Market Watch

SCOTTISH & Southern Energy will post only a "moderate" rise in full-year profits on Wednesday despite the coldest January for more than 20 years.

The UK's second biggest energy firm reported that household energy usage over the winter as a whole actually fell as a warmer October and November offset the impact of the cold snap at the beginning of this year.

Perth-based SSE – which also owns Scottish Hydro Electric – is expected to post underlying pre-tax profits of around 1.3 billion for the year to 31 March, up from 1.25bn a year earlier.

The group, which has nearly 10 million customers, was the second company to cut energy bills in the sector after British Gas made the first move in February.

Beleaguered British Airways is set to post an unprecedented second year in a row of huge losses on Friday as global recession, industrial disputes and winter snow take their toll.

Charles Stanley analyst Tony Shepard is expecting record annual losses of 600m for the year to March from BA – following on from 401m in pre-tax losses for the previous year.

The latest blow will include an estimated 45m hit from the seven days of strikes taken by cabin crew in March.

And next week's results will come against the backdrop of another wave of strikes beginning on Tuesday, with 20 days of industrial action spanning the half-term holidays planned by the Unite trade union. This could potentially cost BA around 100 million.

Since the year-end, Iceland's volcanic ash cloud has added to the group's woes, with the closure of most of European airspace costing it up to 20m a day.

Mobile phone giant Vodafone's results on Tuesday will be scanned for more signs of life in sluggish European markets as the business weathers a tough trading climate.

The group's third-quarter update showed healthier sales trends in the UK and Germany – with the 3.2 per cent fall in overall European revenues in the three months to December representing an improvement on the previous quarter.

The increased momentum was also seen in emerging markets such as India, while part-owned Verizon Wireless also put in another strong performance in the US.

Analysts expect profits to come in at 11.4bn for the full year to 31 March, on overall revenues up 8 per cent to 44.3bn.

Babycare retailer Mothercare is expected to post a 16 per cent rise in underlying profits to 51.6m on Thursday despite a recent sales wobble in the UK.

The heavy snowfall seen in January saw like-for-like sales fall 1.6 per cent in the final quarter of the group's financial year as the group extended its winter sales, slowing comparative sales growth for the year as a whole to 3 per cent.