Travel and financial stocks will be in focus next week, with British Airways and Royal and Sun Alliance among the heavyweights updating investors on their progress.

While record oil prices and higher employee costs have added to the problems of British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington, he can still look forward to reporting a return to the black for the first quarter on Monday.

Broker Charles Stanley expects profits of £90m, against record first-quarter losses of £45m a year ago.

Passenger numbers are showing a steady recovery, but Mr Eddington will be under pressure to elaborate on the £300m of day-to-day employee savings earmarked by BA earlier this year and the impact of ongoing pay disputes.

Scottish Power added 600,000 customers in the past financial year and should show further gains when it reports first-quarter figures on Thursday.

Across the group, profits of £195m are expected for the three months to June 30, down slightly on the £204m seen a year earlier.

Signs that the premiums charged by general insurers are starting to fall from their peak will be the main focus for analysts when Royal and Sun Alliance (R&SA) announces half-year results on Thursday.

The sale of the company's life fund for £850m should have dramatically boosted its capital position, but there remains uncertainty about restructuring in the US, where R&SA is getting out of a number of businesses in order to focus on more profitable areas in the UK.

Fund manager Gerrard is expecting profits of £298m for the six months, down from £351m a year earlier.

Analysts will be looking for guidance on the profitability of rejuvenated telecoms equipment group Marconi on Monday after a sales update last month indicated gross margins were at the lower end of its 30 to 32 per cent range.

For the first quarter, losses of £13.4m are forecast, down from the £3m profits of a year earlier, after Marconi announced that a number of customers had temporarily cut back on spending.

P&O's ferries division will be the main focus for investors when the group posts half-year results on Thursday.

Gerrard is expecting improved fortunes at the company, and has forecast pre-tax profits of £50m against losses of £10m last time.

Mining group Xstrata will show the benefit of its recent acquisition of Australian rival MIM when it updates the market on progress during its first half on Thursday.

The group will have made a full contribution to results and should help boost pre-tax profits to £312m, against £37m previously, according to broker Charles Stanley.

l Companies reporting results next week include:

Monday

Finals: Napier Brown Foods, NWF

Interims: British Airways (Q1), Management Consulting, Marconi (Q1), Morgan Sindall

Tuesday

Finals: Stagecoack Theatre Arts

Interims: Old Mutual, ROK Property Solutions, Zoteforms

Wednesday

Interims: Balfour Beatty, Xenova (Q2)

Thursday

Interims: Bema Gold (Q2), Chesnara, Countrywide Assured, P&O, Royal & Sun Alliance (Q2)

Friday

No companies reportin