Companies reporting next week

THE takeover by

The company hopes to tie up the merger, which will see it leapfrog rival Ryanair in size - by July 1 if shareholders approve the rights issue and European regulators do not register objections.

Sports retailer JD Sports's recent acquisition of the First Sport chain from Blacks Leisure will provide the most interest to investors at the company's full-year results announcement on Thursday.

The deal doubles the amount of store space available to JD Sports and ensures it remains on the heels of rival retailer and market leader JJB Sports.

The World Cup should have helped sales in recent weeks, with analysts expecting full-year pre-tax profits in the region of £19.6m, an improvement on the £16.5m recorded a year earlier.

Shares in iSoft Group - a provider of healthcare information systems - have bucked the trend in the software sector and held firm over recent months.

The company has encouraged the City with two positive trading updates since February and pre-tax profits on Tuesday are expected to improve from £7.2m a year earlier to £14.5m this time.

And prospects for iSoft look rosy following Chancellor Gordon Brown's pledge to increases spending on the NHS.