The Week Ahead: Shareholders have got a taste for executive blood

The “shareholder spring”, which last week saw Aviva’s pay awards rejected by more than half the votes cast at the insurer’s annual meeting, is expected to continue this week as concerns over executive pay hit bookmaker William Hill, consumer goods giant Unilever and advertising group WPP.

William Hill is facing a revolt at its annual meeting today over the pay package awarded to chief executive Ralph Topping, which includes a £1.2 million retention bonus and an 8.3 per cent salary rise. Commodities trader Glencore may also face an investor backlash.

Tomorrow Unilever shareholders are expected to express concern over chief executive Paul Polman’s 6 per cent rise in salary, taking him close to £975,000.

WPP’s annual meeting is not being held until 13 June, but anger is already brewing over the pay deal awarded to founder and chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, who took home almost £13m in salary, bonuses and benefits in 2011.

Increasingly fierce price promotions are expected to have taken their toll on Sainsbury’s profits when the UK’s third-largest supermarket chain posts its annual results tomorrow.

The City is forecasting that pre-tax profits will rise 5 per cent to £701 million in the year to the end of March, slower than the 9 per cent growth seen a year ago.

Currys and PC World owner Dixons Retail is expected to unveil an improving sales performance on Thursday as the retailer benefits from the woes of rivals BestBuy, Comet and Argos. Its last update showed that sales in UK stores that had been open more than a year declined 7 per cent in the 12 weeks to 7 January.

Budget airline EasyJet, which operates more than 580 routes across 30 countries, will report tomorrow that losses narrowed in the six months to March to about £114m from £153m in the previous year.