Important information - the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest.
February is a busy month for financial results, with companies flocking to tell shareholders how they performed in 2025. Defence firms, pharmaceutical giants, oil majors, tobacco stocks and miners are all preparing to publish full-year figures.
We have cherry-picked five that could grab the headlines. This article is not a recommendation to buy or sell an investment; it is purely insight into some of the companies that announce results over the next month.
Barclays
Full-year results: Tuesday 10 February 2026
UK banks have had a storming couple of years, and Barclays is up there with the best of them. The lender - which lived in the shadow of the financial crash for over a decade - is now boosting profit forecasts and doling out cash to shareholders. In February it will publish its results for 2025, alongside an updated set of targets for the next three years.
Barclays occupies a strange space in the sector. On the one hand, it is a typical high street lender, with millions of customers who deposit money in savings accounts and borrow money to buy houses. However, it also runs a large investment bank. This is unusual - no other UK bank, and very few European players, have this business model.
Investment banking has caused many problems for Barclays over the decades, as it has generated lumpier - and generally lower - returns than more traditional work. Under chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, however, a turnaround is underway. Capital is being shifted away from the investment bank to more profitable parts of the group, and costs are rapidly being cut.
Looking ahead, analysts are generally optimistic. Higher interest rates have been good for banks, as it has allowed them to earn more money on customer loans. Even though rates are now coming down, the benefits are still being felt. This is due to Barclays’ structural hedge, which effectively delays the impact of rate movements.
“We expect the structural hedge to continue to be a tailwind till at least 2028,” analysts at Kepler Cheuvreux said.1
Some analysts have lingering concerns about the business model, however. “We like Barclays’ mixed product range and geographically diversified business but are less enthusiastic about its investment banking exposure,” Morningstar said. “We find the notion that the investment bank reduces earnings volatility hard to accept. Indeed, we believe the opposite to be the case.”
Eyes will also be on the UK economy. If the backdrop improves, demand for loans could grow, boosting Barclays’ revenue. However, the opposite logic also applies.
- More on Barclays
Antofagasta
Full-year results: Tuesday 17 February
Banking is not the only sector fuelling the FTSE 100. Miners are also riding high due to buoyant metals prices.
So far, gold miners such as Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining have attracted most of the attention. Gold enjoyed a record rally in 2025 and has pushed even higher this year. However, copper has also started to climb - and companies are feeling the benefit.
Antofagasta is a FTSE 100 copper miner based in Chile. In the first half of 2025, its profit margin rapidly expanded and Ebitda - a rough proxy for cash profits - shot up by 60% to $2.2bn. Its full-year results are expected to be similarly impressive, helped by surging copper prices and higher levels of production.2
Not all analysts are convinced the situation is sustainable, however. In December, Peel Hunt said the company’s share price implied a long-term copper price of $10,000 a tonne. “In our view, this makes shares very exposed to negative sentiment regarding the copper price in the short term,” the firm concluded.
The price of copper has risen from under $9,000 a tonne in early 2025 to an all-time high of over $13,000 a tonne in January 2026. Please remember past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
- More on Antofagasta
Rolls-Royce
Full-year results: Thursday 26 February
It is hard to imagine now, but Rolls-Royce used to be unloved by investors. Before the pandemic, it was dogged by questions about the durability of some of its aircraft engines. Then came Covid-19, flights were grounded, and demand collapsed. The FTSE 100 engineer has come a long way since then.
Before we dive into the detail, a bit of context might be useful. Rolls-Royce has three main businesses. The largest is civil aerospace, which makes engines for commercial aircrafts. Then there is defence, which specialises in military vehicles like patrol planes, helicopters and submarines. Last but not least is power systems, which builds big, reliable engines for things like yachts and data centres.
In recent years, under the skilful leadership of Tufan Erginbilgic, Rolls-Royce has significantly improved its profits, margins, and free cash flow, and hit its targets two years earlier than planned.3 It has been helped by a rebound in civil aerospace - people are travelling abroad again - and a big increase in European defence spending. Its share price has soared as a result.
Rolls-Royce is expected to report very strong growth in 2025. It is confident it can deliver underlying operating profit of between £3.1bn and £3.2bn and free cash flow of between £3bn and £3.1bn, despite “continued supply chain challenges”.4 This compares with underlying operating profit of £2.5bn last year, and free cash flow of £2.4bn.5
There are potential challenges ahead, however. Firstly, Rolls-Royce is exposed to a highly cyclical industry: travel. Demand from its airline customers is closely linked to economic growth and oil prices.
