Friday preview: UK retail sales, Babcock results
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 20 Nov 2025
(Sharecast News) - Friday will see the release of the latest UK retail sales data and half-year results from defence engineer Babcock.
UK public sector net borrowing and retail sales figures for October are scheduled for release in the morning.
Michael Hewson at MCH Markets Insights said that despite a sharp decline in both April and May, UK consumer spending has been remarkably resilient in the months since then, with four months of positive readings across the summer months, and into the autumn.
"July, August and September all saw robust readings of 0.5%, 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, despite very low consumer confidence," he noted.
"This resilience helped keep the UK economy above water in Q3, however with the November budget coming up and a government who appear intent on putting the fear of God into people with speculation over what might be in this year's red box it wouldn't be surprising to see a sharp slowdown in October retail spending.
"12 months ago, Rachel Reeves assured everyone who would listen that she would not be back with further tax rises. At the time there was enormous amounts of scepticism about this hostage to fortune remark and so it has proved, amid scenes reminiscent of Groundhog Day.
"This time last year saw UK retail sales post negative numbers in October, November, December and January. Will it be different this time given the prevailing gloom in recent economic numbers? I wouldn't bet against it."
On the corporate front, Babcock is due to release results for the six months to 30 September.
Bloomberg consensus is for adjusted revenue of £2.52bn, adjusted operating profit of £187.7m and adjusted pre-tax profit of £167.5m.
Friday November 21
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Bytes Technology Group , Howden Joinery Group, Next 15 Group, Tesco, Warpaint London
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
JPMorgan Asia Growth & Income, M Winkworth, Primary Health Properties, Supermarket Income Reit, TBC Bank Group
FINALS
ASOS
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Goodwin Plc
AGMS
Celtic, Craneware, Provexis
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
GFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)
Public Sector Net Borrowing (07:00)
Retail Sales (07:00)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
MJ Gleeson , Smiths Group
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