Investors will be optimistic ahead of full-year results from Micro Focus (MCRO) on Wednesday. In a late-May update, management said the enterprise software giant would "comfortably" meet guidance of $1.3bn (£850m) in adjusted sales and $500m in underlying cash profits.
Shareholders will want to see further progress in the integration of US peer Attachmate, which Micro Focus acquired for $2.5bn in November. Their chief concern may well be the group's famed cash returns, which have been scrapped until net debt falls to 2.5 times adjusted cash profits. Management pegged net debt at $1.4bn at the year-end, leading broker Numis to forecast a cash return in November 2016. But the group warned that some of the year's exceptional charges - which broker Panmure Gordon estimates at $60m in total - weren't yet paid.
There may also be further details of how Micro Focus will realise cost savings and other synergies from the Attachmate deal. Management currently plan to consolidate the group's IT systems, shrink office count by more than a quarter to 90 and reduce headcount by 7.5 per cent. Broker Panmure Gordon expects EPS of 101¢ this financial year (FY 2014: 97.5¢).
