IT will be a big week for results as full-year earnings from oil giant BP and drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline are published.
The City is braced for a 34% profit fall at BP in the final three months of the year after it landed the biggest fine in US history over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Analysts predict fourth quarter underlying replacement cost profits will fall to $3.3 billion (£2bn), from $4.99bn in the same period the previous year, below third quarter profits which were $5.2bn.
The group, which reports tomorrow, agreed the $4.5bn settlement with the United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, which it will pay over six years.
But Jon Rigby, analyst at UBS, said it still left the last "big ticket item" of the civil claims relating to the oil rig accident in 2010, which killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
In November the group agreed to sell a range of North Sea oil fields to Taqa, the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, in a $1.1bn deal.
Lucozade and Ribena owner GlaxoSmithKline is expected to end a troubled year on a more positive note when its reports full-year results on Wednesday.
Experts at UBS predict sales declines will ease in the final quarter of 2012, down 3% on the previous year to £6.8bn in a slight improvement after a 5% slump to £6.5bn in the third quarter, which was dragged down by government cut backs in Europe.
At its last update in October, the drugs giant called on European governments to halt aggressive price cuts on medicines or suffer unintended consequences.
Glaxo, which also makes hot drink Horlicks, has warned that austerity drives across Europe, which have seen medicine prices cut by more than 7%, will impact the development of new drugs across the continent.
Experts predict full year sales will come in 3.5% lower compared with the previous year at £26.4bn and are pencilling in an 11% slump in full years profits to £7.6bn.
Thomson and First Choice parent TUI Travel will report on whether the package holiday comeback continues in first quarter results on Thursday.
At its last update in December, the group said UK holidaymakers looking to escape to the sun after last year's dismal summer also resulted in a surge in bookings for next summer, up 12%.
And its unique holidays – including Couples, Sensatori and SplashWorld – were already up 18% for summer 2013, accounting for 83% of bookings.
week ahead
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article