A CLUTCH of first quarter trading statements next week will provide the City with an important update on the impact of the global slowdown.

Bookham Technology, which reports first-quarter results on Wednesday, is among high-tech companies to have experienced difficult times.

The group has suffered from a downturn in demand for its basic optical transmitters and receivers, which are primarily sold to its key customer, Nortel.

Stockbroker Gerrard said pre-tax losses for the quarter were expected to be £11.7m, from £6.4m a year earlier.

Software firm Autonomy has warned that its first quarter results on Thursday will be below market expectations. The focus of the results will be the group's outlook statement for the rest of the year.

Also of interest on Tuesday will be the first quarterly results from pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline since its merger last year.

Two new drugs, Seretide and Avantia, are expected to post growth rates of 120 per cent and 80 per cent respectively.

Analysts are expecting a quarterly pre-tax profit figure of £1.45bn, compared to £1.36bn from the combined businesses of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.

Fellow pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is also due to provide the market with an update on Thursday.

Progress is expected to be relatively modest as some of its older drugs approach their respective expiry dates.

AstraZeneca, which is expected to post a pre-tax figure of £1.07bn against £1.03bn a year earlier, has already warned of slower growth in 2001, so worries about a slowdown should be set aside.

Media group Reuters is expected to show like-for-like revenue growth of 13 per cent for the first quarter.

There should be few surprises when consumer products giant Unilever reports its first quarter results.

The Persil-to-Magnum ice creams group has said profits will be lower due to interest on higher debt levels following its acquisition of Bestfoods.

But as the year progresses, debt will reduce by the sale of non-core assets and a more positive cashflow. Unilever is due to announce pre-tax profits of £610m, compared with £697m a year earlier.

P&O Princess Cruises will be making a landmark announcement on Tuesday as it reports its first quarterly results since demerging from P&O last year.

l Companies reporting next week:

MONDAY - Finals: NMT Group.

Interims: Action Computer.

TUESDAY - Finals: United Utilities

Interims: Fibernet Group, McCarthy & Stone, GlaxoSmithKline (Q1), Parthus Technology (Q1)

WEDNESDAY - Finals: Hitachi Credit

Interims: Direct Message, Bookham Technology (Q1)

THURSDAY - Finals: Laing (John), Shoprite, SVB Holdings, Autonomy

Interims: Abbey National (Q1), AstraZeneca (Q1)

FRIDAY - Finals: Advanced Technology, Kiln, Wood & Son

Interims: Unilever (Q1)