As those at George Osborne's Mansion House speech emerge to digest the repercussions of last night's meal and speech, Home Retail Corp (LON:HOME) reports first quarter numbers on Thursday and that means catalogue ordering giant Argos steps into the frame.
And owner Home Retail has already warned shareholders to buckle up and expect a bumpy ride in the first half of the year.
The market consensus is for first quarter LFL (like-for-like) sales to be down 4% year-on-year at Argos, though gross margin is tipped to rise by a quarter of a percentage point.
Homebase also has tough comparative figures to go up again but may start to see some sales pick-up from the first batch of store closures, Swiss bank UBS has suggested.
“Key over the medium term will be any sign that the Argos transformation plan can be tweaked to capture new customers and demand, and whether there will be any recovery in sales of higher-margin home and jewellery categories,” the Swiss bank added.
Chief executive at Home Retail John Walden is currently carrying out a restructuring plan, initiated by former chief Terry Duddy.
Last week, David Madden at IG Index said: "The retailer’s share price has been sliding since April – even though it posted a strong set of full-year numbers that came in at the top-end of estimates.
"Both Argos and Homebase registered rises in annual sales of 0.6% and 2.3% respectively, but Argos is still the bigger contributor to group revenue.
"In the past 12 months, Home Retail Group reported a 14% boost in full-year pre-tax profits and a 1% increase in sales."
Significant announcements expected -
Final: CareTech Holdings (LON:CTH), First Property Group (LON:FPO), Halma (LON:HLMA), Mulberry (LON:MUL), Real Estate Credit Investments (LON:RECI)
Interim: Redhall Group (LON:RHL)
Trading statement: Home Retail Group (LON:HOME)
Economic: UK – RICS housing price balance. Asia – Chinese industrial production. US – Retail sales