Monday
Indicators: Euro zone inflation (Jul).
Meetings: Machine Translation Summit 2019 (Helix, Dublin City University).
Tuesday
Results: Medtronic, Home Depot, Urban Outfitters.
Indicators: Euro zone construction output (Jun); UK industrial trends orders (Aug); German PPI (Jul).
Meetings: Entrepreneurs in Ireland 2019 event on success stories (HubSpot European Office, Guild Street, Dublin 1).
Wednesday
Results: Hostelworld, Analog Devices, Target, Gap, Nordstrom.
Indicators: UK public sector net borrowing (Jul); US existing home sales (Jul).
Meetings: International Food Science Conference (Convention Centre Dublin); Dublin Chamber Skills For Growth Workshop (Dublin Chamber, 7 Clare Street, Dublin 2).
Hostelworld
Late last May, Irish travel website Hostelworld said it was looking forward to the important summer season given the negative impact weak consumer sentiment in several EU markets had had on bookings.
Nevertheless, it was confident of meeting its targets, and interim results on Wednesday will give a valuable further insight into how things are faring in this division of the tourism world.
At its recent annual general meeting in Dublin, chairman Michael Cawley said the group was continuing to make progress on its growth programme – 2019 was to be a year of investment to fund growth drivers in 2020.
“One of our key focus areas is strengthening the capability of our core platform to improve its flexibility and the experience for customers, and we look forward to providing an update on progress against this and other initiatives as part of our interim results in August,” Mr Cawley said.
“While the important summer season is still ahead of us, we currently expect to meet the board’s expectation of modest earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation [ebitda] growth for the full year.”
In April, the travel website reported a drop in revenue and profit for the last year but said it was operating in line with its expectations.
Revenue fell by 5 per cent to €82.1 million in 2018, with the drop attributed mainly to €2.9 million in deferred revenue, which will be recognised in 2019. Operating profit for the year fell to €6.7 million from €11.9 million the previous year.
In a note, Davy described “a solid set” of results for 2018, saying earnings before tax were 3 per cent ahead of consensus and 1 per cent ahead of its forecasts.
As for implementation of its new strategy, Davy believed it would give Hostelworld “an identity which is much more closely aligned with its core market and its young, dynamic customers”.
FSAI Conference
Every year thousands of Irish businesses came into some kind of contact with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which hosts its two-day industry conference from Wednesday.
In 2017, according to the latest annual data, almost 50,000 companies came under the supervision of agencies contracted to the FSAI. Some 64 were issued with closure orders and its offices fielded 3,400 consumer complaints – more than one third of the latter figure involved concerns over the quality of food.
These are large figures to digest and a measure of the importance given to the interface between food science, business and consumer rights. Although this week’s proceedings have a heavily scientific tilt, with regulatory chemists, toxicologists and microbiologists, they are aimed too at policy-makers, law enforcement practitioners and non-governmental organisations from Ireland and further afield.
Thursday
Results: CRH, HP.
Indicators: Irish wholesale price index (Jul); Euro zone manufacturing, services and composite PMI flash (Aug), consumer confidence flash (Aug); UK distributive trades (Aug); German manufacturing, services and composite PMI flash (Aug); US manufacturing, services and composite PMI flash (Aug).
Meetings: RTÉ new season launch.
Friday
Results: Glenveagh Properties, Henry Boot