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Fashion retailer Next is expected to extend its lead over rival Marks & Spencer when it posts a strong set of half-year results on Thursday.

The group said in July it expects sales for the first half to jump 10.7 per cent on a year ago, lifted by better-than-expected revenues at its Next Directory and store sales.

Next overtook M&S with a £695million profits haul earlier this year and said it was now on course to lift this to between £775million and £815million this financial year.

When market conditions are increasingly supportive to UK industry, B&Q’s inability to surf this rising tide continues to frustrate

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Supermarket Morrisons is likely to follow Tesco’s lead and cut its dividend as the industry price war hots up.

Morrisons’ like-for-like sales are likely to be down by nearly 7 per cent when it reports half-year results on Thursday.

Pre-tax profits are forecast to be down by about 50 per cent to £174million, while brokers think the grocer’s dividend will be cut in half to 6.5p over the year.

In March chief executive Dalton Philips launched a three-year £1billion price cutting campaign.

This was followed in May with an “I’m Cheaper” campaign, cutting prices across 1,200 products by an average of 17 per cent.

The City expects profits at B&Q owner Kingfisher to fall in half-year results on Wednesday, as it fails to take full ­advantage of the housing market recovery.

It is expected to post adjusted profits before tax down 5 per cent at £348million compared to a year ago due to softer sales in France and Poland.

Led by chief executive Sir Ian Cheshire (below), it said UK revenues at B&Q were down by 3.2 per cent in the 10 weeks to July 12 as outdoor and seasonal goods sales slumped 8 per cent on a

year ago.

Broker Jefferies said: “When market conditions are increasingly supportive to UK industry, B&Q’s inability to surf this rising tide continues to frustrate.”

Rival Home Retail Group releases its second quarter update on Thursday. Its Argos business is expected to report its ninth consecutive quarter of sales growth, though a fall in the gross

margin – due to buoyant sales of lower margin gaming and electrical goods – is expected.

AB Foods is scheduled to report full-year figures today, when lower sugar prices and a strong pound are again expected to drag on group performance.

However, store openings at its discount clothing retailer Primark should underscore progress and it may reiterate plans for Primark to enter the US in 2015.

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