The revamped stores are already delivering much higher profits than the old shops.

The equity indexes bounced back last week, on the hope that imminent interest-rate cuts would deliver the economy and corporate profits from disaster.

And there will be pressure from shareholders on managers to deliver profits.

Most of the companies are expected to deliver profits that compare favorably to 2002 results, he said.

There are still large companies delivering substantial profits however.

But as Lands' End found out last year, companies cannot rely too much on the Web to deliver profits.

A more expensive property is likely to deliver higher profits in pounds and pence, though not necessarily in percentage terms.

Investors would now do well to direct their funds into proven clean technology ventures that are already delivering profits.

The federal student aid system fails students, but it does a great job of delivering profits to private lenders, which issued $65 billion in loans last year.

"We have a strong pipeline that will allow us to continue delivering strong profits."