Companies reporting next week

GENERAL retailer

The first half of the year is not Woolworths' strongest period because of its reliance on the Christmas season. But the group is in the middle of an overhaul and investors will want to see that losses have been minimised.

But it has been a tough time for the group. In May it said sales were flat in the first 15 weeks of the year, and since then the Jubilee break and World Cup have contributed to a general slowdown on the once booming High Street.

On Monday, stock market debutante William Hill issues its first set of results since its July flotation. Most analysts are expecting the first half of the year to have been a strong time for the bookmaker, with turnover boosted by changes to UK betting duty and the football World Cup.

Last year the group reported pre-tax profits of £55m, and investors will be hoping for a notable increase this time round.

BAE Systems was rocked by the September 11 attacks and subsequent downturn in the aviation sector. Most analysts are expecting a slide in pre-tax profits from £482m to £385m when the aerospace group issues interim results on Thursday, But the future is looking more positive, especially in other parts of the business and growth is expected in 2003 from its major programmes division as contracts mature, notably those for the Eurofighter.

Fashion chain Next Group shocked the market earlier this year with a slowdown in like-for-like sales, although it is now clear the fall off in growth was actually in line with the rest of the sector.

Indeed, most analysts are now expecting sales to have stabilised and fund manager Gerrard is forecasting pre-tax profits to grow from £93m to £104.5m when it posts interim figures on Thursday.

On Thursday, shipping group P&O is expected to reported a decline in interim pre-tax profits, from £90.4m to £40m. That is unlikely to come as a surprise to many as P&O Nedlloyd, in which P&O has a 50% share, recently announced pre-tax losses of $145m (£93m) for the first half.

It has been a bumpy ride of late for Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, which reports interim figures on Thursday. The economic slowdown and saturated markets have hit steel prices, and although evidence is suggesting this started to change in the second quarter, Corus's high cost base remains a problem. Instead, pre-tax losses are expected to widen by 2.2% to £235m.