Ocado Group PLC and Marks and Spencer Group PLC to report on

Ostensibly the biggest corporate item on the City diary is an update from Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) but this trading statement is probably more Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) (Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS)), to which the online grocer sold a 50% share of its UK business last year.

Back in September, the pair warned that additional costs for hiring van drivers and the recovery from the fire at the Erith depot will add £5mln extra costs to this year’s results, as well as costing £10mln in lost orders and a further £10mln from stock and asset write-offs, partly offset by a £10mln insurance payment.

For the previous quarter ending 19 August, the Ocado Retail joint venture saw sales fall 10.6%, compared with growth of 54% a year ago, reflecting disruption from the fire and people starting going back to bricks and mortar shops again.

The latest ‘Plan B’ restrictions – not to say potential ‘Plan C’ – may be good news for the business as more people do their food shopping from home, but are not going to have any affect on the latest quarter.

For comparison, for the fourth quarter last year the business registered sales growth of 20%.

Purplebricks definitely not in a purple patch

Purplebricks Group PLC (AIM:PURP) was due to update the market on Tuesday after a profit warning last month where it downgraded expectations for the full year, saying not enough houses were coming to market.

But the company announced on Monday that during an internal review it has become aware of “a process issue in how it has been communicating with tenants on behalf of its landlords in relation to deposit registrations”.

This week’s results are being delayed while it carries out further enquiries into this matter and corrects its processes.

Directors expect to provide between £2mln and £9mln of provisions against any potential future claims that could arise.

UK jobs data

Of keen interest before the Bank of England’s meeting on Thursday, there will be labour market data on Tuesday (as well as inflation numbers on Wednesday) for the monetary policy committee to pore over.

Under normal circumstances, an environment where UK GDP growth is expected to reach at least 6% in 2021 and 2022, where inflation is running way ahead of the 2% target and where unemployment is just 4.3% an interest rate of 0.1% “would make no sense whatsoever”, said analyst Danni Hewson at AJ Bell.

But distortions to the data caused the pandemic, lockdowns and their ongoing effects upon consumer and corporate behaviour are making it harder for the Bank of England to get a true picture of the economy.

The MPC, says Hewson, seems more concerned about the danger posed by unemployment than it does about the danger posed by inflation.

On Tuesday, the expectations are that unemployment will slip to 4.2% for…