Companies reporting next week

INVESTORS are eagerly awaiting reports from industry giants including

Oil giant BP issues fourth-quarter figures on Tuesday, less than a week after Anglo-Dutch rival Shell disappointed the market with its results. Shell reported a slide in earnings on the back of lower crude oil prices and BP is expected to be similarly affected by the weak environment. Fund manager Gerrard is predicting net income of $2.38bn (£1.68bn) for the full-year against $4.09bn in 2000, although it believes BP will still achieve its 5.5% volume growth objective for the year.

On Thursday, newly named travel operator MyTravel - until recently known as Airtours - posts first quarter figures. As with most tourism-reliant companies, MyTravel has suffered as September 11 and the poor global economy conspire to keep people at home. David Crossland is to leave in November after 15 years as chairman and the group has already warned investors that half-year losses would be greater than initially expected. But Airtours acted swiftly following the attacks to cut its cost base and first-quarter losses are predicted to come in a £70m against losses of £52.8m last year.

Another victim of last year's terrorist attacks on the US is defence and aviation specialist BAE Systems. It has been forced to pull the plug on its regional jets business and slash hundreds of jobs as civil aviation demand fell away. Its final figures are likely to be clouded by heavy restructuring and one-off costs. But investors will no doubt focus on the bigger picture on Thursday, notably the outlook for the current financial year and BAE's more buoyant military business. Its strengths here mean final pre-tax profits are forecast to rise to £1.1bn from £859m.

Global drugs giant and market heavyweight GlaxoSmithKline is expected to post profits of £6.14bn when it issues full-year figures on Thursday. The company, which reported pre-tax profits of £5.96bn in 2001, is expected to pass the £6bn mark after benefiting from ongoing merger savings after Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham joined forces in 2000. Strong sales of key treatments such as anti-depressant Paxil and respiratory drug Advair have also helped.

Restaurant chain Pizza Express, which has suffered from a lack of London-bound tourists in recent months, issues interim figures on Monday. Last October, the group said that the tough economic and political conditions meant sales at its London restaurants had been flat after September 11. There has already been some anecdotal evidence of more robust trading over Christmas and Pizza Express is still predicted to report profits growth for the first half of £21m from £19.5m.

Barclays restarts the banks' reporting season on Thursday and is expected to report good growth across its business units. Full-year pre-tax profits are likely to climb 21% to £4bn, although Barclays will still be left facing questions from investors over strategy. However, fund manager Gerrard believes speculation over a tie-up with Standard Chartered is wide of the mark as the Asian bank is fiercely independent and probably too expensive.

With organic growth likely to be slower than rival Barclays, Lloyds TSB's acquisition prospects will be of major concern for investors on Friday after its failure to land Abbey National last year. Lloyds is unlikely to deliver exceptionally good full-year results although progress should be steady with a 7% rise in pre-tax profits to £4.5bn.

There is also a possibility that bad debt provisions, helped by the resilient performance of the UK economy, may come in a little lower than forecasts.