NEXT week, the City will be livened up by a touch of magic, jewellery and Wild Wild Racing - which will hopefully take traders' eyes off the volatile stock market.

Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury paved the way for good full-year figures in November, when it said trading would be significantly ahead of expectations.

The publisher said the best-selling series, penned by author JK Rowling, as well as Booker Prize winning novel, The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood, would boost figures.

Analysts are pencilling in pre-tax profits of £5.4m when it reports on Wednesday, up from £2.6m last time.

The City will be hoping for more good news from jewellery retailer Signet on Wednesday, after the group's report in February that fourth quarter like-for-like sales were up 3.3 per cent.

The group runs about 600 stores in the UK, trading as H Samuel, Ernest Jones and Leslie Davis.

Full-year pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £158m, up from £127.7m last time.

Ports operator Forth Ports is expected to report an 18 per cent jump in full-year profits, to £34.9m, on Monday.

Computer games group Rage Software warned the market in January its full-year figures would show a bigger than expected loss.

This was due to one-off factors following a year of change.

The firm said full-year revenues were expected to be broadly in line with expectations, although the limited supply of Sony's PlayStation 2 had affected its Wild Wild Racing title. The City will be keen to see how the company is faring at the half-year stage, when it reports on Wednesday.

Relatively strong figures from a handful of retailers this week mean the City is expecting encouraging signs from department store group House of Fraser on Wednesday, with full-year pre-exceptional profit figures expected to edge forward to £17.7m against £17.4m last time.

Analysts will be wanting to see what plans chairman Michael Wemms, who joined last month, has for the group.

Analysts will be wanting progress reports on drug delivery company Weston Medical's development deals when it reports its full-year figures on Thursday.

The company's shares dived 25 per cent last month, after Johnson & Johnson pulled out of an agreement. The City will want to know how others are faring, including a deal with Roche for use of its Hepatitis C drug.

House broker Goldman Sachs is forecasting pre-tax losses of £5.8m against a loss of £5.2m last time.

l Companies reporting next week:

MONDAY - Finals: Alexon Group, Ashtenne Holdings, British Polythene Industries, Forth Ports, Melrose Resources, Tempus, T&S Stores, Wellington Holdings.

Interims: Galliford Try

TUESDAY - Finals: AFA Systems, AGA Foodservice, Arcolectric, QS Group, Wilink.com.

Interims: Gleeson (MJ) Group.

WEDNESDAY - Finals: Advanced Medical Solutions, AG Barr, Bloomsbury Publishing, House of Fraser, Maiden, NRX Global Corp, Signet, Stadium Group, Surgical Innovations Group.

Interims: Aero Inventory, Barratt Developments, James Halstead, Rage Software, Sunderland.

THURSDAY - Finals: Goshawk, Hanover International, Hardy Underwriting, Intelligent Environments, Quantica, Redbus Interhouse, Tardis Transcom, Weston Medical Group.

FRIDAY - Finals: Guiton Group, Miller Fisher Group, Sopheon, Television Corporation.

Interims: Leeds Sporting.