Unilever plc (LON:UVLR), SABMiller plc (LON:SAB) and The Sage Group plc (LON:SGE) are among the companies in the news next week.
It's looking like a good week for FTSE 100 (UKX) news next week, with one major set of full-year results and a number of interim updates to come. One of Britain's biggest consumer brand owners? A share that consistently beats the FTSE? An airline whose value has doubled? We'll have them all, and more:
Unilever
On Wednesday we'll have full-year results from Unilever (LSE: ULVR), the producer of a large number of the UK's most popular household brands. Third-quarter results released in October were looking good, with total turnover up 10.3% and underlying sales growth coming in at 5.9%. And those trends were reflected in nine-month sales, too, with growth slightly ahead of the three-month figures.
The City is expecting a 7% rise in earnings per share for the full year to December, with a dividend yield of around 3.3%. That would put the shares, currently trading at 2,430p, on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of nearly 19, which is above the long-term FTSE average of about 14.
SABMiller
We should have a trading update from SABMiller (LSE: SAB) on Tuesday, and it will be keenly awaited. SABMiller owns a lot of well-known beer brands, including Miller Lite, Grolsch and Peroni, and dominates its home market in South Africa. The company's share price has achieved a remarkable record -- it has beaten the FTSE All-Share index for 12 years in a row! And at 2,984p today, it's already ahead of the index this year.
For the year to March 2013, analysts are expecting a pre-tax profit of £2,373 million, with earnings up 12% on 2012. That really just reflects November's first-half results, which told us of a 12% rise in profits at that stage.
Land Securities
Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) is due to release a third-quarter statement on Wednesday. The share price has gained around 20% over the past 12 months, and currently stands at 815p after a strong second-half rise in 2012.
Land Securities owns and manages commercial property, mostly in London, and the value of its portfolio has been appreciating of late. After a crash in the depths of the credit crunch, earnings have been slowly recovering, too. There's a small fall, of around 6%, forecast for the year to March 2013, but there is a consensus for growth over the subsequent two years, with dividends in excess of 3.5% expected.
Sage
On the same day, we should have a first-quarter statement from Sage Group (LSE: SGE). The accounting and business management software specialist put in a solid performance in the year ended 30 September, with underlying sales up 2%, pre-tax profit up 4%, but earnings per share down 4%. The dividend was lifted by 4% to 10.15p per share.
The Sage share price dipped in the early days of 2012, but it recovered to end the year pretty much flat overall, and currently stands at 316p. With sentiment towards Sage's business looking positive, forecasts for the current year are suggesting earnings per share growth of 10%, putting the shares on a forward P/E of 14. There's also a dividend yield of around 3.5% expected, and that's pretty much in line with the company's recent record of annual dividend rises.
easyJet
Looking outside the FTSE 100 for our fifth company for next week, budget airline easyJet (LSE: EZJ) has a first-quarter statement scheduled for Thursday. Results for the full year to 30 September were pretty impressive, with revenue up nearly 12% and pre-tax profit climbing by 28%. With earnings per share up 19%, the firm was able to more than double its dividend to 21.5p. In the latest news we've heard from the company, December passenger numbers were continuing last year's trend, up 4.9% over December 2011, with rolling 12-months passenger numbers up 6.7%.
Since founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou led his shareholder revolt to get the company focused on creating shareholder value, the share price has soared -- it has more than doubled over the past 12 months, to today's 871p. And it's still only on a P/E of 12 based on current forecasts.
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> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool has recommended shares in Unilever.
