High Street winners and losers will emerge this week as some of Britain’s biggest stores publish festive trading figures.
M&S is tipped to have had a stellar Christmas, as revealed by The Mail on Sunday, and will update investors on Thursday.
The supermarket giants are also expected to have performed strongly with Sainsbury’s and Tesco due to release figures on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
But others will have fared less well. While Next published strong figures last week, JD Sports was forced to trim its profit expectations in an unexpected turn. The ‘King of Trainers’ admitted it now does not expect to reach its goal of £1billion annual profits despite bosses’ confidence last year.
Demand from shoppers was weaker than anticipated, ‘reflecting more cautious consumer spending’.
Winners: In the festive supermarket battle, the UK’s largest grocer and its number two – Tesco and Sainsbury’s – are expected to come out on top
But Next, run by Lord Wolfson, saw its shares soar after raising its profit hopes for the fifth time since June amid better than expected sales.
Data from retail experts Kantar, seen by The Mail on Sunday, shows that in the four weeks to Christmas Eve, grocery sales at M&S jumped 14.2 per cent compared to the year before.
Analysts expect the firm to post sales growth across its food and clothing and home divisions. Shares ended 2023 at their highest level since 2019 after the retailer returned to the FTSE 100 in September.
In the festive supermarket battle, the UK’s largest grocer and its number two – Tesco and Sainsbury’s – are expected to come out on top, Sophie Lund-Yates, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
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