Traders hauling themselves back after the Easter break will be met with just a handful of company results in the shortened week.

However, economic news is busy, with all eyes on the Bank of England's rate decision on Thursday.

Aviation services group Alpha Airports revealed the cost of the September 11 terror attacks on its in-flight catering and retailing business last month when it revealed 923 job cuts - 15 per cent of its workforce.

A list of one-off charges and write-downs announced at the time mean the group is expected to report a pre-tax loss of around £7 million for the year to January 31 against a £5.9 million profit the previous year.

Sales have been steadily increasing across Alpha's shops in many of the UK's regional airports and analysts will want reassurance that the improving trend has continued and the worst is now over for the business.

It has been a tough year for clothing group William Baird with sales of its womenswear and active and casualwear falling.

After a profits warning in November, an update last month showed sales of its core womenswear ranges including Precis Petities were down eight per cent in the 56 weeks to January 26 with active and casualwear falling 11 per cent.

Profits in the year to February 3, due to be announced tomorrow, are expected to come in at £5.4 million but will be hit by exceptional costs linked with selling the rainwear brand Dannimac. Bottom-line losses in 2000-2001 were £19 million.

Expanding oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil cheered investors last month with news of the start of production at its Espoir Field, off the Ivory Coast.

The FTSE 250 group, with interests from the North Sea to Bangladesh, expects to produce over 30,000 barrels a day from the site and its shares have climbed 26 per cent so far this year as investors bet on its prospects.

On the economic front, interest this week will be centred on Thursday's interest rate decision from the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. The Bank is widely expected to leave rates on hold at four per cent for the fifth month in a row, after cutting the cost of borrowing seven times last year.

*Pictured: Alpha, which does the catering at the main terminal of Cardiff-Wales Airport, suffered in the wake of the World Trade Centre attack