The week ahead...

Events start to liven up on the corporate calendar next week after a distinct lack of activity over the first half of August.

Petrofac (PFC) gets the ball rolling on Monday, and given the slide in the oil price of late, should make for interesting reading. The company's share price has dipped close to £10 in line with the weaker oil prices, although it has staged a slight recovery.

"There have been few contract wins mentioned during the last couple of months and we hope Petrofac are waiting for these figures to announce a nice surprise," said Nick Raynor, investment advisor at The Share Centre.

Running with the theme, FTSE 100-listed giant Cairn Energy (CNE) takes to the stage 24 hours later and results are likely to focus on lessons learnt from its recent Greenland well results.

Sanjeev Bahl, analyst at Numis, forecasts revenues of $1.64 billion (£0.99 billion) and operating profit of $1.2 billion, although he cautions that these could be impacted by items relating to the Vedanta (VED) deal.

"In the worst-case scenario, under which the Vedanta deal fails to complete and Cairn's 2011 Greenland programme is written off, we have a net asset value of 302p per share. With the stock trading at 312p per share we see minimal downside and believe that Cairn is relatively defensive in a falling oil price environment."

G4S (GFS) makes an appearance on the same day and in a statement released back in May, noted that growth in its EPS would be back to pre-recession levels by the end of next year. Investors will therefore no doubt be looking for signs of this development.

While its rivals announce major contract wins, they will also be holding out for some good news from this group.

And making it a busy day for investors, Wood Group (WG.) also takes to the floor on Tuesday. The blue chip company has added some decent contracts to its belt recently, in particular with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and Chevron (CVX).

But despite this, the group has been out of favour with some analysts recently and faced downgrades. Tuesday's interim statement will therefore be the company's opportunity to try and put itself firmly back in favour.

Midweek heralds the arrival of oil giant Tullow Oil (TLW). Unsurprisingly, stocks in this sector have taken a battering lately, in the face of falling oil prices and market volatility.

In a trading update at the start of July, the FTSE 100-listed group said it continued to deliver record financial results for the first half of the year and said it was on track to ramp up production at its Jubilee field to 120,000 barrels this month.

Undoubtedly investors will be keeping a close eye on these figures, given that Numis said it does not expect this level to be reached until towards the end of the third quarter rather than August.

"Tullow continues to trade at a premium to the group at 0.96 times net asset value versus a sector multiple of 0.67 times. We remain cautious going into the highly anticipated (and high-risk) Zaedyus well where a failure could lead to the stock de-rating to a historical 10-15% premium to the group rather than its current 40%+ premium," said Bahl.

BHP Billiton (BLT) flies the flag for the miners on Wednesday. The $40 billion company mainly produces iron ore and other base metals so it will be interesting to see how it has fared through such commodity volatility.

Raynor hailed it "one of the most diverse mining companies on the planet and still one of our favourites within the sector for precisely that reason."

Kazakhmys (KAZ) is another one for those with a penchant for a miner on Thursday. The company produced 150,000 tonnes of copper in the first half of this year, leaving it on course to hit its full-year target of 295,000 tonnes.

But despite this, the past month has proved testing for the FTSE 100-listed major, after its share price suffered a sharp drop.

Analysts are looking for profits in the region of $1.1 billion, meaning it would be on track to reach full-year profits in excess of $2 billion. And despite the weakness in price, the Kazakhstan-focused company is well placed to tap into Chinese demand growth.

Costain (COST) also makes an appearance on Thursday with its interim results. Numis analyst Howard Seymour said the company's strategy focus into growth markets is helping to underpin the orderbook in challenging markets, so is expecting a robust first-half performance.

"The aborted Mouchel (MCHL) bid has left a question mark over direction, however, and we expect an update on this to focus on bolt-on acquisitive growth to grow both consulting and maintenance activities in keeping with previous comments. The shares offer good value, but this uncertainty over strategy is likely to keep a lid on the share price until resolved."

