INVESTORS will have slim pickings this week as the recent deluge of corporate information becomes a trickle ahead of the Easter holiday.

JD Sports Fashion’s fullyear results on Wednesday are expected to outshine those hit hard by the squeeze on the high street.

It is anticipated the group will post an 11 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £48.2m for the year to January 31 – barely two weeks after rival JJB Sports narrowly avoided administration.

JD, however, has gone from strength to strength after its strong Christmas trading rolled into January, and it said it was on track to beat market expectations.

The group has fared better than others in the sector because of its strong offering through fashion brands Scotts and Bank.

JD was founded in 1981 with one shop in Bury and expanded throughout the North and Midlands during the Eighties.

It floated on the stock market in 1996 and now has more than 400 stores.

Recruitment groups Hays and Michael Page International are both due to issue quarterly trading updates amid a climate of gloom for the employment industry.

Page will be first up with figures tomorrow. The recruitment consultant warned last month that it had seen a further deterioration in market conditions in the first two months of the year.

The firm, which suffered a drop in earnings last year as the global downturn took its toll, has cut staffing numbers by almost 1,000 to 4,500 across its international business since September.

Analysts predicted full-year pre-tax profits will drop to £25.8m for 2009, compared with £140.1m in the year to December 31 and £147.4m in 2007.

Hays, which releases its quarterly figures on Thursday, is also expected to have been hit hard.

Analysts expect the company to make an operating profit of about £172m in 2009, down from £253.8m in the year to June 30, last year.

Low-cost airline easyJet will provide a glimpse of conditions in the “no frills” travel sector when it reports passenger statistics tomorrow.

The market will be watching for further signs of a boost from the weak pound after the Luton-based carrier said earlier this year that non-UK customers represented 51 per cent of its business in the final quarter of last year.

■ Companies reporting results this week include:

Today

Interims: Carr’s Milling Industries, YouGov.

Tomorrow

Trading updates: easyJet, Michael Page International.

Wednesday

Finals: JD Sports Fashion.

Trading update: PZ Cussons.

Thursday

Interims: Misys (Q3).

Trading updates: Hays.