Insurers will dominate the corporate agenda as heavyweight firms Aviva and Prudential are scheduled to deliver half-year results.

However, executive chairman John McFarlane's vision for Aviva is likely to overshadow the embattled insurance giant's half-year results on Thursday. The City will want a progress update on Mr McFarlane's far-reaching plan, which many analysts saw as a dig at former chief executive Andrew Moss's record.

Mr McFarlane said a review of 58 divisions had identified 16 weak performers that would be sold or wound down, including the bulk annuities business in the UK. The group is expected to reveal a 10% slide in operating profits to £1 billion in the first half of the year, compared to £1.1bn the previous year.

The UK business will show a dip in profits, driven by a larger-than-expected increase in weather-related claims – as seen at RBS insurance arm Direct Line Group. It is also struggling with its high exposure to the troubled eurozone economies of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain which have continued to hit the group. Barrie Cornes, analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: "The launch and implementation of the new strategy means the interim results will be perhaps less important than any progress update or further evidence of its disposal programme being executed."

Mr Cornes said any comment on a disposal of its US operation would be "taken well" as a sale will be joined by a "significant increase in economic capital".

Meanwhile, another stellar performance in Asia on Friday will fuel speculation that insurance giant Prudential will uproot from the UK to the Far East. The UK's biggest insurer is expected to report a 7% hike in operating profits to £1.1bn in the first half of 2012, with its Asian arm the star, up 17% to £380 million.

The group, which was founded in London in 1848, has threatened to move from London –probably to Asia – as it continues to wrangle with regulators over new accountancy rules that will force it to set aside more cash.

Asian profits have now nearly trebled in the past three years and while the growth of emerging markets such as China have slowed in recent months, the high numbers of people without life insurance in these markets means they remain an alluring prospect. The group's ambitions for Asia were highlighted by its failed bid for AIA, the Asian arm of insurer AIG, after major investors baulked at the $35.5bn (£22.8bn) asking price.

In the UK, where the group has some seven million customers and employs 2700 staff, its performance will be less spectacular. The City expects UK profits to rise 3% to £342m, although a fall is forecast in new business as it targets faster growing markets overseas.

Elsewhere, the publicity boost enjoyed by Greggs in the pasty tax row will not stop it reporting a sales decline tomorrow. The last update revealed a 1.8% drop in like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to May and Greggs complained of six disappointing weeks amid the wet weather.

Those trends are set to have continued into June when fresh downpours piled more pain on the UK's beleaguered high streets, where most of Greggs' 1600 stores are based.

Hovis maker Premier Foods will say its turnaround plans remain on track despite suffering a fall in profits tomorrow. The UK's biggest food manufacturer has seen its shares lose three-quarters of their value in just over a year as it battles a near-£1bn debt mountain.

Credit Suisse analyst Charlie Mills expects underlying sales to be flat in the first six months of 2012, marking a slowdown on the 1.3% growth in Q1.

The operator of the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotel brands is set to brush off concerns about a probe into anti-competitive practices when it chalks up a rise in profits tomorrow. Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) will face questions about the Office of Fair Trading's provisional findings that it has been involved in a potentially unlawful deal with two of the biggest online travel agents, Booking.com and Expedia, to limit discounts on rooms.

However, IHG believes it is in compliance with the law and is expected to stand its ground, particularly as the OFT has conceded that the procedures are widely used in the industry. Analysts called the allegations a "red herring" and said any fine is likely to be small compared to the size of the group.

The group's ability to absorb a fine will be highlighted by strong results for the first six months of 2012, which are forecast to show operating profits rose 6% to £285m.