Marketwatch: EasyJet on steady course, despite winter chill

EasyJet is likely to confirm that it emerged relatively unscathed from December's snow disruption when it posts a trading update on Thursday.

The carrier reported a 7.6 per cent rise in passenger numbers last month, despite travel chaos caused by the snow and ice. The number of seats flown, regardless of whether passengers turned up, increased to 3.6 million.

Andrew Lobbenberg, an analyst at RBS, said passenger numbers were higher than expected and better than those of rival Ryanair.

EasyJet's UK bases at Gatwick and in Europe coped better with the snow than other airports such as Heathrow, which reported a 9.5 per cent drop in passenger numbers.

Carphone Warehouse is expected to shed more light on the performance of its Best Buy electronics stores when it releases third-quarter figures on Tuesday.

The mobile phone giant has opened six stores in the UK as part of a joint-venture with US giant Best Buy, which aims to throw down the gauntlet to established industry players Comet and Currys by offering cheaper prices, trade-in deals and American-style customer service.

When Carphone Warehouse last updated the market in November, it revealed Best Buy in the UK made a loss of 29m and it pledged more cash to promote the fledgling brand.

The market will also look out for news on how its 800 Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK held up against December's snowfall. Analysts are expecting like-for-like sales through its 2,450 stores across nine European countries to increase by 1 per cent in the third quarter.

Primark-owner Associated British Foods (ABF) was one of the FTSE 100 Index's success stories in 2010 and investors will be hoping its first-quarter update on Thursday will start 2011 in the same vein.

The company - which also makes Twinings tea, Kingsmill bread, Silver Spoon sugar and the Patak's spicy food range - saw its share price rocket 44 per cent in 2010, making it one of the Footsie's top ten performing companies.

Sales increased by 10 per cent in the year to 18 September, breaking through the 10 billion barrier for the first time and adjusted pre-tax profits increased 26 per cent to 825m.

Value clothing retailer Primark, which has performed well in the recession, last year reported sales up 18 per cent to 2.7bn and operating profits up 35 per cent to 341m.

But the soaring cost of commodity prices threatens to make life difficult in 2011.

Cotton, which nearly doubled in price in the past year, will put Primark under pressure to put up prices or take a hit to its profit margins. The rising cost of wheat, sugar and oil will have a similar affect on ABF's food business.Fourth-quarter results from bookmaker William Hill will be watched closely on Wednesday to see if the group continued its recent strong run of form.

It advised earlier in the year that profits were likely to be at the upper end of City expectations following strong results and a boost from its best ever World Cup performance.

The analyst consensus is for operating profits of 264m in 2010, a 4 per cent increase on the previous year, although this figure will not be released until the company gives its final results later in the year.

The firm, which has more than 2,350 shops in the UK and Ireland, reported a 22 per cent jump in net revenues for the 13 weeks to 28 September.