Consumer confidence will be in the spotlight when pubs group Mitchells & Butlers and airline easyJet announce half-year results this week.

Budget carrier easyJet should post a profit on Tuesday in what is traditionally a loss-making half-year period.

The airline recently forecast that its result for the six months to March 31 would be somewhere between a loss of £5 million and profit of £10 million due to rising passenger numbers and revenues. Brokers at Numis expect it to make a £7.5 million profit.

It had previously forecast a first half loss of between £10 million and £30 million. A year ago it posted a £53 million loss for the same period.

Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo said: "The improvement in management's guidance for the first half result was widely expected but reassuring nonetheless."

The airline recently said it carried 6.01 million passengers in April, up 3.8% on a year ago.

However, the carrier has warned it could be buffeted by volatile exchange rates and oil prices in the coming months.

The airline said the impact of exchange rate movements would boost its bottom line by £20 million for the first half, but result in a £40 million hit in the final six months of the year.

The price of oil has fallen by half since last summer, pushed down by oversupply and falling demand from slowing emerging economies.

But geo-political uncertainty in the Middle East has spiked the price in recent months towards 70 US dollars.

The airline warned in March that ''further volatility around currency rates and the oil price is likely to continue into the second half''.

At the time Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers, said easyJet ''continues to be a compelling proposition for both customers and investors alike, with an improved profit guidance figure providing some solace in the currently volatile environment''.

He added: ''Less positively, concerns on the investment case tend to be sector wide rather than stock specific, such as heightening geopolitical concerns, volatile oil price and currency impacts, increased regulatory overhang and airport charges, although there was a slight uptick in cost per seat.''

Last month the airline appointed Andrew Findlay as its new chief financial officer who will take up his post by the end of October. Mr Findlay, who is currently head of finance at Halfords, will replace Chris Kennedy who moves to chipmaker ARM to take up the role of finance chief.

All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers is expected to post solid first half profits next Thursday, with the outcome dominated by a summer acquisition.

The City predicts the UK's biggest managed pubs group will report pre-tax profits up 4.2% to £75 million, as it spends on rebranding and new IT systems to support its £266 million purchase of rival Orchid Group in June.

Orchid holds 173 outlets and Mitchells & Butlers is converting the majority of them to its own brands, such as Harvester and Toby Carvery.

Analysts at Numis forecast flat like-for-like sales in the second quarter of the year, reflecting a tough period for the sector.

The broker is also concerned that margins are narrowing in the business, and thinks that the introduction this month of breakfasts with unlimited tea and coffee at its O'Neill's, Oak Tree and Sizzling Pubs brands will exacerbate the problem.

Mitchells & Butlers reported like-for-like sales lifted 4.8% in the two weeks of Christmas and New Year compared to the same period the year before, driven by food sales.

It added that on Christmas Day the firm saw like-for-like sales growth of 7.1%, with more than 200,000 meals sold.

In January the firm, which runs around 1,650 pubs and restaurants, added that in its first 17 weeks of its financial year like-for-like sales were up 1.7% with total sales up 9.1%.

Mitchells & Butlers chief executive Alistair Darby said in January: "The Orchid integration plan is on track and we are encouraged by the early trading performance of the converted sites."

However, the business warned that its margins continue to be weaker than a year ago not only because of its spending on integrating Orchid but also because of the careful pricing it has adopted in a tough consumer environment.

Last November the firm said: "The careful spending behaviour developed during the recession is now the norm."