ANNUAL results will confirm a turnaround in fortunes for a consumer electricals firm this week, while figures are also due from two major drinks companies.

PC World and Currys parent Dixons Retail should post a sharp rise in profits on Thursday as it enjoys a resurgence helped by the demise of rival Comet.

It has been reaping the benefits of being the last specialist left standing in the sector, recently reporting a 13 per cent leap in like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland over the three months to the end of April.

Dixons said at the time of fourth quarter trading figures that it expects full-year underlying pre-tax profits at the top end of expectations of £75m to £85m – a 20 per cent surge on the £70.8m reported the previous year.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said Dixons was also benefiting from the recent recovery in the housing market, which has been boosting demand for white goods.

Majestic Wine will hope to toast another rise in annual profits today despite a challenging 12 months dampened by the wash-out summer.

Last year’s bottom line figure increased by 14.5 per cent but analysts Investec expect growth of 1.7 per cent to £23.6m for the year to the end of March.

The wine merchant managed to push half-year profits up by four per cent despite saying that summer sales were adversely affected by unseasonable weather that saw the cancellation of a large number of outdoor events.

Majestic, which has 189 stores and generates about ten per cent of its retail business online, said the improvement showed the resilience of the business.

Whitbread should be perked up by sales from its Costa coffee chain when it unveils first quarter trading figures tomorrow.

Freezing weather during March is likely to have seen takings for the group’s Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants fall flat.

Meanwhile Whitbread’s hotel chain Premier Inn is also expected to have done well although its performance will be compared with an especially strong first quarter last year when its performance raced ahead of the rest of the sector.