Companies reporting next week

THE blue-chip reporting season continues in earnest next week with investors hoping bellweather companies such as oil giants

The City's biggest stock BP will need to allay fears about its earnings hopes for the current year when it reports first-quarter results on Tuesday. Chancellor Gordon Brown's plans for tax on North Sea oil output saw analysts peg back their predictions. Poor results from US rival ExxonMobil earlier this week added to the gloom. With margins in BP's downstream business at 10-year lows, and the lower oil price earlier this year affecting revenue, net income is forecast to be $1.51bn (£1.1bn), from $3.94bn a year earlier.

Shell, reporting on Thursday, will address analysts fresh from its recent offer for exploration and production group Enterprise Oil. It is likely to stick by its valuation of Enterprise despite the Chancellor's North Sea oil tax and the deal should support Shell's hopes for meeting its annual production growth target of 3%. Weakness in the downstream sector will hit first-quarter earnings, with net income set to fall from $3.88bn this time round.

Discount clothing retailer Matalan is expected to sweep into the City on Wednesday with full-year profits up 30% on a year ago at £108.1m. All eyes will be on current sales and new boss Paul Mason, who has filled the vacancy left by former chief executive Angus Monro last year, in his first results presentation. Total sales will be fuelled by more sales space but like-for-like sales are expected to come in around 6% for the year. Profit margins may be hit by higher costs and price-cutting.

A drastically altered Whitbread will be looking to serve up a treat in its final results on Wednesday as it looks to build a future based around its hotels, restaurants and fitness divisions. Whitbread sold its pubs and bars business last year and the final results are seen as important in setting the dividend for the slimmed-down business. The group's David Lloyd Leisure centres and its restaurants, which include Pizza Hut, are expected to have traded well although its Marriott hotels could be suffering a hangover from 11 September. Fund manager Gerrard predicts pre-tax profits of £215m, from £220m a year ago.

The energy sector has been buzzing with consolidation moves in recent months and the focus of Powergen's first-quarter results on Friday will be on the likely completion date of its takeover by E.ON. The German giant is now essentially only waiting for approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US for the deal to go through, and Powergen has indicated the green light is expected next month. The principal interest in the figures will be current pricing in the wholesale electricity market. Gerrard said it would provide a yardstick for rivals such as Innogy, pocketed recently by German group RWE.

Benson & Hedges-to-Lucky Strike group British American Tobacco has predicted volumes will fall by up to 3% this year thanks to the economic slowdown in emerging countries. In addition, its Brown & Williamson US division is under competitive pressure from rival Philip Morris. However, improved operating margins should mean earnings rise around 5%. First-quarter pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £550m, from £525m the previous year when it reports on Tuesday.

Rival Imperial Tobacco, maker of Lambert & Butler cigarettes and Rizla cigarette paper, is forecast to post half-year profits of £280m on Thursday, against £229m last time. The figures will not include any contribution from recently-acquired German tobacco group Reemstsma, which will nearly double its size. Its UK and international divisions are expected to show good growth, with the UK benefiting from the inclusion of Marlboro distribution rights.