Britannic will be down from pounds 177

Britannic will be down from pounds 177.8m to near pounds 165m.Cigarette maker Gallaher is unlikely to light up the market with its results; a 2 per cent gain to pounds 320m is the most likely outcome.Rolls-Royce, the aero-engine group, should underline that some engineers continue to prosper. Sun Life & Provincial, currently absorbing GRE, has said it is set for a rather more impressive 38 per cent gain to pounds 318m and Royal&Sun Alliance, the GRE underbidder, could coincidentally record a 38 per cent fall to pounds 610m. It should manage pounds 110m against pounds 92.2m.A pre-tax operating profit up 8 per cent to pounds 700m is the likely outcome for insurer Norwich Union. Hays, with distribution and recruitment interests, is one of the few offering half-year figures.

The ratcatchers are known to have cast around for a suitable candidate – Compass, the contract caterer, is one which has been examined – but there is now a feeling that the group will be obliged to descend on an overseas group. The benefits of its highly successful BET takeover are coming to an end, which will hurt the current year’s figures. Rentokil’s full- year figures may fall short of the 20 per cent progress still associated with chief executive Sir Clive Thompson, but a pounds 491m outturn, up 18 per cent, should be possible.Rentokil, however, needs another deal. The fear that earnings will be particularly flat this year, a factor behind many of the more bearish Footsie forecasts, has yet to be realised.There is no reason to believe that this week’s performances will seriously dent the stock market’s enthusiasm, although the impact of the strong pound will be evident among some of the groups at the sharp end of the trading environment.Hays and Rentokil, classified by the Stock Exchange as business support groups, should be among those chalking up profit gains. The Footsie contingent includes Hays and Rentokil – who follow each other’s fortunes closely – Norwich Union and Rolls-Royce.
Among well known second liners are Burmah Castrol, Arriva, Thistle Hotels and Vickers.The generally sound profit displays being turned in by our leading companies was one of the influences that helped Footsie reach a new peak last week. THE DELUGE of high-profile profit figures continues this week as more companies with calendar year-ends buckle down to the sometimes unenviable task of letting their shareholders know how they fared on the trading front. But there are plenty of other reasons for avoiding a snap decision on this question.Wait and see, with a strongly positive bias towards eventual membership, has so far been an extremely attractive combination – politically and economically – for this Government Why change now?.

And, third, if the European economy really does fail, the UK will be severely damaged, whether inside or outside EMU.At the end of the day, fears about catching Euro-sclerosis are therefore not sufficient to keep the UK permanently outside EMU. This is determined by the rules of the EU, which already apply to us. Second, the encouraging recent performance of the Netherlands demonstrates that a reformist economy can flourish within EMU, despite the behaviour of others. First, joining the single currency will have no direct impact on whether the UK can pursue its own agenda of market flexibility. As this issue – should we “join” a sclerotic Europe – is fast becoming the nub of the debate, it merits comprehensive treatment later.But for the moment consider the following.