THE retail sector's battle against the weather and economic conditions will be in sharp focus this week when Halfords, B&Q and Mothercare post figures.

Sports Direct International is set to inflict more pain on rival JJB Sports on Thursday when it reveals buoyant trading in the run-up to the Olympics.

The group, which has nearly 400 stores, is thought to have grabbed a bigger share of its market.

It stocks an array of Team GB sportswear such as football and basketball tops, including official pieces of blue-and-white kit emblazoned with a Union flag designed by Stella McCartney.

Its figures will be in contrast to rival JJB, which recently issued a profits warning after saying it had failed to gain the boost it expected from the Euro 2012 championships.

The City predicts Sports's underlying earnings will rise 15.5% to £231 million in the year to April, on revenues up 10% to £1.8 billion.

The strong performance would mean the chain has hit an earnings target of £225m for the year, putting executive chairman and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley on track to receive eight million shares –currently worth around £24m.

Sports also runs an employee share scheme due to give 2000 staff an average of 5000 shares – worth £15,000 –this summer and a further 12,000 shares the following year.

The pressure on Halfords to get its performance back on track will intensify on Thursday after the dire weather hit sales of bikes and other leisure products.

The group, which has 467 stores in the UK and Ireland, has seen its share price almost halve over the past year as high petrol prices cause motorists to use their cars less, hitting demand for car-maintenance products.

Halfords has already admitted it made a very disappointing start to its first quarter and the City expects like-for-like sales to fall 6.8% in the three months to the end of June.

Bicycle sales have provided a ray of hope over the past year, but car-enhancement products, such as satnavs and car stereos, are predicted to be down 16% as shoppers continue to cut back on luxury items.

The one bright spot in its retail division will be car-maintenance products, such as windscreen wipers, which are set to have been boosted by the weather.

DIY chain B&Q is expected to reveal the impact of Britain's washed-out summer weather when parent firm Kingfisher updates on trading.

B&Q was hit hard by the wet weather over Easter as homeowners put DIY and gardening projects on hold, posting a 12% slide in sales due to poor demand for outdoor products and building materials.

Given that the weather has remained dismal since April, Thursday's update is set to confirm tough trading in the second quarter.

The business, which has 359 stores in the UK and Ireland, saw sales drop to £968m in the 13 weeks to April 28, while profits declined 14% to £65m.

Matthew Taylor, an analyst at Numis Securities, said Kingfisher – which also owns Screwfix in the UK and Castorama in France – may have been helped by weaker comparatives from a year earlier.

But he added: "Nevertheless, with the wet weather continuing through the second quarter, we anticipate trading will have remained tough."

He is forecasting like-for-like sales to rise by 1% at each of Kingfisher's major divisions.

Pay and performance will top the agenda when Mothercare faces investors on Thursday after a dire past financial year.

The babycare retailer, which also owns the Early Learning Centre, slumped to a £103m loss and saw UK like-for-like sales tumble 6.2% in the year to March 31.

There are also concerns surrounding the group's executive pay plans after shareholder body Pirc flagged up "highly excessive" bonus awards made to executive directors.

Pirc is recommending investors vote against the remuneration report at Mothercare's shareholder meeting in Hertfordshire after discovering that some directors received between 213% and 373% of basic salary under a long-term share incentive plan.

An update on trading is also due on Thursday and will likely be scoured for signs of progress under new boss Simon Calver's turnaround plan.

Mr Calver plans to cut UK store numbers from 311 to 200 by 2015 in a bid to save £13m a year, but admitted it would take three years to get the UK arm back to acceptable levels of profitability .

Howden Joinery, which sells 400,000 kitchens a year through the building trade, will weather the stormy economic climate with a robust set of half-year results on Thursday.

The company, which makes one-third of its products at factories in Runcorn, Cheshire and Howden, East Yorkshire, is forecast by brokers at Numis Securities to report pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of June of £25.9m, compared with £23.5m last year.