Hello, and welcome to The Week
Ahead from The Financial Times
in London.
Here are some of the big stories
we'll be watching this week.
The world's largest
retail chain, Walmart,
reports results.
Venezuela goes to the polls in
a presidential election that's
been slammed by the
international community.
New faces at Burberry,
but what will investors
be looking for when the
venerable British fashion house
reports full-year results.
And is Japan's longest
growth spurt since 1989 about
to come to an end?
We'll find out when the country
releases first-quarter GDP
figures.
Let's start with Walmart.
It's been a busy month
for the retail group.
First, it retreated
from the UK markets
when it merged its
British operation, Asda,
with rival supermarket
chain Sainsbury.
Then it signalled its
intention to move towards deal
making and developing
economies when
it bought the Indian company,
Flipkart, for $16 billion, in.
what was the world's largest
e-commerce investment.
So what will
investors be looking
for when Walmart reports
first-quarter results
this week?
Here's our US reporter
Anna Nicolaou.
So I think there's a lot of
focus on what the strategy is
going forward.
What this all means in
the context of Walmart's
e-commerce strategy.
In the last quarter,
the issue was
that their e-commerce
sales in the US
were a lot slower than they've
been in previous quarters.
They grew 23% for the quarter,
whereas in previous quarters
it was about 50% to 60%.
So investors took
that very poorly.
They sold off the
stock that day,
and kept selling it
the past few months.
And it's put more
pressure on Walmart
to stoke growth in e-commerce.
They've been behind
Amazon the whole time.
And the question now, I guess
is, is this Flipkart deal
enough to push them forward?
Next to Venezuela, which will
hold presidential elections
on Sunday.
But with key opposition
figures either barred
from running, under arrest,
or languishing in exile,
there seems only one possible
outcome, a phony victory
for the incumbent
Nicolas Maduro,
who should be sworn in for
another six years in power.
Assuming he does win, the US
and possibly the EU, Japan,
and Latin American nations,
are likely to step up
their pressure on Caracas.
The US is likely to
announce further sanctions
after Sunday's vote.
But none of this appears
to be bothering Mr Maduro.
He was in bullish mood
while on the campaign trail.
And now to Burberry,
which reports
results for the year
to March this week.
Analysts are expecting
sales growth of 2% to 3%,
revenue of around £2.73bn,
and adjusted operating profits
of around £453m.
In the last of a series of
major executive changes,
chairman John Peace will bow out
to be replaced by Gerry Murphy.
There have been lots of new
faces at Burberry lately,
and this year's annual
meeting represents
a drawing down of the curtain
on the Christopher Bailey era.
Mr Bailey relinquished the role
of chief executive last July,
and stepped down from his
creative role in March.
Marco Gobbetti, his
successor to the top job,
unveiled some strategic
changes last November.
But it's unlikely they'll have
much impact on this year's
numbers.
This meeting is all
about the mood music,
as our retail correspondent,
Jonathan Eley, explains.
There's been an almost
complete changing
of the guard in
all the positions
that matter to this company.
We already know,
really, that there's
going to be probably no
surprises in trading.
That the company's
last trading update
covered a really important
part of the year,
encompassing the golden
week holiday in China,
and also Christmas in
the western Hemisphere.
Everything was broadly OK.
Their forecasts didn't change.
So it's all really about the
strategy, the mood music,
and also looking
forward to the new chief
creative guys' first show, which
will be in September this year.
And finally, Japan's longest
growth spurt since 1989
is expected to end this week,
with analysts forecasting
a small economic
contraction of 0.1%
in the first quarter of 2018.
It will be the first
decline after eight
consecutive quarters of growth.
Data on consumption and
capital goods shipments,
plus a somewhat stronger
yen in recent quarters,
point to a mild
slowdown in the economy.
But what would a slight
dip into negative territory
mean for a country with
low unemployment levels
and strong corporate profits?
Our Tokyo bureau chief,
Robin Harding, reports.
Analysts expect a contraction
this time around of about 0.1%
on an annualised basis.
If that does come to
pass, it won't indicate
a start of a new recession.
Most analysts think this is a
temporary lull, partly caused
by strength in the
yen, and expect
to return to growth
later in the year.
And that's what the week ahead
looks like from The Financial
Times in London.
See you again next time.
