The Week Ahead: Tesco’s woes continue

Tesco is holding its annual meeting for shareholders amid investor concern over executive pay-offs. Picture: Getty

Shareholder body Pirc recommends that investors vote against the supermarket’s remuneration report, which allowed it to hand a £1.2 million pay-off to former boss Philip Clarke, on top of £764,000 in salary until the middle of January.

Pirc also opposes the group’s new chairman John Allan, who in February agreed to step down from the boards of electrical retailer Dixons Carphone and the Royal Mail to take up the post at the UK’s biggest supermarket.

Today

• Randall & Quilter – Annual results are due from the insurance group, which was founded in 1991 and owns and manages a portfolio of firms in the UK, US and Europe.

• Bank of England – Deputy governor for financial stability Jon Cunliffe will deliver a speech at the Automotive Fellowship International dinner.

• Euro summit – Leaders from across the eurozone will convene for an emergency meeting to discuss the Greek debt crisis. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said: “It is time to urgently discuss the situation of Greece at the highest political level.”

Tomorrow

• Royal Bank of Scotland – Shareholders gather at the state–backed lender’s base at Edinburgh’s Gogarburn for its annual general meeting.

• Scottish Business in the Community – The body, which aims to help tackle poverty and make workplaces fairer, more productive and sustainable, holds its annual awards ceremony at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh.

• Manufacturing – The latest report from the CBI employers’ organisation is tipped to show a pick–up in orders for June, having fallen to a seven–month low in May. Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “On the domestic demand side, the outlook for consumer goods should remain robust.”

Wednesday

• Mortgage approvals – Data from the British Bankers’ Association is expected to reveal home loan approvals rose for the fifth month running in May, adding to mounting evidence that housing market activity is on an upward trajectory.

Thursday

• Debenhams – A trading update is expected to reveal a sales slide at the department store. Analysts at Numis forecasts that the retailer, which has 161 UK stores and 246 outlets worldwide, will report like–for–like sales down 2 per cent in the first 40 weeks of the year, compared with a 1.3 per cent rise a year ago.

• Retail sales – Economists predict the CBI’s latest distributive trades survey will report healthy retail sales growth in June, following recent official data that highlighted a 4.6 per cent year–on–year increase in sales volumes for May.

Friday

• Tesco – The UK’s biggest supermarket chain, which slumped to a record £6.4bn loss last year, holds its annual meeting for shareholders.

• Dividends – A host of firms go ex–dividend, which could trigger share price falls as investors would no longer be in line for the latest payouts. Those on the list include catering giant Compass, sportswear and outdoor goods retailer JD Sports Fashion, outsourcing group Mitie and car dealer Vertu Motors.