Wednesday preview: Glaxo, Next

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline issues third quarter figures on Wednesday with the market expecting revenue to decline but earnings to rise.

Revenue is forecast to slide by around 5% to £6,758m from £7,104m the year before, but operating profit is seen climbing to £2,257m from £2,179m.

Earnings per share are tipped to improve to 28.7p from 28.2p in the third quarter of last year, paving the way for a penny-ha'penny increase in the quarterly dividend to 18.5p.

"As with other pharma companies Glaxo is facing a challenging macro environment and increasing generic competition. This, combined with the discontinuation of

certain older products, is driving the declining revenue," notes Rae Ellingham at broker Charles Stanley.

Fashion chain Next should have seen third quarter trading and margins boosted by the colder autumnal weather, Peel Hunt reckons.

"We expect third quarter sales to have recovered well over the past seven weeks and expect to see year-to-date Brand sales back at the top end of guidance, up more than 4%, implying third quarter sales growth of 3.8%. We expect management to endorse current guidance and market expectations, although consensus is likely to drift upwards," the broker said.

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