LEADING blue-chip companies will be out of the spotlight next week as the focus switches to some of the London market's smaller stocks.

First Choice Holidays, the UK's fourth-biggest tour operator, unveils its interim results on Tuesday after a strong run on its shares in recent weeks.

Investors will be looking for the company to build on an upbeat trading statement in March when it said sales for the summer season were up nine per cent.

Construction and support services group Jarvis has cheered investors with a series of long-term deals to build and manage student accommodation across the country.

But it is the group's five-year agreement with Railtrack to manage the East Coast Line that has seen its share price surge from 140p at the time of the Hatfield rail crash to 405p this week.

Jarvis is forecast to report pre-tax profits of £32m, up from £31.6m last year.

The City will be hoping for the prospect of a sharp rise in licensing revenue when intellectual property company BTG reports full-year figures on Tuesday.

BTG has developed a range of early-stage technologies and recently saw its leukaemia treatment Campath receive regulatory approval in the US.

Last year, BTG made a pre-tax profit of £920,000 on sales of £28.8m.

Media group Granada, the only FTSE-100 stock due to issue results next week, is expected to show on Wednesday that advertising revenues have been hurt by the economic slowdown.

Investors will be looking for any indication of an upturn, though the City expects that, given what other media companies have been saying, Granada is unlikely to make a prediction with any certainty.

Interim profits before tax and one-off costs are forecast to come in at £4m, down from £50m a year earlier, because of increased investment in ITV Digital and other TV channels and digital ventures.

Upmarket department store group Harvey Nichols is expected to show a rise in full-year pre-tax profits despite the impact of bad weather and the petrol crisis during a tough trading period.

The group will also take the opportunity on Thursday to update the City on plans for new stores in Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham.

Pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at around £15.6m.

Furniture retailer Courts will also make mention of problems outside its control when it announces full-year figures on Thursday.

Investors will want to know how well the group has recovered from a difficult autumn when floods, the petrol crisis and rail chaos were blamed for disappointing sales.

The retailer has already said UK sales during its third-quarter fell by 1.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis. Pre-tax profits are expected at around £40.6m.