Companies reporting next week

Half-year figures are likely to have been affected by tough operating conditions, with underlying pre-tax profits forecast by NatWest Stockbrokers to be down 4.5% at £125m..

London-listed financial services group Old Mutual generates around 80% of its operating profit from South Africa so it will have been adversely affected by the rand's fall against sterling.

In local currency terms South African life operations should have performed strongly, benefiting from healthy new business. In the UK, the group has a City-based securities business.

The group is expected to show operating profits for the first six months of the year declined 12% to £400m when it reports on Monday.

Shares in online travel agency ebookers have risen sharply in recent weeks after it impressed the City with a vastly improved showing in its first quarter - when losses narrowed 59% to £3.5m.

Investors will now be looking for further signs of improvement on Monday and an indication on when it will move into overall profit. Subsidiaries in four of its 11 countries are already in the black at an operating level. Second quarter losses are expected to narrow to £2.6m.

Further signs that Waste Recycling Group is cementing its place on top of the UK's rubbish pile are expected on Tuesday when the group is expected to report interim pre-tax profits of £23m, up 14% on a year ago.

The Doncaster-based business has built itself into a leading position through a series of takeovers but has also benefited from changing legislation covering the recycling of household and commercial waste.

Shares in support services giant Balfour Beatty have fallen by 34% since the beginning of May, reflecting a weakness in the sector. But the order book is expected to be at a record high when it reports interims on Wednesday, buoyed by the award this week of a e300m (£187m) contract for part-electrification of the Milan-Turin rail route.

Balfour Beatty is also involved in the Metronet consortium bid to manage part of the London Underground and a deal to maintain the Post Office's 3,000 buildings. Interim pre-tax profits are expected to be up 10% at £45m.

Analysts will get a clearer idea about the pace of the economic recovery next week with a raft of important data, including inflation on Tuesday and unemployment numbers on Wednesday.

Underlying inflation figures should rise to 1.8% - off record lows but still below the Bank of England's 2.5% target. Jobless data is likely to show a relatively modest 5,000 increase.