Contrasting fortunes for 888 and Entain shareholders ahead of big updates

William Hill's £19 million fine for gambling protection failures adds to compliance issues at new owner, 888

Online gambling and gaming company 888 Holdings (888) will release full year results and a first quarter trading update on 14 April while larger peer Entain (ENT) will give a first quarter trading update on 18 April.

Investors will be looking for some reassurance at 888 after it shocked investors (30 January) by revealing an internal probe amid compliance breaches in the Middle East which led to the resignation of CEO Itai Pazner.

At its 2022 results Entain flagged continuing regulatory headwinds coming into 2023 but said trading had started with positive underlying momentum.

On 5 April Entain announced the acquisition of leading scores and sports media company 365scores for $150 million. Investors will be looking for signs that Entain's US business remains on track to turn a profit in 2023. [MG]

Why WH Smith is confident of delivering another year of growth

The FTSE 250 retailer offers investors a play on improving global passenger numbers

Investors will be seeking confirmation that WH Smith (SMWH) continues to benefit from the recovery in airport passenger volumes and that its store rollout programme is going to plan when the retailer reports half-year results on 20 April.

The high street and travel retailer has already issued an upbeat trading update for the 20 weeks to 14 January 2023, with CEO Carl Cowling insisting WH Smith was in ‘its strongest ever position as a global travel retailer’.

Combined with the continued improvement in global passenger numbers, Cowling expressed confidence in ‘another year of significant growth in 2023’. [JC]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

This could be a make or break set of numbers

At the start of the year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM:NYSE), which has a listing in New York, played it cautious with 2023 guidance. Talk of a ‘slight growth year’ because of a cyclical downturn in the chip industry came alongside weakening demand for micro chips and building inventories. Analysts are hopeful that this could begin to change as 2023 progresses, with the world’s largest contract chip maker a sector bellwether. TSMC is seen reporting earnings of 7.58 Taiwan dollars on T$524.7 million revenue on 20 April. [SF]

Netflix will be hoping its new price plan will stave off competition

All eyes will be on subscriber numbers when the streaming platform reports

Streaming platform Netflix (NFLX:NASDAQ) is set to report its first quarter results on 18 April.

Netflix lost subscribers in the first half of 2022, yet for the year as a whole it achieved 4% growth in subscriber numbers.

Despite the company ceasing to give subscriber guidance in an attempt to shift investor focus to revenue, no doubt there will still be plenty of attention on this metric when Netflix reports. Take-up of its new ad-supported tier and its move into games publishing will also be closely scrutinised. So far Netflix has made more than 20 mobile games available for free to subscribers.

Netflix’s shares almost halved in value last year leaving it open to takeover speculation. Some media reports suggest tech giant Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) might be a likely suitor. [SG]

UK UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

HALF-YEARLY RESULTS

20 April: WH Smith, Centamin

FULL-YEAR RESULTS

14 April: 888, AO World, Lifesafe, Flowtech Fluidpower

17 April: Schroder UK Public Private Trust, Surface Transforms, Diaceutics

18 April: Billington, Property Franchise Group

19 April: M Winkworth, Distribution Finance Capital

20 April: Arecor Therapeutics, Intelligent Ultrasound Group, Oxford Biomedica

TRADING UPDATES

14 April: 888 Holding (DI), CMC Markets, Hays

17 April: Sirius Real Estate Ashmore Group

18 April: Entain, IntegraFin, Liontrust Asset Management

19 April: Hochschild Mining, Network International Holdings

20 April: Dunelm, SEGRO, Rio Tinto, Rentokil Initial

US UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

QUARTERLY RESULTS

14 April: UnitedHealth, JP Morgan, Hermes International, Wells Fargo Citigroup, PNC Financial, Eaton Vance, TomTom

17 April:  Charles Schwab, State Street, M&T Bank, JB Hunt, Equity Lifestyle, Wintrust, Pinnacle

18 April: J&J, Bank of America, Netflix, Goldman Sachs, Bank of NY Mellon, Interactive Brokers, Omnicom, United Airlines, First Horizon, Manpower

19 April: Tesla, Louis Vuitton, Abbott Labs, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Rio Tinto, Blackrock, US Bancorp, Travelers, Nasdaq, Equifa

20 April: Philip Morris, American Express, Union Pacific, Marsh McLennan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

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