performers despite recession.

Greene King, which posts interims on Tuesday, has seen robust recent sales figures. Like-for-like sales across its managed outlets were up 4.6 per cent in the 17 weeks to 30 August, driven by the strength of its food operations where sales rose 8.1 per cent.

Deutsche Bank analyst Geoff Collyer expects a 2 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to 59.2m for the Suffolk-based firm in Tuesday's interims for the six months to September.

Pedigree brewer Marston's has praised its value for money food offering for helping the company weather recession.

Consensus forecasts are expected to show pre-tax profits of 70.4m for the year to September, down from 85m previously.

WEEK AHEAD

TOMORROW

Thomas Cook (preliminaries); St Ives (interims)

TUESDAY

TUI Travel (preliminaries); Greene King (interims)

WEDNESDAY

Sage (preliminaries)

THURSDAY

Marstons (results); Kingfisher Group (update)