(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)It's a big week for retailers and the all-important post-Christmas trading updates. On the clothing front investors will be holding their breath to see whether the likes of ASOS Primark (owned by Associated British Foods) Burberry Debenhams Mothercare JD Sports and SuperGroup have been afflicted by the warm weather malaise complained of by Next Marks & Spencer and Sports Direct. Marks & Spencer's trading update was so bad it precipitated the departure of the chief executive officer though Marks & Sparks's performance on the grocery side laid down a marker that the likes of Morrisons Sainsbury and Tesco will struggle to match this week. With Sainsbury there is the added piquancy of it reporting the day before Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail which it is interested in buying. Sainsbury's update is for its fiscal third quarter and it is up against some tough comparatives from a year ago. Like-for-like (LFL) sales (excluding fuel) are likely to have remained in negative territory according to Keith Bowman at Hargreaves Lansdown following a 1.1% decline in the second quarter. 'Continued food deflation across many categories is likely to have played its part. On the upside the consumer trend in favour of celebration treats may again assist while the group's emphasis on convenience stores further underlined – it opened 27 such stores in Q2' Bowman opined. Morrisons likely won't be jettisoning its chief executive no matter how poor the performance as it already did that last year. Its trading update covers nine weeks of its fourth quarter and after seeing a LFL fall in the third quarter of 2.6% excluding fuel the expectation is that performance in the fourth quarter will have been much the same. 'Ongoing market share gains for discounters Aldi and Lidl and management's deliberate decision to reduce the use of promotional vouchers may again [have an] impact' Hargreaves Lansdown's Bowman suggests. 'More favourably the board's emphasis on reducing costs and group net debt could be further reiterated whilst its expectation for underlying profit before tax to be higher in the second half of the current financial year than the first potentially repeated.' Lastly the wounded big beast of the sector reports on its third quarter plus a bit of the Christmas trading period resulting in an update covering 19 weeks. Data from market research group Kantar suggests that UK LFL sales will have fallen with the twin perils of food deflation and the hard discounters mostly to blame. 'International sales are likely to have remained challenging whilst a further underlining of management initiatives to improve company performance including the closure of unprofitable stores could be made' Bowman speculates. Online electrical goods seller AO World has not been listed for long - less than a year in fact – and has already developed an unwanted reputation as a serial profit warning. Numis Securities (NSe) remains a fan and is looking for a continuation of the acceleration in sales growth; second quarter sales in the UK were up 32% year-on-year compared to an 11.2% growth rate in the first quarter. Numis reckons growth of some where around 30% could be on the cards for the whole group with growth supported by brand-building marketing investments. 'With declines in third-party retail and third-party logistics set to continue we forecast UK growth of +20%. In the last couple of days we have seen some connected broker downgrades largely reflecting a more significant FY17 Germany loss of c.£17m (NSe £10m) and the inclusion of Netherlands losses (c.£3m); we are likely to have to make similar adjustments in due course. Despite this [we] are encouraged at the strong top-line progress in AO.com and believe the business will derive substantial long-term value from the marketing investments being made' said Numis's Andrew Wade. On the economic front the big event is the Bank of England's decision on interest rates on Thursday though few if any are expecting the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to follow the US central bank's lead and hike rates just yet. 'With oil prices heading lower again average earnings growth signalling no domestic inflationary pressures and the latest GDP figures showing that economic growth was slower than previously thought Bank Rate will be left unchanged at 0.5% with only one member continuing to vote for a hike' predicts Japanese broker Daiwa Securities. Significant announcements expected Monday Trading statement: Impax Asset Management (LON:IPX) Robert Walters (LON:RWA) Macro - China: Consumer prices Producer prices. Tuesday Trading statement: AO World (LON:AO.) Big Yellow Group (LON:BYG) Boohoo.com (LON:BOO) Cineworld (LON:CINE) Debenhams (LON:DEB) Greggs (LON:GRG) Grafton (LON:GFTU) The Gym Group (LON:GYM) Just Eat (LON:JUST) McBride (LON:MCB) Michael Page International (LON:MPI) Morrison (LON:Wm) Supermarkets (LON:MRW) Saga (LON:SAGA) Macro - US: JOLTS job openings. UK: British Retail Consortium like-for-like sales Industrial production Manufacturing output NIESR GDP estimate Wednesday Final: Shoe Zone (LON:SHOE) Trading statement: Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) Connect Group (LON:CNCT) Dunelm Group (LON:DNLM) Fenner (LON:FENR) Hays (LON:HAS) Mears (LON:MER) Regenersis (LON:RGS) Sainsbury (J) (LON:SBRY) Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) Xaar (LON:XAR) Macro - US: Monthly budget statement Fed Beige Book. EU: Industrial production. China: Trade figures. Thursday Trading statement: Ashmore (LON:ASHM) ASOS (LON:ASC) Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) Booker Group (LON:BOK) Burberry Group (LON:BRBY) Hilton Food Group (LON:HFG) Home Retail Group (LON:HOME) JD Sports Fashion (LON:JD.) Jupiter Fund Management (LON:JUP) Lavendon (LON:LVD) Moss Bros (LON:MOSB) Mothercare (LON:MTC) Polar Capital (LON:POLR) Premier Oil (LON:PMO) Restaurant Group (LON:RTG) SIG (LON:SHI) SuperGroup (LON:SGP) Tesco (LON:TSCO) William Hill (LON:WMH) US: Weekly jobless claims. UK: Bank of England base rate decision. EU: ECB minutes of Governing Council Friday Trading statement: Bovis Homes (LON:BVS) Experian (LON:EXPN) US: Advance retail sales Producer prices Industrial production Capacity utilisation. UK: Construction out. EU: Trade balance
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