There'll be results from the big miners and telecoms providers, too.
Blue-chip results season continues next week, with some of our biggest and best telling us how 2011 went for them.
Oil and gas, pills and potions
After Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) reported strong results this week, the stage is now set for FTSE 100 rival BP (LSE: BP) to provide a response on Tuesday. Forecasts are pretty good, and with a final quarter dividend of around 4.4p estimated, BP could be returning something like £840m to investors -- although that is still some way behind Shell.
BG Group (LSE: BG) will also publish its full-year figures, on Thursday.
And on the pharmaceuticals front, GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) will be reporting on Tuesday. After powering ahead of the FTSE for most of the past year, the shares have fallen back a bit if late, mainly due to fear of the expiry of drug patents with insufficient replacements in the pipeline. That's certainly what hit AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) this week, when it announced redundancies, but Glaxo has better forecasts for next year and is on for a 5% dividend for the full year.
And the one that could be the dark horse of the business, Shire (LSE: SHP), will report on Thursday.
Riches from dirt
The mining sector is one that could well hold a few bargains, and we have updates from two of the big players coming. On Thursday, it's full-year time for Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO), and though the shares have regained a fair bit in January, at £39 they're still only on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 7 based on December 2011 estimates.
That will be preceded by interim results from BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) on Wednesday. BHP has a couple of pretty flat years forecast after 2011's big jump in profits and, at £21.66, the shares are on a forward P/E of 8.
So what's the position with the miners? Depressed commodity prices haven't helped, but the main fear seems to be of a hard landing for an over-heating Chinese economy. But will that really happen? Fool writer Prabhat Sakya doesn't think so.
Consumer goods
Unilever (LSE: ULVR) posted what were actually quite decent results this week, but the response was muted. Next Wednesday, it's the turn of household products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser (LSE: RB) to provide 2011 figures, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.
Forecasts are currently looking reasonably strong, with a full-year dividend of around 3.7% expected. Like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser -- whose brands include Dettol, Finish, Scholl, Durex, Nurofen and Cillit Bang -- sells its wares in many countries around the globe, which should help compensate for tough conditions in the US, UK and Europe.
Telecoms
The week sees Virgin Media (LSE: VMED) and Vodafone (LSE: VOD) go head to head, starting with Virgin's full-year results on Wednesday.
At 1515p, Virgin's shares have slumped form last year's high point, but have recovered a little this year as both Virgin and BT (LSE: BT-A) push ahead in the competition for ever greater broadband capacity. It's hard to value Virgin, with it just turning into profit, but forecasts for 2012 and 2013 are looking good.
Vodafone, which will release a first-quarter trading statement on Thursday, is a different prospect. It has one of the strongest dividends on the market, with the current share price of 173p suggesting a 2012 payout of 7.5%. Against that, forecasts for a tough year or two for profits have forced the share price down a bit.
The rest
Other companies with full-year figures due next week include insurer Beazley (LSE: BEZ) on Tuesday, Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE: RR) on Thursday and Barclays (LSE: BARC) on Friday. And there'll be a host of interim updates, too.
Notable announcements next week:
Monday: Allocate Software, Randgold Resources, RM, Workspace Group
Tuesday: 888 Holdings, Beazley, Bellway, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Low and Bonar, St Modwen Properties, TalkTalk Telecom, TUI Travel, Victrex, Wolfson Microelectronics, Xstrata
Wednesday: BHP Billiton, City of London Investment Trust, Daily Mail and General Trust, Dunelm Group, Grainger, Homeserve, International Power, Liontrust Asset Management, Reckitt Benckiser Group, Supergroup, Thomas Cook Group, Virgin Media, Volex
Thursday: Aquarius Platinum, WS Atkins, BG Group, British Land Co, Catlin Group, Diageo, Enterprise Inns, Hargreaves Lansdown, McBride, Metric Property Investments, Rank Group, Rio Tinto, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Shire, Vodafone Group
Friday: Barclays, Cable & Wireless Communications, Flybe Group, Shaftesbury
Fool comment on this week's news:
• Sir Stelios Condemns Fat-Cat Pay (easyJet)
• Facebook Flotation To Raise $10bn
• Budget Airlines Enjoying Eurozone Crisis Boost (Ryanair)
• Forecast-Busting Profits From ARM
• Is Apple The New Dixons?
• NHS Hospital With £40m Debt Goes Private (Circle Holdings)
• Is The BSkyB Falling On Netflix?
• AstraZeneca's Top-Up Opportunity
• Unilever Disappoints The City
• Shell Declares £7 Billion Of Dividends
• Should You Buy Facebook Shares?
• AstraZeneca: Not A Pharm Bet
> The Motley Fool owns shares in AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, BHP Billiton, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser.
