It is odd that for a company called Associated British Foods people who follow the stock seem to obsess about the group's clothes retailing operation Primark, but that has been where the growth has been in recent years. That may change with Tuesday's interim results, where the sugar side of the business could see a 60% boost to profits, according to Deutsche Bank.Adjusted operating profit will be ahead of last year's interim outcome, with analysts tipping a figure of around £412m, while net debt at the half-year stage is predicted to come in at around £1.65bn after the amount spent on store developments for Primark remained similar to the prior year's level.Trading at Primark got off to a slow start to the new financial year as a result of an unusually mild Autumn, but the clothing chain enjoyed a strong Christmas and has traded well in 2012, such that like-for-like sales are expected to be up 2% on the first six months of fiscal 2010/11. The operating margin will be lower, however, as expected, reflecting the company's policy of not passing on all the increases in cotton prices.The Grocery division's revenue will be ahead of the year before but profit will be substantially lower, due to a number of factors; these include restructuring costs, margin declines at Kingsmill bread producer Allied Bakeries and higher than expected costs of operating the Castlemaine meat factory in Australia.The trading update from floor coverings specialist Carpetright may not be for the squeamish, although expectations have been reduced following a mild profit warning at the end of January.At that stage. like-for-like sales in the UK were down 0.5% in the 12 week to January 21st, but excluding sales from the firm's insurance replacement business, the core retail business reported like-for-like growth of 1.0%.As well as being interested in whether the decline in like-for-like sales has been stemmed, analysts will be keen to see whether margins are still being squeezed. "The gross profit margin decline seen the in first half was 430 basis points [4.3 percentage points]. This is expected to moderate to around 300 basis points in the second half, slightly down on our previous expectation, reflecting the continued need to drive value for the consumer to maintain sales momentum," the group's Chairman and Chief Executive, Lord Harris of Peckham, said at the end of January. INTERIMSAssociated British Foods, Next Fifteen Communications, Smiths NewsINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBritish Sky Broadcasting GroupINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence (US) (15:00)Industrial New Orders (EU) Industrial New Orders (EU) (10:00)New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)GMSPostNL NVFINALSLiDCO Group, Netplay TV, O'Key Group GDR (Reg S) (WI), Surgical Innovations GroupIMSSFiltrona PLC, Reed ElsevierEGMSSouth African Property Opportunities plcAGMSBBA Aviation, Central Rand Gold Ltd, EMIS Group, EP Global Opportunities Trust, Filtrona PLC, Law Debenture Corp., Microgen, Modern Water, Shire PlcTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSCarpetrightUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSPublic Sector Finances (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAthelney TrustQ1Torchmark Corp. JH