The Week Ahead: Burberry to detail third quarter performance

Thirsty punters will mull over the outlook for pubs when Greene King and Spirit Pub Company report today and tomorrow respectively.

Analysts at Panmure Gordon expect comparable sales to have grown around 5 per cent over the past six weeks for Greene King. However, Spirit is expected to post flat sales growth.

Fashion is the main focus for the week with both cheap and luxury players updating on trading.

Tomorrow Peel Hunt anticipates online fashion site Asos to report another “strong performance” with new sites in Russia and China expected to be performing well. Peel’s analysts forecast group retail sales growth of 37.9 per cent due to “accelerating top line performance over the year”.

On Wednesday, British high end brand Burberry will detail its performance for the third quarter. Experts at Nomura point out that the British brand reported a strong first half with comparable sales up 13 per cent, so they predict a slowdown to 7.1 per cent growth – in line with second half forecasts – this period due to a “volatile” macro trading environment.

Sugar to clothes group Associated British Foods is expected to continue to offset its weak sugar business with strong sales at its Primark shops. Panmure Gordon thinks sales growth will come in at around 2 per cent.

Also on Thursday an update is due from plus-size clothing and catalogue group N Brown. Oriel Securities says “as nearly all the clothiers to report so far have enjoyed Christmas online we see no reason why N Brown should be any different.”

Barratt Developments will confirm that the housing sector is still in rude health on Tuesday. Peel Hunt’s bricks and mortar experts expect it to be on track for a pre-tax profit of £322m for the year to July.

The week is finished with bookies – Ladbrokes on Thursday and William Hill on Friday. Investors will be paying particular interest due to potential regulatory changes following comments from ministers about fixed-odds betting machines. Oriel Securities is betting that William Hill’s fourth quarter will be an improvement on its dismal third quarter due to better sporting results.