Retailers will continue to take the limelight this week, with supermarket Sainsbury’s, fashion chain Next and online player ASOS lining up to report figures.

Next is set to mark a milestone on Thursday when results are expected to show its annual profits overtaking those of high street bellwether Marks & Spencer for the first time in its history.

A stellar Christmas sales performance saw Next up its profit forecast for the second time in just over two months, with the group now expecting earnings for the year to January 25 to surge by up to 12.6%.

It notched up a better-than-expected 11.9% jump in sales from November 1 to Christmas Eve, with sales increasing by 7.7% across its stores and 21% in the Next Directory catalogue and online division. The group left rivals such as M&S in the shade, helped by its long-held policy of not discounting before Christmas.

M&S and a raft of clothing retailers resorted to hefty pre-Christmas discounting, which damaged profit margins, but Next held firm in the face of competitive conditions and said it went into the January clearance sales with 11.5% less stock to shift after its robust festive sales.

It has said it expects to report earnings of between £684million and £700m for the full year, up from a previous range of between £650m to £680m.

This puts it on course to make more money than M&S for the first time since it launched in 1982, with M&S predicted to see underlying annual pre-tax profits fall to £628m.

Analysts at Nomura said Next put in “an extraordinary performance in the context of difficult autumn trading for the sector and was driven by areas such as knitwear and sleepwear, which were not as strong for peers”.

They expect sales growth since Christmas to have eased back to more “normal levels”, pencilling in around 4.2% for the five weeks to the end of January.

They put its success down to the launch of free next day delivery for orders placed by 10pm, as well strong growth in homewares and international online sales.

“However, we think that customers are likely buying from Next at full price because they believe the group’s products offer them good value,” they added.

Next, which currently has around 500 stores, plans to expand its retail space by 4% on a net basis during 2014, while also growing its online offering in the UK and overseas. It plans to launch a site in China this year.

Sainsbury’s is expected to end its three-year record of consistent underlying sales growth when it publishes figures on Tuesday, as it battles against the impact of discount chains and comes up against tough comparatives from a year earlier.

Analysts are forecasting a decline of around 3% in like-for-like sales in a sharp reversal of recent fortunes. The drop would bring to a close its lengthy run of sales growth, having seen underlying sales increase for 36 quarters in a row, and marks a downbeat end to the year’s trading for outgoing boss Justin King.

He is to step down after 10 years at the group’s annual meeting in July, when he will hand over to commercial director Mike Coupe.

Sainsbury’s only narrowly managed to hold on to the sales record over Christmas, when it eked out growth of 0.2% in what it described as a “very tough sales environment”.

It put in the best performance of the “big four” players, but still came under pressure as it admitted it was likely to miss expectations for a full year like-for-like sales increase of 1% to 1.5%, prompting analysts to shave annual profit forecasts.

The fourth quarter update will make for “grim reading”, according to retail analyst Andrew Porteous at Agency Partners.

He is pencilling in a 3% drop, with the chain suffering after failing to follow a tough act from the previous year, when it outperformed many rivals amid the horsemeat scandal and benefited from the timing of Mother’s Day trade.

Despite the sales tumble, he said Sainsbury’s is still managing to beat its three closest rivals. But he added: “While specific effects create tough comparatives, Sainsbury’s has seen its outperformance over its peers narrow quite a bit and management will need to offer comfort that this can be restored.”

Shore Capital Stockbrokers is forecasting a like-for-like fall of between 2.5% and 3%.

Sainsbury’s is also expected to come under pressure as rivals look to fight back against the rising popularity of discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Its three main rivals have all launched price-slashing campaigns in recent months, with Morrisons last week joining Tesco and Asda which have already embarked on a price war.

Sainsbury’s has put in a more resilient performance in recent months, with the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel showing it held its share at 17% in the 12 weeks to March 2, while Tesco, Asda and Morrisons all lost ground.

However, Kantar figures for the past four weeks reportedly show Sainsbury’s sales fell 0.7%, down from growth of 2.2% in the overall 12 week period.

Meanwhile, the rise of the discount chains appears unstoppable, with Aldi sales up 33.5% in the 12 weeks, giving it a market share of 4.3%, while Lidl sales rose 16.6% to give it a market share of 3.2%.

Online fashion firm ASOS will reveal how it has fared after an impressive Christmas for the group when UK and international sales surged ahead.

The group achieved retail revenues of £335.7m in the four months to December 31, with UK sales beating its performance from a year earlier with growth of 37%, while international turnover lifted 38%.

Analysts at Nomura believe Tuesday’s update will show sales growth slowing in the shorter second quarter, which covers the two months to February 28.

They are expecting overall growth of 28%, with the UK up 21% and the international division 32% ahead. This will still put ASOS in line for growth of 35% over the first half as a whole, according to Nomura.

ASOS, which stands for “As Seen on Screen”, has benefited from recent efforts to improve its service, having introduced free delivery and returns and an extended 9pm cut off for next day delivery in the UK. Targeted at “fashion forward twenty somethings”, the group has steadily expanded around the world and tapped into a growing trend for online clothes shopping.

It recently launched in China, marking its eighth local language site outside the UK, and announced plans last autumn to increase annual spending to support growth over the next two years to around £55m.

The group is expected to hit its target of £1bn in total sales this financial year, with top managers, including chief executive Nick Robertson, set to share a lucrative bonus pot of up to £30 million if they meet all of their 2015 sales goals.