Frasers Group, which owns the eponymous department stores and the Sport Direct chain, is this week expected to reveal a slip in annual sales as consumers tighten their belts.
The retailer will provide figures for the 12 month to the end of April, forecast to be down to £5.3 million from £5.54m in the previous year, though analysts will be more interested in trading conditions over the summer.
May was the first month after the introduction of higher national insurance contributions and the living wage which has a big impact on the retail sector.
The group said it would post annual profits of between £550m and £600m, after lowering its expectations from between £575m and £625m.
Frasers is led by majority-owner Mike Ashley’s son-in-law Michael Murray.
SSE, the energy company will hold its AGM on Thursday a week after it welcomed the government’s decision not to go ahead with zonal pricing. It has argued that such a move would have been bad for investment.
Economy
UK inflation is expected to show another rise again when data for June is released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday.
According to the latest FactSet consensus, the UK’s core consumer prices index (CPI) is forecast to have risen by 3.5% over the 12 months to the end of June. May’s figure came in at 3.4%.
It will follow the Mansion House address by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday night when she is expected to announce significant financial services and savings policy reforms.
However, she has dropped plans to change the tax allowance for cash ISAs and will instead offer a wider range of measures to encourage savers to invest in the stock market.
Both statements will also inform the Bank of England’s next move when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC meets on 6 August to consider the next interest rate decision. Recent falls in GDP are expected to prompt another cut.
The governor Andrew Bailey has said the Bank is ready to make larger cuts to interest rates if the jobs market shows signs of a pronounced slowdown.
DIARY
Tuesday 15 July
- Mansion House speech
- Robert Walters announces trading update
Wednesday 16 July
- Burberry holds AGM
- UK inflation figures
Thursday 17 July
- Full year results from Frasers
- SSE holds AGM and announces trading update
- UK employment figures
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