Bradford's biggest company William Morrison, which has been plagued by profit warnings since it bought Safeway, is thought to be on the hunt for a new chief executive to replace Bob Stott.

Although Sir Ken Morrison had said the present chief executive would stay on until 2007 a press article suggested that the board are in discussions with headhunters although an appointment has yet to be made.

The share price continues to recover from its recent low of 161.5p although city sentiment continues to be negative on the stock.

However, one analyst at ABN Amro stuck his neck out as far back as November 23 and recommended them as a 'buy'.

The parent company of Morrisons rival, Asda, warned on January 5 that profits would come in at the lower end of expectations.

The largest retailer in the world, Wal Mart, blamed slow festive sales and higher energy costs on the announcement. It is unclear how much if any of the slowdown is due to Asda but any difficulties could be good news for Morrison. The picture will become clearer this week when Morrison is expected to release its Christmas trading data.

Another local company that is due to announce data is Pace Micro Technology. The Saltaire-based firm will publish its half-year results on January 17.

Pace can give Morrison a good run for its money in the profit warning stakes. The set-top box maker issued its second warning within three months just before Christmas, citing component shortages and delays in shipments. The share price is very volatile and extremely susceptible to the release of news. It can be clearly seen on the graph where the share price has jumped or fallen considerably in a short space of time. However, there has been more bad news than good recently but the management expects the US shipments to perform better this year.

Some investors may have noticed the share price of Global Marine Energy, previously known as MOS International change from a mid-price of 0.24p to 23p on January 6.

This was not an extraordinary upturn in the company's favour but a share consolidation. For every 100 shares previously owned shareholders now have one. A consolidation does not change the company's capital but can reduce the share price volatility.