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Stock market: The week ahead

NEWCASTLE-headquartered bakery chain Greggs is expected to post small first-half improvements on Wednesday, making up for the rise in wheat prices with some sales growth.

The hot snack maker will update the market on recent trading amid a warning from chief executive Ken McMeiken that the pressure on the trading environment would increase over the second half of the year as the austerity measures kick in.

Meanwhile, supermarkets are set for a showdown this week as Tesco, J Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer post interim results.

Smaller retailers Ted Baker, Halfords and Greggs are also due results, in a week that will indicate how the High Street has fared since the general election.

Tesco is expected to post a 10 per cent rise in first-half pre-tax profit tomorrow, as growth in its Asian operations offsets sluggish sales in the UK.

Analysts expect Tesco to have improved since the start of the year. Evolution Securities predicted an 8.5 per cent rise in total sales last week but warned of slow growth in the UK thanks to lagging petrol prices and a lack of new branches.

Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group behind Tesco and Asda, is tipped to show stronger UK growth in a second-quarter sales update on Wednesday, helped by its strength in the more affluent south.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .