Companies reporting this week

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

RESULTS from troubled retailer Marks & Spencer are expected to be the highlight of a busy week, which also sees figures from Railtrack and British Airways.

Marks & Spencer is expected to report another set of grim figures when it unveils its full-year results on Tuesday. Analysts are pencilling in profits of £460m, down from £557m a year ago, and a huge dive from 1998's profits of more than £1bn.

Under-pressure chairman Luc Vandevelde, who recently announced plans to axe 4,400 jobs, is also tipped to announce the group is to move away from its famous London headquarters in Baker Street.

The City is hoping for more than just a results announcement from British Airways, also on Tuesday, with expectations the group could announce the long-awaited sale of its budget airline Go to venture capital group 3i for £100m.

BA's Australian boss Rod Eddington, who was charged with the task of lifting BA out of turbulence last year, is also expected to report full-year profits of £216m. A year ago BA reported a massive slump in profits, to just £5m, after suffering its 'most difficult year since privatisation'.

Another company mired in bad news, Railtrack, is forecast to post a significant loss for the year on Thursday, following the Hatfield rail crash, and the consequential national recovery programme.

The firm is expected to report a £440m loss, against a £360m profit the previous year. Stockbroker Gerrard says that the passing of the final dividend to shareholders is a possibility.

Music group EMI, which saw merger talks with Bertelsmann's BMG arm collapse earlier this month, is expected to show a slight lift in profits when it reports on Tuesday. Full-year pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £250m, against £245m the previous year, says broker Gerrard.

Interim profits at hotels, pubs and restaurants group Bass are expected to be flat, with the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak in the UK together with the slowing US economy affecting its hotel operations.

However, hotels should have benefited from a strong performance in London in the final months of 2000, offsetting the slowdown in the first months of 2001. Pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £330m on Thursday, against £322m the same period last time.

The City will be keen to find out on Friday how disenchanted Brits have been with the gloomy weather, when tour operator Airtours reports its figures on Friday. Interest will be in the level of summer bookings as people prepare to jet off to sunnier skies.

Airtours usually produces a seasonal loss in the first half, and is forecast to report a £100m loss against a £81.7m loss last time.

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