Thursday preview: Marks & Spencer, Tesco updates in focus

(Sharecast News) - Thursday is a big day for UK retailers, with both Marks & Spencer and Tesco due to publish updates, alongside bakery chain Greggs. Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Marks and Spencer will be hoping for a magical Christmas performance in next week's trading update, to help draw a line under what has been a tough 2025."

He pointed to the cyber attack in April last year, which crippled online sales in the retailer's Fashion, Home & Beauty (FH&B) division, leading to a sharp decline in first-half profits.

"Operations are expected to return to full flow by March, sparking hopes that second-half pre-tax profits can rebound above last year's £468 million," Chiekrie said.

"Underlying trends in the business remain positive, with both Food and FH&B continuing to capture market share from the competition, thanks to its obsessive focus on quality, value, and service. With near-term profit expectations reset, the worst looks to be behind M&S now. But the group has some work to do to rebuild investors' confidence, starting with delivering a solid performance in next week's festive update."

As far as Greggs' fourth-quarter trading update is concerned, AJ Bell noted the shares are down 40% over the past year, leaving them at levels last seen in late 2020 "as the UK was slowly staggering out of the pandemic and the early wave of lockdowns".

Analysts Russ Mould, Danni Hewson and Dan Coatsworth said investors will be watching for comments on total sales, which were up 6.7% at the nine-month stage and 6.1% in the third quarter.

They will also be watching out for the trend in like-for-like sales, where a marked slowdown has been evident.

"The third quarter showed a 1.5% improvement, and the first nine months overall just a 2.2% rate of advance, on a like-for-like basis," they noted.

On the macroeconomic front, Chinese trade figures for December will be released overnight, while German factory orders for November are due at 0700 GMT. In the US, the latest initial jobless claims data will be published at 1330 GMT.

Thursday January 08

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)

Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)

Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)

Factory Orders (GER) (07:00)

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Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)

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