Mike Ashley's retail empire Frasers Group has become the latest high street firm to warn that the coronavirus outbreak will hit profits.

The company, which owns Sports Direct and House of Fraser, said it was "too early" to quantify the full extent of the impact of the virus.

However, it said it will cause "significant disruption" to its business as Government guidance has driven declining footfall for high street retailers.

It said it now believes it will fall short of its guidance of earnings before tax and interest growth of between 5% and 15% for the year ending April 2020.

In a brief statement to investors, it added that the group's trading performance in the year-to-date was "in line with expectations" prior to the pandemic.

The company said: "The company has a strong management team which can adapt and respond quickly to challenges and changing market conditions.

"Over the longer term, the board remains confident in focusing on the company's elevation strategy."

Mike Ashley renamed the company from Sports Direct International at the end of last year.

Marks & Spencer said it expects the Covid-19 pandemic to weigh heavily on the performance of its clothing and home and international businesses and hit profit.

Shares in M&S were down 12% at 101.95p in London in morning trading.

It has frozen all pay rises and suspended all spending not seen as absolutely essential as it warned that its clothing and home lines would take a severe hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

The retailer warned that profit will now likely be at the lower end of its expectations, even as it massively slashed spending.

"Whilst we remain confident that the post-crisis future of the business and our transformation programme remains as strong as ever, trading over the next nine to 12 months in our clothing and home and international businesses is likely to be severely impacted," M&S said in a statement to investors on Friday.

The business said that staff members from its clothing and home segments would be moved into the food halls "wherever practical" and all pay increases would be deferred.

It will also defer or cancel all discretionary spending, freeze non-essential recruitment and reduce the amount it spends on marketing.

Meanwhile it will only spend around £80 million on capital projects in the 2020/21 financial year, from a budget of up to £400 million.

The business also announced plans to grow online.

The retailer said that it was still on track to reach its full-year forecasts until this week. But it warned on Friday that profit before tax is likely to be at the lower end of its predicted £440 million to £460 million due to the "probable very depressed trading in clothing and home".

Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin has said falling sales at the chain have dropped further after Prime Minister Boris Johnson told punters to stay at home and not visit Britain's pubs.

The pub chain said that sales, which had risen by 3.2% in the previous six weeks, started falling by 4.5% in the week ending March 15, as the coronavirus pandemic scared customers off.

The decline picked up even further when the Prime Minister told people that it was vital they do not visit pubs in order to slow the spread of the highly infectious disease.

"In the early part of the current week ... sales have declined at a significantly higher rate," Mr Martin said in a statement to shareholders on Friday.

"It is obviously very difficult to predict, in these circumstances, how events will unfold in future weeks and months, but we now anticipate profits being below market expectations, so long as the current health scare continues," he added.

Outside the travel sector, hospitality businesses, such as pubs and restaurants, have been some of the worst hit during the pandemic.