Trendy trench coat maker Burberry is expected to announce slowing sales when it posts an update on Thursday, dragged down by China's softening economy.

Analysts at Jefferies expect it to announce a rise in group first-half revenues of five per cent to £1.2 billion compared to a year ago.

This contrasts with the high growth the firm, which sells menswear, womenswear as well as beauty products, has previously enjoyed.

The reason behind the brand's weaker growth is the slowdown in China, which led to global stock market turmoil during the summer.

In the past few days the International Monetary Fund said China - the world's second largest economy - will grow by 6.8 per cent this year and 6.3 per cent in 2016, which is below Beijing's seven per cent targeted growth rate.

Burberry, which runs over 200 stores around the world, generates around a third of its sales from the Asia Pacific region and has a significant presence in China.

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said: "Burberry has underperformed the luxury sector by 10 per cent in the last three months, partly due to its over-exposure to Greater China."

Brokers at JP Morgan Cazenove add that the two current bright spots in the luxury goods market are continental Europe and Japan, where Burberry has fewer shops.

It has cut its full-year earnings forecast for the business by six per cent to £440 million.

The fashion house said in July it suffered a ''double-digit decline'' in Hong Kong sales in the three months to June 30 amid a ''challenging luxury market'' as trading continued to be impacted by last year's lengthy pro-democracy protests in the city.

Burberry's first quarter Hong Kong blow, also saw same store sales across Asia suffer a low single digit percentage fall, while overall like-for-like retail sales growth slowed to six per cent from nine per cent in its previous financial year.

The market in Hong Kong has a particularly big impact on Burberry, as it has in the past been very profitable due to the high price tags retailers can charge there.

Christopher Bailey, Burberry's chief executive, said: ''While mindful that the external environment remains challenging, we will continue to focus on growth opportunities across channels, regions and products, with exciting plans for the year ahead.''

Retailer WH Smith is expected to boost its full-year profits when it reports its results on Thursday, led by strong trading at its travel stores.

The City expects the magazines and stationary business to post annual pre-tax profits up by seven per cent to £122m compared to a year ago.

In an August trading update it said its 740 travel outlets at airports and train stations turned in a strong second half performance, reflecting growing passenger numbers.

The firm, led by chief executive Stephen Clarke, said full-year profits for the year to August 31 would be ''slightly ahead'' of market expectations as a result of the robust trading.

It added sales at its 621 high street stores are also slightly ahead, driven by a favourable book publishing programme. Booksellers are enjoying a rise in sales with the release big titles this year, such as Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee and Grey by E.L. James.

The retailer said its new store opening programme in the UK and aboard is on track and added it would continue to deliver gross profit margin improvements and planned cost savings at its high street stores.

WH Smith also runs 129 international units in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, South-East Asia and India.

Brokers at Numis said shares in WH Smith have outperformed the sector by around 35 per cent over the last year as the group has delivered a steady performance, with its travel business shops gaining momentum, against forecast downgrades at other retailers.

However, Numis added it viewed the retailer's current valuation of around 1550p a share, or £1.8bn, as "challenging".

Last month a processing ''bug'' has resulted in the personal details of dozens of WH Smith customers accidentally being sent out to others.

The retailer apologised after email addresses and telephone numbers were sent to others on its mailing list.

WH Smith stressed that it was the result of a processing problem with its contractor I-subscribe, not a hack. It added that password and payment details were not affected.