Secondly, the company focuses on wide-body aircrafts - think jumbo jets with two passenger aisles. There is a lot of debate about whether demand will shift towards narrow-body planes, and whether this will affect the company’s growth prospects.
- More on Rolls-Royce
Rightmove
Full-year results: Friday 27 February
Brits spent a total of 16.4bn minutes - or 31,000 years - searching Rightmove last year.6 It is the UK’s number one property portal, with rivals struggling to replicate its powerful network of buyers, sellers, and landlords.
In 2025, however, shares in Rightmove took a serious tumble. The fall was caused by the board’s plan to plough money into artificial intelligence. The platform intends to invest £18m on new technology this year “to support double-digit underlying operating profit growth in the longer term”.
It has already made some changes. It is now possible to search for properties using hundreds of “smart tags’” for instance, such as search “exposed brick” and “river views”. However, investment is expected to weigh on near term growth. It is expecting to grow underlying operating profit by 3-5% in 2026, compared with 4-9% in 2025.7
There has been a lot of debate about whether shareholders were right to take flight. “We believe the market reaction was overdone,” analysts at Peel Hunt said. “In a world increasingly shaped by AI, the investment positions Rightmove to leap ahead.”
Others are more sceptical, however, predicting that Rightmove’s (very roomy) operating margin will decline in the coming years.
- More on Rightmove
AstraZeneca
Full-year results: Tuesday 10 February
The pharmaceutical sector is in a state of flux. The US government is determined to drive down drug prices, arguing that America pays more than other rich nations. It has threatened drug companies with import tariffs if they do not agree to lower prices.
This weighed on investor sentiment for much of 2025. In recent months, however, giants such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca have struck deals with the US, promising to lower the cost of some medicines in exchange for a tariff reprieve.
When AstraZeneca publishes its annual results on 10 February, investors will want to know what this means for growth. The group has already taken some concrete steps to bolster its presence in the US. Last year, it pledged to invest $50bn in America by 2030 to expand its research and manufacturing facilities.8 It is also poised to directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, replacing the American depositary receipts currently available to overseas investors. It will retain its primary listing in London.
Shareholders will also have an eye on product development. In November, chief executive Pascal Soriot announced an “an unprecedented 16 positive Phase III trials”, including important readouts for hypertension and breast cancer drugs. (Phase III trials are the final stage of testing before a drug is submitted to the regulator.)
Analysts at Morningstar argue that AstraZeneca’s pipeline is “emerging as one of the strongest in the drug group, and we think the company is developing several key products that hold blockbuster potential”.9
Some analysts are concerned about growth headwinds, however, when AstraZeneca’s existing patents expire and rival pharma groups wade in with ‘generic’ products.
“From 2032, three of its oncology medicines are expected to face generic competition, translating to a >$20bn sales headwind through the mid-2030s,” Shore Capital warned. It concluded that high levels of investment will be needed to sustain growth in this period.10
- More on AstraZeneca
Got a burning question you want to ask? Why not drop us a line. Click here to ask your question.
- Read: Tom Stevenson’s fund picks for 2026
- Read: What next for the US? Three fund ideas
- Read: World’s cheapest markets in 5 charts
| (%) As at 31 Dec |
2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copper price | 25.7 | -14.1 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 43.9 |
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns
Source: LSEG, from 31.12.20 to 31.12.25.
Source:
1 Kepler Cheuvreux Equity Research, 21 January 2026
2 Antofagasta Half Year Results, 14 August 2025
3,5 Rolls-Royce 2024 full year results, 27 February 2025
4 Rolls-Royce Trading Update, 13 November 2025
6 Rightmove full year results, 31 December 2024
7 Rightmove investor update, 6 November 2025
8 AstraZeneca, 21 July 2025
9 Morningstar, 26 November 2025
10 Shore Capital, 13 November 2025
Important information - investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for the purposes of illustration only. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Overseas investments will be affected by movements in currency exchange rates. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice.
Share this article
Latest articles
Japan’s snap election: why it matters
Election outcome could have a big impact on markets
Tom Stevenson
Fidelity International
29 January 2026
Will a falling dollar impact my portfolio?
Strategies for protecting your investments from adverse currency movements
Richard Evans
Fidelity International
29 January 2026
2026 fund picks: Dodge & Cox Worldwide Global Stock
Value-focused approach to international investing
Nick Sudbury
Investment writer
28 January 2026
