UK NATURAL gas producer BG is set to uncork news of another profits spectacular on Thursday just as householders prepare for an "inevitable" sharp rise in the cost of their heating and cooking bills.

Analysts say that the group is likely to disclose a surge in net earnings from £409 million to around £787m in the second quarter of this year, despite some disruptions at its important operations in the Buzzard field in the North Sea.

That would take its half-year total to a record £1.57 billion, up more than 80% on the same period last year.

The figures reflect the soaring wholesale price of natural gas, which hit a recent high of 113p a therm against 50p a year ago, which has led industry experts to predict a jump in the price of average household bills from £600 a year to more than £1000 in the next couple of years.

Much of the gas still comes from the North Sea although an increasing amount is now imported, despite some recent encouraging finds in the Norwegian sector and elsewhere.

Some still believe that the recent spike in energy prices may come to a sudden end if the West goes into recession and the price of oil has come back from peak levels of $147 a barrel to around $131 a barrel on Friday, BG's chief executive Frank Chapman will stress his intentions to turn the group into a genuine global force with further details of its involvement in huge finds in Brazil while pressing on with a near £7bn bid for Australian coal seam gas group Origin Energy.

The increasing overseas spread should also lead to a further boost in profits from the group's LNG shipping and marketing division which is expected to lift its contribution from £85m to as much as £400m in the latest quarter.

Spread-betting group IG, which makes its cash from people gambling on the financial and energy sectors, will book a place among the winners from the turbulence in global markets tomorrow when followers look for a near 50% increase in annual profits to around the £97m mark, together with a fat increase in dividends.

The group has been attracting upwards of 2000 new accounts each month and is believed to have done particularly profitable business with sophisticated products such as contracts for difference derivatives that enable gamblers to have an interest in shares without actually owning them.

Pizza delivery group Dominos is likely to claim that it is actually gaining from general belt-tightening by consumers when it produces its interim trading report tomorrow.

Brokers at Dresdner Kleinwort say it is attracting fresh business from people who would normally prefer to eat out and believe that half-year profits could increase from £8.2m to around £10.4m despite the increased cost of cheese and other food products.

A strong trading update is expected also on Tuesday from outsourcing giant
Capita
, which oversees Scotland's driving test examiners among its spread of activities.

The group is expected to outline particularly strong growth in its back office services for leading insurance companies, including the Prudential and the fast-growing Principle chain (formerly British Islamic Insurance), and brokers look for a lift in half-year profits from £103m to £120m or more.

Yell Group, publisher of the Yellow Pages directories, is due to update shareholders on its plans to deal with its huge debts burden when under-pressure chief executive John Condron produces his quarterly trading bulletin on Thursday.

The group had net debts of some £3.76 billion at its year end and the share price has tumbled 90% in the past year on fears that it could be in danger of breaching banking covenants.

Sam Hart at Charles Stanley is not expecting news of decisive action at this stage but he says there is a material risk that the group could be forced to suspend the dividend, sell assets or launch a rights issue at some stage.

He believes first-quarter earnings before depreciation and interest could be pretty well unchanged at around £155m but is concerned that trading may be deteriorating as a result of weakening economies and competition from internet search engines.