Market Watch: Thorntons hoping for sweeter figures

THE plight of struggling firms Cable & Wireless Worldwide and Thorntons will be in the spotlight this week.Chocolatier Thorntons will be hoping that new ranges in the run-up to Valentine’s Day lift it out of its trading slump.

The group recently warned it will only break even in the year to June, compared with £4.3 million profit in the previous year, as it is forced to drop prices to drum up trade.

The firm, which employs 3,000 staff and has a 7.7 per cent share of the UK chocolate market, will post third-quarter figures on Wednesday after revealing like-for-like sales fell by a worse-than-expected 4.2 per cent in the second quarter of its financial year.

The new boss of Cable & Wireless Worldwide will reveal his strategy for turning the ailing telecoms firm around on Thursday.

The group, which provides high-speed telecoms services to the police and companies including Tesco, has issued three profits warnings in the space of a year as it suffers amid the squeeze in UK government spending and the weak economy. The Former Vodafone executive, Gavin Darby, became its third chief executive in a year in November and will address the market for the first time when he outlines plans to turn the company around.

Domino’s Pizza is expected to unveil strong profits growth on Wednesday after customers chose to stay in rather than eating out. Douglas Jack, an analyst at Numis Securities, expects the group to report that profits grew by 10.5 per cent to £42m in 2011.

A new batch of gaming machines and the increasing popularity of online gambling is expected to boost Ladbrokes on Thursday. Ivor Jones, an analyst at Numis, is expecting the group to report a strong final quarter, following in the footsteps of rival William Hill.