And last but not least, AGA Rangemaster (AGA) wraps up events on Friday. The company has suffered so far this year as confidence in consumer-related companies dipped, Raynor explains. However, the more niche market it operates in should help it recover and overseas sales could be crucial in these results.

"There is plenty of cash floating around the company and some are speculating there may be a special dividend on offer soon," he added.

The focus on the economic side is likely to be on the latest GDP data due out on Friday.

Economists at Capital Economics comment: "The second-quarter figures will probably not be the main interest - the 0.2% quarterly rise in GDP looks unlikely to be revised and, in a break from convention, we will not get the expenditure breakdown with this second estimate. Instead, the focus is likely to be on the older GDP data, which may be revised to leave the recession looking a bit less severe than currently thought."

Earlier in the week, the CBI's industrial trends survey looks likely to give a very downbeat message on the near-term prospects for the manufacturing recovery.

Global demand for manufactured goods has been shockingly weak and economists are therefore bracing themselves for a sharp fall in the output expectations in August.

And August's CBI distributive trades survey looks set to continue the bad run of data when it's published on Thursday.

The survey was conducted between 28 July and 16 August so will fully register any adverse impact on retail sales from the social unrest at the start of August. The sharp falls in equity prices during this period may have also impact consumer spending.

As a result, Capital Economics has pencilled in an sharp drop in the reported sales balance from -5 to -20 in August.

Monday 22 August

Results

(Interim) Amlin, Petrofac

AGM/EGM

Aberdeen New Dawn Investment Trust, Arc Capital, Ienergizer, Prospect Japan

Tuesday 23 August

Results

(Interim) Capital & Regional, Capital Drilling, Chime Communications, Cairn Energy, Corin Group, H&T Group, Hiscox, Persimmon, Severfield-Rower, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Spectris, UK Coal, John Wood Group

AGM/EGM

Livermore Investments Group, Omega Diagnostics Group

Wednesday 24 August

Results

(Final) BHP Billiton

(Interim) Admiral Group, Ark Therapeutics, Axis-Shield, Alpha UK Multi Property Trust, Chime Communications, Clarkson, Carillion, Derwent London, Forth Ports, G4S, Hardy Oil & Gas, Melrose, North Midland Construction, New World Resources, Plaza Centres, Sutton Harbour Holdings, Tullow Oil, Unite Group, WPP Group

AGM/EGM

Abbeycrest, Latham (James), Proven Growth & Income, Puma, Proven, Provexis, Sutton Harbour Holdings

Ex-dividend Payment Date

Atkins, BBA Aviation, Bloomsbury Publishing, Brewin Dolphin Holdings, Capital & Counties Properties, Carnival, Canaccord Financial, Catlin Group, City of London Group, Communisis, Downing Distribution, Fidessa Group, First Property Group, Henderson Opportunities, Lancashire Holdings, PHSC, Park Group, Patsystems, Rotork, United Business Media

Thursday 25 August

Results

(Final) Diageo, Haynes Publishing Group

(Interim) Aggreko, Aegis Group, AMEC, Avis Europe, Chaucer Holdings, Costain Group, Glencore, Aqua Resources Fund, Huntsworth, Hansteen Holdings, Hunting, IMI, Johnston Press, Kzakhmys, Premier Oil, Petropavlovsk, Playtech, SIG, Signet Jewellers, Salamander Energy, STV Group, UK Coal

Trading Update

Haynes Publishing Group

AGM/EGM

Midas Income & Growth Trust, Puma, R.G. International, RedHot Media International, SIG, Sopheon, Sportech, Trakm8 Holdings

Friday 26 August

Results

(Interim) AGA Rangemaster Group, Clarke, Independent News & Media, Lavendon Group, Marshalls, New Britain Palm Oil, Vimetco, Yule Catto & Co.

AGM/EGM

Datang International Power Generation, Naspers Limited, Plant Impact, Prosperity Minerals Holdings.