Pawnbrokers in slowdown warning

Pawnbrokers including Albemarle & Bond, which publishes annual results on Tuesday, have signalled a slowdown in the recent high street "gold rush".

Albemarle, which has 169 stores and 38 gold-buying "pop-up" outlets, said in June that growth in the value of gold bought by the company had fallen from over 50% earlier in the financial year to mid single digits.

Falling gold prices and wet high street conditions earlier in the summer have taken their toll on pawnbrokers, with rival H&T Group reporting a 27% fall in half-year profits due to a £2 million drop at its gold business.

Prices peaked last summer, having soared as investors fled to the precious metal amid increased global recession fears. They fell back sharply at the beginning of this year, although prices have started to climb higher once more as the eurozone crisis has taken centre stage.

While Albemarle warned in June that profits would grow at a lower than expected rate this year, analysts at Canaccord Genuity are still expecting the group to post a 1.4% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £21.3 million.

Elsewhere, interim results on Friday from five-a-side football operator Goals Soccer Centres come soon after its failure to secure backing for a £73.1 million takeover by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Goals saw 71.4% of investors back the deal last month, below the 75% that was needed for it to be passed, which caused shares to plunge 20% in one day.

Ontario Teachers', which is one of the world's biggest pension funds and owns lottery operator Camelot, had won the support of the directors of East Kilbride-based Goals. But investors were not convinced by Ontario Teachers' claims it was a "win-win" deal for shareholders.

Goals said earlier this month that pre-tax profits were expected to increase by at least £500,000 in the current year and beyond after it was successful in challenging a decision to charge VAT on league block bookings - a move which had hiked Goals' tax bill. Goals saw a 1% rise in like-for-like sales in 2011, while underlying profits increased by 11% to £13.8 million.

Meanwhile, a relatively quiet six months for natural disasters should help lift specialist insurance market Lloyd's of London results on Wednesday. The market, which is made up of 87 underwriting syndicates, saw £12.9 billion of claims in 2011, including £4.6 billion related to natural disasters, such as floods in Australia and Thailand and the tsunami in Japan.

The unusually high number of major disasters tipped the market to a £516 million loss for the whole year and a £697 million loss in the first half - but this is not expected to be repeated in the first six months of 2012.