Goldman Sachs steeled to see revenues halved

The results, released on Tuesday, come amid a flurry of US bank updates and will highlight the pressures recent market turmoil and economic uncertainty have had on the sector. They cover a period of great market volatility triggered by global recession fears, which has hit all major investment banks.

Goldman Sachs, which has announced thousands of job cuts, is expected to say revenues have fallen by about half to $4.93 billion (£3.1bn) compared to the second quarter.

In other news, BSkyB will be hoping a strong set of first-quarter results will draw attention away from the controversy surrounding the satellite broadcaster’s chairman James Murdoch.

Major BSkyB shareholder Mutual Series is understood to have called for the junior Murdoch’s resignation following the phone-hacking scandal at News International.

The chairman has had his independence scrutinised as he remains deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, the media group that owns nearly 40 per cent of BSkyB and which was forced to abandon its bid for total control of the group in the wake of the scandal.

BSkyB will hope a solid quarter with strong earnings and sales growth will switch attention away from the ongoing furore.

Paul Richards, an analyst at brokerage Numis, expects revenues to grow 9 per cent to £1.7bn, while underlying earnings should be up 14 per cent to £290 million.

But Richards has also forecast net customer additions to slow to around 40,000, compared to 96,000 added last year, as the clampdown on household incomes tightens.

Argos, the 750-store catalogue chain, is expected to have made just £1m in half-year profits after sales tumbled nearly 8 per cent.

On Wednesday its owner, Home Retail Group, is forecast to report a 70 per cent plunge in pre-tax profits to £30m for the six months to August, compared to £103m the previous year.

The company’s garden and homewares chain, Homebase, which has 342 stores in the UK, also saw sales come under pressure as cash-strapped customers shied away from making big-ticket purchases such as fitted kitchens.

Debenhams should show profit growth on Thursday after a summer of discounts and promotions helped boost its market share.

The group, which has 169 stores in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, managed to turn around falling like-for-like revenues over the summer after it brought its sale forward by five days. It cheered the market in September when it forecast higher-than-expected profits – a rare move in a sector dominated by profit warnings due to the squeeze on consumers.

Profits have been boosted in recent years by its own label and “designers at Debenhams” ranges, which sees the likes of Jasper Conran and Henry Holland make exclusive lines for the company.