The UK banking sector reporting season kicks off in earnest on Tuesday with full-year results due from global giant HSBC PLC (LON:HSBA), ahead of numbers from Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY), and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (LON:RBS) later this week.
While it may be listed in the UK, HSBC is far from a UK operation, with 70% of its profits coming from Asia.
HSBC's reported 2017 profits are going to be very muddy because of one-off accounting factors like a write-down of its US deferred tax assets, while comparison with the prior year is also going be flattered by a write-down on the sale of HSBC's Brazilian business in 2016.
The dividend is looking safer than it did, though it's not expected to rise significantly for the foreseeable future, however, HSBC is instead choosing to return cash to investors through share buybacks, to which end a fresh US$2bn scheme was announced last summer.
Meanwhile, full-year results from InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG) are expected to show revenue rising by 5.6% to US$1,811mln, driven primarily by net system size expansion and growth in revenue per available room.
A 7% increase in the FTSE 100 listed firm's EBIT to US$757mln is also expected, in addition to an 18% increase in EPS to US$2.37 as a result of solid operating profit growth and lower shares outstanding following consolidation.
The main point of interest for the update will be the performance of US operations, aside from the tax change impact, and whether there are signs of improvement, particularly following lower than expected performance in the Middle-East and US regions in interim results.
In mid-January, homewares retailer Dunelm PLC (LON:DNLM) reported a solid second -quarter trading update, with like-for-like sales growth of 3.4%, ahead of Numis Securities' forecast for 2.5% growth.
Although that was a marked slowdown from first-quarter growth of 9.3% it reflected much tougher comparatives after Dunelm had seen a bounce back from a poor weather-affected start to full-year 2017.
Dunelm's half-year results, due on Tuesday, will reflect the contribution from its acquisition of Worldstores, which annualised in late November, with the group's new store contribution at the highest level for two years, being boosted by a further 5 openings in the second quarter.
While top-line progress in the second-quarter was slightly ahead of Numis's forecast, gross margin was a touch light, partly resulting from the drag of the lower margin Worldstores business, so investors will be eyeing any comments on margins with the interims.
Finals: HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA), InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG), Lighthouse Group PLC (LON:LGT), Synectics PLC (LON:SNX)
Interims: BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT), Dunelm PLC (LON:DNLM); Green REIT PLC (LON:GRN), Springfield Properties PLC (LON:SPR), Tristel Plc (LON:TRTL)
Economic data: CBI UK industrial trends survey