Tuesday preview: Vodafone, Greggs and US CPI in focus

(Sharecast News) - Tuesday will bring annual results from 3i Infrastructure, Bytes Technology and Vodafone, half-year numbers from Imperial Brands and trading updates from Wickes, Greggs and IMI. Angling Direct will also release its preliminary results.

AJ Bell analysts Russ Mould and Danni Hewson said Vodafone's results may be somewhat overshadowed by the move to take full control of VodafoneThree by buying out CK Hutchison - helping to build on its competitive advantages in the UK.

"Shareholders will also want to see continued progress in Germany and that the return to growth in the third quarter of the year has been sustained," they said.

As far as Greggs is concerned, UBS expects Q1 like-for-like sales at 2% and 30 net new store openings leading to total sales growth of 6.5% or £834.6m.

It noted the shares are down around 7% since the full-year results in early March as Greggs pointed to a soft start to the year and said it expected to deliver FY26 underlying profit at a similar level to last year "in a lower cost inflation year though we expect slightly higher at £176m".

Across the pond, the consumer price index for April is due. ING said the US inflation data would be the highlight of the data calendar this week as the fallout from the Middle East energy shock continues to reverberate around the global economy.

"Headline inflation is expected to rise to 3.7% year-on-year (3.3%) while the core rate should rise to 2.7% (2.6%)," it said.