The FTSE 350 w/c 29 July- by Hargreaves Lansdown

Next week is one of the busiest on the stock market with everything from banks to retailers in the spot light.

• Reckitt Benckiser needs to show Chinese growth is stronger in the Infant Nutrition business
• Next hopes to prove online sales are still growing strongly as physical stores continue to struggle
• Lloyds looks to weather the economic turmoil while delivering growth for the long term

 Here’s our list of FTSE 350 and selected other stocks reporting next week.

*Companies on which we will be writing research

Reckitt Benckiser

Reckitt’s $1.4bn settlement for past sales of opioid addiction treatments has made headlines lately. While that’s a big number on paper, it shouldn’t dominate next week’s results.

More pressing is the departure of longstanding CEO, Rakesh Kapoor in September. A smooth set of half year results would be the ideal welcome gift for new boss, Laxman Narasimhan.

The key division to watch is the Infant Nutrition (IFCN) business – which accounted for 24% of sales last quarter. Following manufacturing issues and lower birth rates in China, this could be the quarter we see Asian sales starting to improve. Reckitt needs to show it’s able to secure its piece of the $25bn Chinese baby formula market.

There’s been speculation Reckitt could split off the rest of the business, but we’re unlikely to hear anything on that until Mr Narasimhan’s got his feet under the table. For now, focus should be on Reckitt’s bread and butter – the sales of things like Dettol, Nurofen and Finish.

Next

We’re due a trading statement next week, which means we’re only likely to get sales numbers.

With that in mind, the key focus will be on the online business. Growth here has been strong – sales were up 11.8% last quarter. That’s important because online is needed to offset more disappointing performance in physical stores.

Despite disappointing retail sales, Next will have opened new space in the quarter. That’s because around half of online orders are now collected in store. To justify that new retail space, it’s crucial the online business continues to thrive.

We’re expecting in store sales to have declined again, but will be hoping they aren’t worse than expected. Low single digit declines wouldn’t be a cause for concern, but a higher number would raise eyebrows.

It’s worth remembering that overall sales could be less impressive than last quarter. Unusually warm weather boosted sales at the start of the year, potentially pulling forward summer wardrobe shopping and providing a tough comparison.

The £300m share buyback programme will likely have moved up a notch. Last time we heard from the group, it was £86m of the way through.

Lloyds Banking Group

When the economy starts to creak, banks are usually among the first to feel it. Given the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, and Lloyds’ position as the UK’s largest high street bank, its half year results will be closely watched.

First quarter numbers weren’t exactly glowing – with competition in the mortgage market and PPI charges denting profitability. We expect both trends to continue, especially as the deadline for PPI claims is rapidly approaching, but Lloyds’ focus on cost reduction should help offset the headwinds.

Low interest rates have kept debt affordable in recent years, but a negative surprise in the level of impairments and any significant shift in the riskier car finance and credit card loan books would be bad news – not only for Lloyds but for the wider sector.

Those looking for something a bit more upbeat should keep an eye on any comments relating to the Wealth Management joint venture with Schroders – due to launch in the second quarter. It’s an ambitious venture into retirement and wealth planning with bags of long term potential, although profits aren’t yet the name of the game.

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