Retailers to shine light on spending

Home Retail, Britain's biggest household goods retailer, John Lewis, which runs department stores and the upmarket Waitrose grocery chain, and William Morrison Supermarkets, Britain's fourth biggest grocer, will all publish statements on Thursday.

A recent survey from the Confederation of British Industry which said retail sales volumes rose at their fastest pace in nearly three years in February and an upbeat survey on consumer confidence from GfK NOP have added to optimism on shopper spending.

Against this, however, both the Nationwide and Halifax building societies reported falls in British house prices in February.

Analysts are wary about retailers' prospects amid fears that steps to cut government borrowing after a general election, that must be held by June, could drag down consumer confidence.

On March 3 John Lewis Chairman Charlie Mayfield said signs of a consumer recovery in Britain were a "false dawn" and predicted trading conditions will get tougher.

But he said the employee-owned John Lewis, which is outperforming rivals such as Marks & Spencer, would post a "good set" of results for the year to January 31, reversing a 20 percent first-half profit fall.

Nick Bubb, analyst at Arden Partners, is forecasting a 13 percent increase in full-year underlying pretax profit to 315 million pounds, with a bonus to the firm's 69,000 staff of 14 percent of salary.

A fourth quarter trading update from Home Retail, owner of high street catalogue retailer Argos and the Homebase DIY chain, is not expected to look so pretty, with both businesses hit by January's heavy snowfall.

For the eight weeks to February 27 analysts are forecasting sales at stores open over a year to be down 4-10 percent at Argos, according to a company poll of eight, with the outcome also impacted by its spring/summer catalogue being launched a week later than last year, the annualisation of Woolworths' demise and January's VAT (sales tax) increase.