Friday preview: Landsec results and US data on tap

(Sharecast News) - Final results from Landsec are expected to be the headline announcement from UK-listed companies on Friday morning, while economic data from the US will take centre stage in the afternoon session. For the year ended 31 March, analysts are looking for EPRA earnings of £373m from the real estate investment trust, more or less flat from the £371m earned the year before.

However, EPRA net tangible assets per share are tipped to improve to 890p, according to the midrange of company-compiled consensus, up from 859p previously.

Landsec investors will be looking for more detail on a strategic portfolio rebalancing that was announced at the time of its capital market event in February.

The company, whose portfolio is predominantly made up of Central London office assets and major retail destinations across the UK, said that it will shift capital over the next two to five years from offices to residential "where the volatility in returns is lower".

"The next phase of the company's strategy will see it move towards higher income, higher income growth and lower cyclicality," Landsec said at the time.

Turning to the States, data from the housing market will be in focus. Building permits for April, due out at 1330 BST, will show a monthly drop to 1.45m from 1.467m in March, according to consensus forecasts, while housing starts are tipped to rise to 1.37m from 1.324m, bouncing back after an 11.4% slump the previous month.

Then there's the all-important consumer confidence index from the University of Michigan, due out at 1500 BST, while is forecast to show an improvement to 53.4 in May after slumping to 52.2 in April - its lowest since July 2022 on the back of uncertainties surrounding the Trump administration's trade policies and concerns about a looming uptick in inflation.

In other news, the eurozone trade balance for March is due out at 1000 BST, and is tipped to show that the region's surplus with its trading partners fell to €17.5bn from €24bn in February. However, with reports of suppliers frontloading exports before the introduction of tariffs in April, there could be some upside risk to these forecasts, according to analysts.

Friday 16 May

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

AB Dynamics, Barratt Redrow

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE

Mercantile Investment Trust (The), Thor Explorations Ltd (DI), Tufton Assets Limited Npv

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)

Building Permits (US) (13:30)

Housing Starts (US) (13:30)

Import and Export Price Indices (US) (13:30)

U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (15:00)

GMS

Cerillion , Nativo Resources

FINALS

Land Securities Group

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Foresight Enterprise VCT

AGMS

CLS Holdings, CLS Holdings, Derwent London, H&T Group, Ossiam Lux Ossiam ETF Shiller Barclays Cape US-USD, Proteome Sciences, Proteome Sciences

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Vesuvius

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE

Breedon Group , Cairn Homes (CDI), Drax Group, Foxtons Group , IMI, Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT, Mondi, Mony Group, Synectics, Uniphar (CDI)