Announcements from blue-chip companies are likely to be thin on the ground next week, although results from Majestic Wine and First Choice will still offer useful pointers on the fragile state of consumer confidence.

Tour operator First Choice is expected to post losses of between £35m and £37m when it announces half-year results on Tuesday.

The figure will compare with £39.9m a year earlier.

The group, whose brands include Unijet, Falcon and Sovereign, has reduced dependency on traditional holiday destinations by selling more higher-margin packages, including activity, specialist and long-haul trips.

Results from washroom services group PHS are likely to be overshadowed by ongoing takeover speculation surrounding the group.

Reports have linked up to five private equity firms to the £700m company, although sector rival Rentokil Initial is thought to have ruled out an approach as it concentrates on getting its own business in order.

The figures on Tuesday should show why it has proved so attractive, with full-year profits expected to improve to £47.5m, from £43.5m a year earlier.

Majestic Wine will provide some light relief for the retail sector on Monday as it is expected to announce a 24 per cent rise in annual profits to £13.1m.

The latest improvement from the chain, which has about 120 warehouse outlets, is likely to be accompanied by a sizeable rise in the annual dividend and a relatively resilient update on the start of the new financial year.

Half-year results from software specialist Civica are expected to show it has been boosted by laws allowing local authorities to grant licences to pubs and bars.

Civica, which floated on the stock market a year ago, said in a trading statement in April that a number of councils had signed up for software to help them process alcohol licences.

Although no forecasts were available for the half-year results on Wednesday, Investec expects full-year profits to rise to £10m from £8.3m last time.

Software company Radstone Technology will announce full-year results on Tuesday with news of a key US navy contract still fresh in the memories of investors.

The order from Raytheon is worth £14.7m and means Radstone - a specialist in IT products to the aerospace and defence industry - should be able to announce a record order book of more than £90m.

Analysts at UBS are looking for annual profits to improve to £8.2m, from £7.4m a year earlier.