Thursday preview: Earnings due from Computacenter, Sunbelt Rentals

(Sharecast News) - On Thursday, Bridgepoint, Computacenter, Helios Towers, Informa, M&G, Oakley Capital Investments, Savills, TP Icap, Vesuvius and Volution will release full-year results, while safety equipment and technology group Halma will update on trading. UBS said that with Computacenter already pre-announcing results, the focus will be on the company's outlook for 2026.

"We expect a positive messaging around major geographies," the bank said. "For Germany we expect the company to flag a good outlook driven by the hardware refresh cycle and strong public sector spending (and Infrastructure spend potentially from H2 26) following several tough years.

"We expect a good outlook for NA underpinned not only by strong AI spend from hyperscalers but also by corporates.

"On the UK we expect the company to make progress for the year, while France will likely be difficult in 26. Taken together, we expect the company to state that it expects to make further progress, though we expect CCC to flag risks from higher memory prices /supply shortages."

In the US, Adobe, Dollar General and Sunbelt Rentals are among the companies slated to report, along with Dick's Sporting Goods.

As far as Sunbelt is concerned, Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Ashtead has just emerged from a period of change, completing its rebrand to Sunbelt Rentals Group and shifting its primary listing to the US, while retaining a secondary UK listing.

"Revenue growth has been hard fought in recent quarters, with parts of the construction market remaining sluggish. Still, we're fairly optimistic that 2026 can look better on the profit front, helped by easier comparatives and a gradual improvement in trading conditions.

"Big-ticket projects like data centres and semiconductor fabs remain a key source of support, helping offset weaker demand in local and regional markets. Investors will be keen to hear whether those softer areas are starting to show signs of life, and whether rental pricing still has room to move higher. With the main listing now in the US, the valuation gap versus US peers should be clearer - and if performance keeps pace with those names, that could provide a tailwind if the gap narrows."