The week ahead...

With the holiday season fast ascending upon us, there really is no better time for travel operators to step into the firing line and provide us with an indication of how the market is faring.

First up will be Thomas Cook (TCG) which is set to release its full-year preliminaries on Monday. Firm focus will be upon the renowned travel specialist's winter sales figures which should benefit from a recent reduction in holidays and flights available.

Sam Hart, leisure analyst at Charles Stanley, commented: "Thomas Cook is expected to report a resilient set of interim results, supported by merger-related cost savings, acquisitions and FX benefits."

However, the analyst still forecasts a drop of 13% in underlying operating profit as a result of swine flu fear which gripped travellers and an inability to recover higher input costs.

The travel agent is also expected to provide some indication of how summer sales are looking.

Hot on its heels will be TUI Travel (TT-) which posts its preliminary results on Tuesday. The company is set to report a strong set of results, however underlying performance could prove altogether weaker. Although western Europe has held up seemingly well, TUI Travel ran into a tough trading environment in Canada and the Nordics. Looking ahead, investors will be keen to learn how the company's summer bookings have fared, although there is a fear that rising unemployment and weak sterling could have a bigger-than-expected impact.

On the theme of travel, airlines British Airways (BAY) and easyJet (EZJ) are set to release their travel figures at the end of the week. British Airways has suffered passenger losses of late while in stark contrast, budget airline easyJet has enjoyed an increase.

For all of those who shunned exotic travel and airport queues for "stay-cations", it will be interesting to see how DIY retail group Kingfisher (KGF) has coped. The owner of B&Q will release a trading update on Thursday and is expected to follow its previous trend of positive statements, despite currency fluctuations, helped along by the hoard of Brits choosing to stay at home this year.

Also making an appearance on the corporate calendar on Thursday is Marston's (MARS). The brewery is expected to suffer in its full-year results, with negotiations underway to deal with its £1.2 billion debt. Just earlier this year the pub group raised £176 million through a rights issue and will no doubt be keeping its fingers crossed that the festive period brings some much needed coins to its coffers.

Fellow brewery Green King (GNK) will also post its interim results this week, although is expected to fare better than its counterpart and is forecast to post improving like-for-like sales.

On the economic front, the start of the week is expected to see Bank of England unveil a small increase in mortgage approval rates for October as well as a drop in net consumer credit.

Net consumer credit fell by £0.2 billion in October, following three consecutive monthly declines.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, commented: "Significantly, the Bank of England has identified the need for, and desire of, consumers to improve their balance sheets as a major factor that could limit economic growth over the medium and longer-term. Meanwhile, very tight credit conditions continue to make it generally difficult for people to borrow."

The start of December on Tuesday hails the arrival of Nationwide's housing survey. Last month's October report revealed a 0.4% increase in house prices over the previous month and by 2% annually. Property bulls will be keen to see if this momentum can continue.

Also on Tuesday, the Purchase Managers Index (PMI) manufacturing survey is set to be released. The October PMI report rose sharply hitting 53.7, the highest score in two years. Naturally, further improvement is expected for November. PMI will post its construction survey on Wednesday and follow it up with a service sector survey on Thursday.

(Finals) Thomas Cook

(Interims) Creston, First Property Group, Ishaan Real Estate, Trifast, St Ives

(Quarterly) Stratic Energy Corporation

Infoscreen Networks, JSM Indochina, Jubilee Platinum, Metal-Tech, Nyota Minerals Ltd, St Ives

(Final) Filtronis, Henderson Far East Income Ltd., London & St Lawrence Inv Co., Stavert Zigomala, UK Commercial Property Trust

(Interim) BAE Systems, Fujitsu, Provident Financial Senior

(Quarterly) Bankers Inv Trust, City of London Inv Trust, ING UK Real Estate Income Trust Ltd.

(Finals) Character Group, Gooch and Housego, ITE Group, Shaftesbury, TUI Travel

(Interims) Bango, Bglobal, Datong, Greene King

Cyril Sweett

BlackRock Greater Europe Inv Trust, Brookwell A shares, Brookwell Ltd. B Shares, GR Holdings, Hargreaves Lansdown, Indian Energy, International Biotech Trust, Lewis Charles Romania Propety Fund, Plexus

Naya Bharat at Property Company

(Final) Animalcare Group

(Interim) Ladbrokes

(Quarterly) JPMorgan Claverhouse Inv Trust

(Final) Brewin Dolphin, Dawson Holdings, Optos, Sage

Braemore Resources, Greatland Gold

Lewis Charles Sofia Property Fund

(Interim) Chloride Group, Marshalls, Mount Engineering

(Quarterly) Prodesse Investment

(Finals) Local Shopping REIT, Marstons

(Interims) ACM Shipping, Ashtead Group, Findel, Halma

Kingfisher Group

Sportswinbet, Yangtze China Investment

(Finals) Innovation Group

(Interims) Berkeley Group Holdings Units

SThree

Associated British Foods, Capital Lease Aviation, Ceres Power Holdings, Interior Services, LP Hill, Minerva, Pantheon Resources

Deutsche Land

(Final) Anglo and Overseas Trust, Ashmore Group, BlueBay Asset Management, Global MENA Financial Assets, James Halstead, Jupiter Dividend & Growth Trust, Matchtech, Murgitroyd Group, Plexus, Quadnetics Group, Schroder Oriental Income Fund, St Ives, United Carpets

(Interim) Balfour Beatty, DCC, Hilton Food, JZ Capital Partners, Northern 2 VCT, ProVen Health VCT, SThree