The Week Ahead: Will Domino's Q2 results show it powering ahead?

Domino's Pizza will be in focus this morning as the City finds out whether the fast-food chain has managed to sustain the pace of sales growth seen in the first quarter of the year.

House brokers Altium and Numis are upbeat, expecting the company's promotions, its sponsorship of ITV's popular reality television programme Britain's Got Talent, the football World Cup and relatively weak comparatives to underpin trading during the second quarter.

Analysts at Altium reckon that this morning's half-yearly numbers could "offer another opportunity for upgrades", noting that Domino's Q1 update at the end of March was "exceptionally positive, with like-for-like sales over the first 13 weeks ahead by a very impressive 10.5 per cent".

"Momentum within the business was such as that a continuation of double-digit sales growth throughout the second quarter is quite possible," the broker added in a preview last week.

Panmure Gordon was more cautious, however, pointing out that recent numbers from the UK's third-largest pizza delivery chain, Papa John's, showed a "modest slowdown" in the growth in like-for-like system sales over the second quarter.

"Papa John's is a very good proxy for Domino's," the broker said, pointing out that the pullback came despite the World Cup. "We think the market will be disappointed by a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth at Domino's in a quarter where comparatives are the easiest of the year and there is the beneficial impact of the World Cup."

Meanwhile, Panmure is anticipating news of at 49 per cent rise in revenues when Immunodiagnostic Systems, the Aim-listed manufacturer of specialist diagnostic-testing kits, posts its full-year figures this morning. Revenues are expected to jump to £37.1m, which would put them in line with the company's trading update in April. Pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £10.2m, which should result in earnings of 27.7p per share.

Results/Updates: Hyder Consulting, Immunodiagnostic Systems and Domino's Pizza UK & Ireland.

Tomorrow

The luxury goods group Burberry is due to issue a first-quarter trading statement and UBS is eyeing £261m in sales. If achieved, that would equate a 14.1 per cent increase on the year.

According to the broker: "Organic top-line growth of 10.2 per cent should be compounded further by a 4 per positive impact from currencies",

Beyond the numbers, UBS expects Burberry's management to remain confident about the retailer's outlook in what remains a mixed business environment, with "strong growth areas like Asia expected to be at least partly offset by pressure stemming from the austerity measures taken in large parts of Western Europe".

Also tomorrow, the IT company Computacenter is due to issue a pre-close update, and Panmure expects the company's trading to be in line with expectations.

The broker said: "While the outlook is likely to be described as 'uncertain', there should be plenty of positive operational signs. However, the mix of economy, public-sector-spending uncertainty and a slow services business is likely to make this normally reticent management team guide to no changes for full year forecasts."

Results/Updates: Northern Foods, Computacenter and Burberry.

Wednesday

Numis is looking forward to a "reassuring update" from the housebuilder Barratt Developments. Pressured by the recent equity-market falls and growing concern about the strength of the housing-market recovery, the sector has been under pressure in recent months.

Numis expects Barratt to soothe nerves by confirming that sales have been in line with expectations, and that prices have continued to hold firm or improve. It said: "In our view, the main take away from the results will be the second-half operating margin, which we expect to hit 5.6 per cent (up from 2.7 per cent in the first half) as the group benefits from cost savings, house-price inflation and re-planning."

Numis believes there is a also strong chance of Barratt beating expectations about its net debt position.

Results/Updates: ASOS, Ashmore, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, London Stock Exchange and Barratt Developments.

Thursday

Mothercare is due to issue a Q1 update at its annual general meeting. UBS is looking for total sales growth of 3 per cent, with UK like-for-like sales expected to be 2 per cent lower. "This low, single-digit, top-line growth reflects challenging trading conditions in the UK, which is partly compensated for by continued strong space growth for its international franchise network," the broker said. It forecasts that Mothercare's international retail sales will have grown by 20 per cent.

Results/Updates: Supergroup, Experian, Premier Oil and Mothercare.

Friday

Results/Updates: Record and Bluebay Asset Management.