MORE clues about the effects of September 11 and consumer confidence will be sought next week with comments from the travel and tourism operations.

Travel and tourism has been hit hard by the current political and economic situation, but specialist operator Holidaybreak is expected to prove more robust than many of its mainstream competitors.

In recent years it has seen a steady growth in profits and turnover and this year is unlikely to prove the exception. Final pre-tax profits reported on Monday are forecast to come in at £24.6m, a 24 per cent increase on last year.

The City will be keen for an update from tour operator First Choice on its future bookings, when the Crawley firm reports full-year figures on Tuesday.

First Choice said in October it would cut more than 1,000 jobs in the wake of the September 11 tragedy and scaled back its winter programme. Analysts are forecasting the group to show pre-tax profits, stripping out exceptional items and goodwill for the year to October 31, of £80m, up from of £74.8m last time.

Catering group Compass has several high-profile contracts in recent months, from the BBC to the Pentagon in the US, and final results on Wednesday are likely to reflect its good health. Fund manager Gerrard predicts full-year pre-tax profits of £580m, up from a pro-forma £518m last time.

Newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust is likely to show the effects of the well-documented advertising slowdown on Thursday, with final pre-tax profits due to fall to £165m from £187m before one-off costs.

Belhaven Breweries posts its half-year figures on Wednesday. In-house broker ING Charterhouse is predicting pre-tax profits of £4.8m - a marginal improvement on last year's £4.3m.

l Companies reporting next week:

MONDAY - Finals: Deltron Electronics, Hardys & Hansons, Holidaybreak, I-Document Systems Group, Medisys

Interims: Mitie Group, Total Systems.

TUESDAY - Finals: Compass Group, First Choice, Landround, Yeoman Group. Interims: First Technology, Glotel, OneSaturday, Vega Group.

WEDNESDAY - Finals: Gladstone, Slimma. Interims: Belhaven Brewery, Druck Holdings, Mondas, Northgate Info Solutions, Oasis Healthcare.

THURSDAY - Finals: Baggeridge Brick, Daily Mail & General Trust. Interims: Aortech International, Berkeley Group, Topnotch Health Clubs.

FRIDAY - No companies reporting.