ALL eyes will be on the banking sector next week as former building societies Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester kick off the sector's reporting season.

Alliance & Leicester will unveil half-year results on Friday with the City expecting pre-tax profits to come in at £500m against £505m last time.

The market will be keen for an update on the group's core mortgage business, which is operating in a tough market, and with the current emphasis on Internet banking, A&L will be quizzed on any update for its online strategy.

Northern Rock gave an update on trading in April saying lending in the first quarter of the year was on target with mortgage lending especially buoyant.

The City will be keen for a further update at the bank's half year stage on Thursday, where pre-tax profits are forecast to come in at £245m against £216m last time.

And analysts will be keen to know how much of an impact Internet banks launched by rivals are having on its business.

It's ARM's first half results on Tuesday, following an upbeat statement from the group in April.

The semi-conductor chip designer had revealed a leap in pre-tax profits to £8.2m from £3.2m for the first quarter and the City will be hoping the interim results will be just as impressive.

Building and support services business Mitie revealed a 33 per cent rise in interim profits in January and the City will be hoping for a similarly impressive set of results at its year-end stage on Monday.

Expectations are for pre-tax profits at the Bristol-based group to come in at £19m, up from last time's £14.5m, stockbrokers Greig Middleton said.

lCompanies reporting next week:

MONDAY - Finals: Maelor, Mitie, Range Cooker, Ultra Electronics

TUESDAY - Finals: Artisan, AIM Group

Interims: Arm (Q2)

WEDNESDAY - Interims: Parthus Technologies, Xaar.

THURSDAY - No results

FRIDAY - Interims: Alliance & Leicester, Tribune Trust.