The summer lull is still glaringly evident on the corporate calendar this coming week, with only a handful of companies out to air their wares.  
 
First up on Tuesday is Bunzl, which should show a return to positive underlying revenue growth in its interim results. The group has made several acquisitions during the first half of the year after minimal activity in 2009 which should help pave the way to further growth.  
 
Charles Stanley analyst Tony Shepard remains positive on the stock. 'For the year ending December 2010, we estimate a pre-tax profit of £273 million and EPS of 59p,' he says. Over the past 12 months, Bunzl shares have outperformed the FTSE All Share by about 15 per cent which justifies our Buy recommendation.
 
However, Shepard warns that in order to keep making progress the company will need to add further acquisitions to its portfolio.
 
Omega also takes to the stage on Tuesday and has already announced that it expects to make a pre-tax loss of around $35 million in the first half of the year.
 
This will be the first chance for new management to report to the market since taking to the helm earlier in the year and investors are hoping to learn more about the outcome of  the recent strategic review on the business and work some way towards restoring confidence in the company’s performance.
 
Oil explorer Afren makes it a reporting hat trick on Tuesday with interim results. The FTSE 250 listed group, which holds assets in countries ranging from Gabon and Nigeria to the Ivory Coast, has oil reserves of 52 billion barrels with 219 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
 
The company says 2010 was shaping up to be its most active to date, with an expected 19 operated wells to be drilled. Shareholders will thus be looking for an update on its drilling campaign and effect on the group’s reserve base.
 
Recruitment agency Hays is up for the taking on Thursday and following its trading update in July when it announced returning to year-on-year growth for the first time in two years, hopes are high.
 
Steve Woolf, analyst at Numis, comments: 'With net fee growth already reported, we look for EBIT of £78.1 million, in-line with a consensus of £78.9 million, and do not expect too many surprises given management’s indication at its Q4 update that it was trading in-line with consensus expectations.
 
'The issue now lies with the outlook and is balanced by a strong performance of the overseas business, led by Asia, and in particular Australia, offset by the risk in the UK where we believe the weakness is accelerating.'
 
However, with nearly 60 per cent of the group’s net fees now generated outside of the UK, the company said it was 'well positioned to benefit from the cyclical and structural growth in the international specialist recruitment markets.'
 
Transport operator Go-Ahead Group will also drive into the spotlight on Thursday with its final results. The company has seen its share value steadily diminish over the past few months and in June, warned that the outlook for the next financial year was difficult to predict. Shareholders will be anxious to see whether the company’s dividend payment can be maintained.
 
Looking a little livelier next week is the economic calendar, starting off with household borrowing figures on Tuesday. The July numbers are likely to show that activity in the housing market continued to wane in July, even after a weak first half of the year, after a spate of mortgage approvals data revealed a drop.
 
On Wednesday, CIPS manufacturing report is set to show that the sector performed well again in August, according to economists at Capital Economics.
 
While export orders slipped slightly in July, the total new orders balance has remained strong thanks to an offsetting pick-up in domestic orders.
 
'All in all the Purchasing Managers’ Index looks set to hold up fairly well again – we have pencilled in a small fall from 57.3 to a still-strong 56.5 in August,' they say.
 
The week is brought to a close with the PMI Service Sector Survey on Friday and while manufacturing recovery might still be in full swing, the services sector has started to flag.
 
The business activity index has fallen in four of the past five months and is suggesting a much smaller 0.2 per cent quarterly growth in services sector output compared with the 0.7 per cent seen in Q2.
 
Indeed, further falls are expected for August with analysts predicting a drop to 52.5.
 
Tuesday 31 August

Results

(Finals) Mattioli Woods

(Interims) 888 Holdings, Afren, Alpha Bank, British Polythene, Golden port, Grafton Group, Hansteen Holdings, IFG Group, Integra Group, Omega Insurance Holdings, Pilat Media Global, Puricore, Tamar European Industrial Fund

(Quarterly) Frontline

Trading Update

Safestore

AGMs

Angel Mining, DQ Entertainment, PXP Vietnam Fund, Tangent Communications

Wednesday 1 September

Results

(Finals) Hargreaves Lansdown

(Interims) IQE, Johnson Service Group

AGMs

Creston, Spice, Talisman

EGMs

Marwyn Materials

Dividend Payment Date

(Final) C&C Group, Clyde Process Solutions

Thursday 2 September

Results

(Finals) Eaga, Go-Ahead Group, Hays, Mcbride

(Interims) 32Red, Abbey Protection, DataCash Group, DSG International, Restaurant Group, Stadium Group

AGMS
ACM Shipping, Advanced Computer Software, Carclo, Cohort, Daejan Holdings, Dart Group, Invesco Property Income Trust, Maple Energy, Scott Wilson

EGMs

BPC Limited

Dividend Payment Date

(Final) SSL International

(Interim) British Portfolio Trust

Friday 3 September

AGMs

MDM Engineering Group, Prosperity Minerals Holdings

Dividend Payment Date

(Final) Cranswick, RPC Group

(Interim) Invesco English & International Trust, Invista Real Estate Investment Management Holdings, RAB Capital