A BANK and two insurance groups take their turn in the spotlight this week.

Insurance company Aviva will deliver another blow to investors on Thursday when it slashes its interim dividend, in line with the huge cut to its full-year pay-out earlier this year.

Recently appointed boss Mark Wilson stunned the City in March when he cut the group’s divi by 44 per cent following a long period of underperformance and a fall in underlying profits to £1.78bn last year, from £1.86bn a year earlier.

He warned at the time that the interim payout would suffer the same fate, which will be confirmed alongside the half-year results.

But Mr Wilson, who joined the company in January after predecessor Andrew Moss quit following a shareholder rebellion over pay and performance, offered a glimmer of hope to beleaguered investors in May when he unveiled an 18 per cent rise in new life and pensions business to £191m.

Sheilas’ Wheels owner esure will update on how new gender equality rules are affecting the motor insurance market when it posts its maiden set of half-year results tomorrow.

The group has been relatively insulated from the introduction of rules banning cheaper car cover for women drivers, with many of its Sheilas’ Wheels customers choosing to stay with the group.

Bank HSBC looks likely to continue its profits march when it posts half-year results today. Emerging markets growth, the housing market recovery in the US and the UK and the improving global economy should help the lender build on a 34 per cent year-on-year rise in first-quarter underlying profits.

HSBC, the last of the major UK high street banks to report on first-half trading, said first quarter profits rose to $7.6bn (£4.9bn) from $5.7bn (£3.7bn).

Falling charges for soured loans and compensation helped drive the profits rise, while chief executive Stuart Gulliver said the industry was moving into “calmer waters” in the wake of the credit crunch and the payment protection insurance (PPI) misselling scandal.

ON THE AGENDA THIS WEEK:

  • Today – Interims: HSBC, Morgan Sindall
  • Tomorrow – Interims: esure, Greggs, InterContinental Hotels, Legal & General, Standard Chartered, T Clarke, UK Asset Resolution
  • Wednesday – Interims: Bupa, Old Mutual. Trading update: TUI Travel. Bank of England inflation report
  • Thursday – Interims: Amec, Aviva, Cobham, Ladbrokes, Nestle, Savills, Standard Life. Trading update: Bellway, Enterprise Inns, Pennon. Council of Mortgage Lenders arrears and repossessions
  • Friday – Interims: Catlin