It's a bit of a mixed bag next week, with news from the retail and mining sectors expected.
Next week starts off with a pretty busy Monday for company announcements, but they tail off later in the week.
Precious things
On Monday, we have results from two companies digging up materials that people consider to be precious, although they have little actual use. We're talking diamonds and gold, and we kick off with full-year results from Petra Diamonds (LSE: PDL).
The Petra share price has well beaten the FTSE during the past year, though it has slid a bit since its early climb. Colleague Tony Reading likes the idea of investing in diamonds rather than gold, and things at Petra seem optimistic at the moment.
On the same day, Highland Gold Mining (LSE: HGM) will release its interim figures. The company's trading update last month told us of significant increases in production, so we should be expecting results pretty much in line with analysts' forecasts. Gold-mining shares are, of course, a play on the price of that rather expensive metal, and it's anyone's guess where that's going to go next.
Fashion and travel
Fashion retailer French Connection (LSE: FCCN) will give us interim figures on Monday, too, following on from this week's six-month results from competitor Next (LSE: NXT). Next did well, and the fashion trade seems to be weathering the retail storms, so is French Connection a bargain? Well, it might be, but I reckon Next is still the better buy.
The travel sector currently has a couple of constituents which appear to be priced for boom or bust. As David Holding pointed out recently, both Thomas Cook (LSE: TCG) and TUI Travel (LSE: TT) make it into his top 20 list of "7-7" shares -- ones with a dividend yield of above 7% and a P/E below 7.
We'll get a pre-close update from TUI on Thursday, after last month's third-quarter update. That was certainly not disastrous, and an improved performance for the year is expected. Is TUI oversold? It may well be, but I'd need to have a closer look before making my mind up.
Pills with that
For those with an interest in the biotech and pharmaceuticals sector, there will be a couple of small announcements of possible note next week.
Full-year results for Allergy Therapeutics (LSE: AGY) will be with us on Monday. The company, as its name suggests, is engaged in the allergy treatment field, and is expected to turn in a profit in 2012.
Sinclair IS Pharma (LSE: SPH) which apparently is "a leading topicals and supportive care specialist", will release its finals on Thursday. Again, no profit is expected this year, but there's one pencilled in for next.
Neither share is popular at the moment, but is this a good time to be looking for 'blue sky' opportunities? You tell us.
And the rest
Other releases that should be of interest to Fools include updates from Dairy Crest (LSE: DCG) and Ocado (LSE: OCDO) on Monday -- Ocado was noted as a float that flopped by Cliff D'Arcy this week.
We'll also have trading updates from Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT) on Wednesday and United Utilities (LSE: UU) on Thursday.
Notable announcements next week:
Monday: Allergy Therapeutics, Greenko Group, International Ferro Metals Group, K3 Business Technology, Petra Diamonds, French Connection, GLOBO, Highland Gold Mining, Shore Capital, Smart Metering Systems, Telit Communications, Dairy Crest, Ocado.
Tuesday: Wilmington, 3Legs Resources, Dolphin Capital Investors, KBC Advanced Technologies, Optimal Pay, Porvair.
Wednesday: M&C Saatchi, Toumaz, Imperial Tobacco.
Thursday: Sinclair IS Pharma, Songbird Estates, Assura Group, Euromoney Institutional Investor, TUI Travel, United Utilities.
Friday: Planet Payment, Tawa
Fool comment on this week's news:
