There are similar sentiments for Matalan, which has also had a difficult six months, revealing in August that sales had slid as consumers cut back on spending.Consumer appetite for mobile phones does not appear diminished, however, and the City expects half-year results from Carphone Warehouse to be well ahead of forecasts. Shares in Clinton Cards fell dramatically earlier this year when the company revealed it expected profits to fall by twice as much as forecast and there is little optimism for the company's interims. The cost to the airline is thought to amount to around £40m, but the City will be looking to see if that masks underlying gains. High oil prices are expected to hit revenues, too, but analysts say the airline should also report that passenger numbers have grown robustly.Analysts expect more bad news from retail as it enters the run-up to the crucial Christmas trading period. BAA is also expected to report that its retail outlets are outperforming the high street by at least 1 per cent.Still in transport, the City will also be watching to see just how badly the Gate Gourmet dispute affects the second-quarter results of British Airways.
Though strike action on the site looms for the new year, analysts will hear that work is ahead of schedule and on budget when the airports operator reports half-year results this week. BAA's financial performance is expected to be strong and analysts will want to see if revenues hit the upper edge of the £402m to £421m range of forecasts, despite disruption from the Gate Gourmet dispute and July's London bombings. Investors worry that this will increase the influence of 37 per cent shareholder News Corporation, which is run by Rupert Murdoch, father of BSkyB's chief executive, James.Another company investing heavily is BAA, now two-thirds of the way through construction of the new £4.2bn terminal at Heathrow. On the same day, BSkyB faces a shareholder revolt at its AGM over plans to buy in up to 5 per cent of its shares. Traditionally, attention is focused on increases in the satellite broadcaster's subscriber base, but this time it will be on the decision to shell out £211m on broadband supplier Easynet, and the £1bn raised recently from a bond issue. Analysts are therefore keen to hear the broadcaster flesh out its future strategy, especially for Easynet, which should enable BSkyB to offer better video-on-demand services. One broadcast that won't be short of an audience this week will be BSkyB's first-quarter results on Friday.
Meanwhile, Macquarie Bank of Australia is waiting in the wings, but has yet to make a move. The Competition Commission is due to rule on bids for the London Stock Exchange this week. Favourite bidder Euronext is likely to be told it has to sell most of its stake in its clearing business, LCH:Clearnet, a move that could put the Franco-Dutch company off making a high offer. For a one-stop-shop approach, companies like ours offer a service combining invoice finance with an outsourced back-office function covering the entire process from timesheet to cash plus credit insurance.". This kind of funding facility grows in line with billings and therefore has substantial advantages over conventional overdrafts, as well as avoiding the loss of control associated with taking on another partner."Outsourcing the payroll, billing and credit-control functions to a specialist provider will enable the couple to minimise back-office costs. I believe they should also consider the cost of administering a fast-changing weekly payroll and the potential impact this could have on their own time."Factoring is a good option. The wrong decision can prove painful and costly."Hugh Fell: Head of Cashfriday, the recruitment specialist for Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance"As Mr and Mrs Davies have identified, their business will need more working capital as soon as it expands its temporary activities.