MasterMetals: Tuesday's agenda: Poundland in for a penny

April 13, 2015

Tuesday's agenda: Poundland in for a penny

Results from Poundland could be interesting, in view of the firm's takeover bid for 99p stores.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal may breach competition rules following an initial probe.

The firm now faces a further, more detailed investigation as the watchdog found its proposed takeover could lead to a "substantial lessening of competition” in 80 areas where the two chains overlap. Poundland may have to close 80 stores.

Announcements from Horizon Discovery have been so plentiful this year that it is hard to imagine what new material will be unveiled in its full-year results, other than the profit & loss details, of course.

Those are not especially important for an early stage growth company that only came to the market just over a year ago but, for the record, the market has pencilled in a pre-tax loss of £3.92mln on revenue of £19.8mln.

Keyword Studios is another relative newcomer to the market; the video game services contractor is currently working on many of the big game titles due for release this year.

A busier release schedule and growing confidence among developers bodes well for Dublin-based Keywords, which provides language, testing and localisation services to some of the game industry’s top developers, including Ubisoft, Zynga, Electronic Arts and Konami.

It has already indicated that Tuesday’s full-year results will be in line with expectations, which suggests pre-tax profits of around £3.9mln on turnover of £27.55mln.

Significant announcements expected

Finals: Corac Group (LON:CRA), Flowtech Fluidpower(LON:FLO), Horizon Discovery Group (LON:HZD), Keyword Studios (LON:KWS), MP Evans Group (LON:MPE), Manx Telecom (LON:MANX)

Trading statements: Ashmore group (LON:ASHM), Michael Page International (LON:MPI), Poundland Group (LON:PLND)

Economic: UK - Inflation. EU - Industrial production. US - Retail sales; Producer prices