WATCHLIST Is £1.5bn Wetherspoon’s heading for a hangover?

IT FEELS like last orders at JD Wetherspoon, such has been the stampede to top up on the pub operator’s shares.

Turnover at the FTSE 250 firm, which is led by larger-than-life chief executive Tim Martin, has been rising this year, including a 7.6 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to the end of April.

That helped the shares hit an all-time high of more than £14.50 last week, valuing the company at £1.5billion.

On Wednesday, the company will update investors on trading for the year ahead of its annual results.

But like a ‘Spoons’ punter who has had one too many, could it cause the share price rally to run out of steam?

Analysts at corporate broker Peel Hunt think it could. They suspect the company did not pass on all its cost increases in the company’s third quarter and predict a slight profit fall for the results this week, with adjusted profits expected to be £102million, down from £104million last year.

Without any big rises to the price of its drinks and food, even that £102 million mark looks like it will be difficult to hit, Peel Hunt fears.

INVESTORS will be watching the share price of Micro Focus closely after the software giant reveals its first-half results on Tuesday.

So far, it has been one of the FTSE100’s best performers of the year, surging more than 50 per cent.

That fact won’t be lost on the company’s executives, who stand to win big based on a bonus scheme that will pay £268 million to executives and 30 managers if the share price passes £34 by September 2020 and targets are hit.

The share price closed at just below £21 on Friday. A strong set of results could help it along nicely.

A FULL-YEAR trading update on Wednesday from home furnishings retailer Dunelm could shed light on its plans to return cash to shareholders.

The company has said it will pay out special dividends for spare cash once its debt is around a quarter of its underlying profits. Based on forecasts for next year, that’s when its debt is around £45million.

That might not be far off. Peel Hunt reckons it may be as early as autumn and could lead to a payday for investors of around £60million. With the share price nearly doubling in six months, shareholders might want to hang around a little longer before cashing in.