MORE retailers will be under the spotlight this week when JD Sports Fashion, stationery chain WH Smith and department store Debenhams update the market.

Retailer JD Sports Fashion is expected to announce a 17 per cent increase in profits as it shrugs off high street gloom on Wednesday.

Sales at JD, which operates 350 JD Sports and Size? outlets in the UK, have grown rapidly over the past yeaR.

The snow over the key Christmas trading period played havoc with many retailers, but could not halt JD’s momentum. In the latest of a series of bullish trading updates, it reported that samestore sales were up 2.5per cent in the last five weeks of 2010.

Analysts now forecast that pre-tax profits will rise to about £79m in the year.

But the market will be on the look-out for any hint that JD has in recent weeks been hit by the slowdown in consumer confidence that has depressed many retailers in 2011.

Department store chain Debenhams is expected to report an increase in profits when it unveils first-half results on Thursday, as its policy of selling more own-label ranges pays off.

The group, which has 167 stores in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, recently said it expects to meet the City’s profit forecasts for a four per cent rise in profits to £128m for the six months to February 26.

This is despite same-store sales having declined 1.5per cent in the period following the increase in VAT to 20per cent in January and the disruption caused by the snow in December, which wiped as much as £30m from its sales.

But while WH Smith, like many retailers, is expected to reveal that trading has remained tough, its profits are likely to have grown as a result of a plan to sell more high-margin goods. The company has moved away from lower-margin entertainment items such as CDs and DVDs and concentrates more on its core range of confectionery and stationery.

Group sales could receive a boost from store openings after the group bought 22 sites.

The following events are scheduled to take place this week:

Today – Interims: Carr’s Milling Industries, Michael Page International. Independent Commission on Banking publishes interim report.

Tomorrow – Finals: Walker Greenbank. Interims: Punch Taverns. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors housing survey.

Wednesday – Finals: JD Sports Fashion. Interims: Smiths News.

Trading update: ASOS.

Thursday – Interims: Debenhams, WH Smith. Trading updates: Dunelm, PZ Cussons, Rank. BP annual meeting.

Friday. Trading update: Ladbrokes.