A sporting effort from JD and upbeat headlines at WH Smith

On Wednesday, retailer JD Sports Fashion is expected to unveil a 17 per cent rise in profits as it shrugs off the gloom surrounding the high street.

In the most recent in a series of bullish trading updates, JD reported that same-store sales were up 2.5 per cent in the final five weeks of 2010.

The Bury-based retailer also said its pre-tax profits for the year to 31 January would exceed the City's expectations of 75 million. Analysts now forecast that pre-tax profits will have hit about 79m.

But the market will be on the look-out for any hint that JD has in recent weeks been hit by the slowdown in consumer confidence that has depressed many retailers in 2011.

Department store chain Debenhams is set to report an increase in profits when it unveils first-half results on Thursday, as its policy of selling more own-label ranges pays off. The group recently said it expected to meet the City's profit forecasts for a 4 per cent rise to 128m for the six months to 26 February.

This is despite same-store sales having declined 1.5 per cent in the period following the increase in VAT to 20 per cent in January and the disruption caused by the snow in December, which wiped as much as 30m from its sales.

Debenhams' strategy to deal with the tough conditions on the high street involves sourcing more own label ranges to boost its margins.

Stationer and confectionery chain WH Smith is likely to reveal a further rise in profits on Thursday despite falling sales.

The chain, which owns 573 high street stores and 516 outlets in airports and stations, said same-store sales dropped 7 per cent in the eight weeks to 22 January as a result of difficult trading conditions. Analysts had expected a fall of 5 per cent in the high street division and 1 per cent in the travel stores, but this prediction was made before the heavy snow.

But while WH Smith, like many retailers, is expected to reveal that trading has remained tough in subsequent weeks, its profits are likely to have grown as a result of a plan to sell more high-margin goods.Analysts predict WH Smith will make 93m pre-tax profits in the year to August 2011, a 4.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

Punch Taverns will be pumped for more details about its plans to call time on 2,500 pubs when it reports half-year results tomorrow.

The group, which is one of the UK's biggest pub operators with about 6,700 outlets, last month unveiled a radical restructuring under new boss Ian Dyson in a bid to pay down its 3 billion debt mountain.

The plan involved demerging its Spirit division of own-managed pubs, including brands such as Chef & Brewer, Fayre & Square and Flaming Grill, to create two separate listed companies this summer.

Among the Scottish stocks, investors will be looking for an update from Edinburgh-based Sigma Capital tomorrow on the investment firm's property initiative with Sir Tom Hunter, its biggest shareholder. Hunter's West Coast Capital is understood to be working with Sigma to launch a 50m quoted fund, which would buy distressed assets from banks.

In January, Sigma spun off its Frontier IP subsidiary, which helps universities to commercialise research, into a separate listed company.