Among the biggest to report will be logistics firm, Mainfreight, which has indicated it is still performing well. Photo:
The upcoming mini-corporate reporting season is expected to show most listed companies are in good shape to deal with rising costs, ongoing labour market shortages and weak consumer confidence.
Some of the biggest companies will be reporting financial results and updating shareholders at annual meetings in the coming weeks, including big banks and financial institutions, transportation and technology sector businesses, building suppliers, property firms and retirement villages, retailers and manufacturers, medical services and food and drug companies.
Milford Asset Management equities analyst Jeremy Hutton said companies with the biggest exposure to consumers would be most concerned, as higher interest rates and inflation takes a toll on discretionary spending.
"From my perspective, expecting some pretty robust results still. Of course, that's backward looking, which has been very strong," Hutton said.
He said the outlook would be something closely watched by investors.
"There are a few cracks starting to appear around the economy, but in the whole, we think the businesses reporting will still have very, very solid numbers."
Among the biggest to report will be logistics firm, Mainfreight, which indicated at a recent investors day that the company was still performing well across all its business units.
I expect them to be pretty bullish. They're a great business, fantastic culture and growing strongly. So I think they're going to remain very upbeat," Hutton said, but consumer facing businesses could find the going tougher.
"There's a bit of evidence coming out that people are putting less products in their baskets. They're consuming less. They're trying to make their dollar stretch a bit further. The value is still the same but the volume in the basket is less."