Erikka Askeland: Home Retail Group news an indicator for sector

HOME Retail Group, the owner of the Argos and Homebase chains, will this week reveal whether consumer sentiment is waning in its first update since the government's deficit-busting Budget was announced.

The group, which has 747 Argos outlets and 347 Homebase stores, reported a bigger-than-expected slump in sales in the 13 weeks to 29 May, due to weak demand for video games and televisions.

The Thursday update is likely to reveal the impact on sales of the World Cup in June and July - although it did not appear to make a difference to sales in late May.

Housebuilder Barratt should move back into the black on Wednesday in annual results, but all eyes in the City will be on the firm's view of prospects for the property market.

Expected pre-tax profits of 38.2 million for the year to 30 June - against a 144m reverse in 2009 - will be welcome, but nerves are growing amid concerns that the temporary recovery in house prices is running out of steam.

The profits - a fraction of the 451m made by the group in 2007 - have been driven as much by cost-cutting and a change in the building mix towards houses as they have by improvements in the underlying market.

It expects completions to grow by up to 10 per cent this year, but is concentrating on price rather than volumes.

JD Wetherspoon could burst through the 1 billion sales mark when it reveals its full-year results on Friday after a World Cup boost and longer opening hours offset the impact of tax and duty increases.

The pubs group opened 47 new pubs in the financial year, and is set to announce plans to expand into the Orkney Islands.

The UK's fourth biggest supermarket, Morrisons, is expected to sketch out new avenues for growth when it reports interim figures on Thursday, including a potential long-awaited move into online grocery.

Bradford-based Morrisons - which has seen the fastest growth among the Big Four this year - is set to post a 14 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to 409m in the first half, but the attention will be on new chief executive Dalton Philips's plans for the business.

Analysts will be awaiting his strategic assessment of the grocer now he has his feet under the table, and expect hints on a new direction following the departure of former boss Marc Bolland to Marks & Spencer.

Online retailer Ocado's first trading update as a listed company comes amid yet more fears over its controversial stock market valuation.

The group, which has a delivery partnership with Waitrose, has seen shares driven down since July's flotation.Ocado is facing stiff competition in the online space - in addition to the prospect of competition from Morrisons, Amazon recently moved into the grocery sector for the first time.

To add to concerns, its exclusive partner, Waitrose, is also working on plans to launch its own competing delivery operation within the M25 in two years.

Chocolate chain Thorntons reports annual figures on Wednesday after a difficult year for the retail group.

The firm issued a profits warning in May and said its chief executive Mike Davies would retire in favour of a successor with "specific retail expertise".

Thorntons, which has 377 stores across the UK, revealed in July that sales declines deepened, down 6 per cent in the 10 weeks to 26 June, worse than the 4.6 per cent drop seen in the previous quarter.

The retailer said it was cutting 35 staff from its head office in Alfreton, Derbyshire, to cut costs as it looks to combat tougher trading.

Analysts are expecting the weak sales performance to have left underlying annual pre-tax profits down to 6.2m from 6.3m a year earlier.

However, there were some bright spots - its Thorntons Direct website was boosted by recovering sales to corporate customers in the second half.