Busy week ahead in London markets

Results will have benefited from a four month contribution from Reemstma, the German tobacco firm it took over in a deal which nearly doubled its size.

The focus will be on Imperial’s ability to achieve the full £170m benefits from the deal. In the UK, the group is expected to show it has increased market share, even excluding its recent acquisition of the distribution rights for Marlboro.

Travel group MyTravel will be under great pains to prove its viability for the future when it announces figures on Tuesday.

After announcing three profit warnings this year the two questions uppermost in investors minds are will the group survive or will it be taken over. Fund manager Gerrard say the first is a possibility, the second unlikely.

Interim pre-tax profits are forecast to have slumped from £129.8m to £30m.

Utility giant National Grid Transco, recently formed by the merger of National Grid and Lattice, will announce its debut results on Tuesday.

In September both groups indicated they were performing in line with expectations so few surprises are expected, and the merged company is likely to report profits of £280m.

In the UK, the City will be on the look out for plans from the group to sell some of its local gas distribution networks, which should give it additional scope to expand in the lucrative North America market.

Troubled bank Abbey National’s newly-installed chief executive Luqman Arnold has a chance to prove the group is on the path to recovery when he unveils a trading statement on Wednesday.

The boss has a tough job ahead of him amid problems at the group on multiple fronts – Abbey is labouring under a weak capital position, while its core retail franchise is performing poorly and the quality of its wholesale asset portfolio has been deteriorating.

Analysts say there are a number of steps Mr Arnold can take to reduce the strain, such as cut costs or to take a further hit in the form of wholesale provisions. The City’s focus will also be on the group’s dividend, after intense speculation over whether it will be cut.

Volatility in the national advertising market will have put a dent in Daily Mail & General Trust’s results on Thursday, although fund manager Gerrard is still expecting annual profits to hold firm at £166 million.

While the national sector has been hardest hit by the economic downturn, the company has been assisted by the circulation performance of its flagship titles and the resilience of regional newspapers.

Other divisions accounting for a third of total revenues should show a mixed performance, with the broadcasting and exhibitions arms performing well.

Even if the worst of the advertising downturn appears to be in the past, the timing and strength of any recovery for merger partners Granada and Carlton Communications remains uncertain.

Carlton reports final results on Tuesday and Granada follows suit on Wednesday as analysts look for an update on the advertising outlook as well as any news on the £2.6bn tie-up, which still needs regulatory approval.

The impact of the tough conditions will be highlighted by figures expected to show Carlton’s annual underlying earnings fell from £111m to £82m, while Granada’s eased to £183m from £237m.

Supermarket giant Tesco has seen rivals Safeway and Sainsbury post resilient results in recent days so will be keen to impress when it issues a trading update on Tuesday.

Fund manager Gerrard expects the country’s leading grocer to have outperformed the sector with like-for-like growth in the third quarter forecast at 4%.

While sales growth across the sector has slowed somewhat, price deflation has also eased and official figures recently offered hope that consumers were preparing for another high-spending Christmas.