Friday preview: Barclays' turn to defend exec pay

29th Apr 2010 16:54

Barclays shareholders will be rocking up to the Royal Festival Hall on London's Southbank tomorrow to question bosses about excessive pay and bonuses.President and head of investment banking Bob Diamond's wage deal could see the American pocket £20m over three years. Other chiefs are also in line for hefty payouts.The bank made a better than expected £11.64bn profit in 2009 thanks to a £6.33bn profit on the sale of Barclays Global Investors, a deal that earned Diamond £26m.Pest control giant Rentokil has had a good run recently and will hope to keep the market happy with its first quarter update.Panmure Gordon expects a solid trading statement and forecasts adjusted profit before tax of £27.5m, up from £21.6m last year. The broker likes the long-term story, but fears the shares could move sideward in the event of no earnings upgrades near-term.Investors will also be interested to hear what Forth Ports has to say about the latest bid approach from the Northstream consortium when it issues a trading update Friday.Northstream, who this week put forward a third takeover proposal to the UK ports operator at £14 a share, was told today it must launch a firm bid by 5pm on 1 June or walk away. In economic news, consumer confidence is expected to have weakened in April, partly due to uncertainty about the outcome of next week's general election.The GfK/NOP consumer confidence index is seen dropping to -16 in April from -15 a month agao and -14 in February. Friday April 30INTERIMSAvacta GroupINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAnglo and Overseas Trust, Henderson EuroTrust, Manchester & London TrustQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATECarador EUR Shares, Henderson Global Property Companies Ltd., JP Morgan Chase, Mercantile Inv Trust, Schroder Income Growth Fund, Torchmark CorpINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSChicago PMI (US) (13:45)Employment Cost Index (US) (13:30)Gross Domestic Product (US) (13:30)Personal Consumption Expenditures (US) (13:30)Personal Income (US) (13:30)U. of Michigan Confidence (US) (15:00)NAPM Milwaukee (US) (15:00)Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EU) (10:00)International Reserves (EU) (11:00)Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)Producer Prices (FRA) (07:45)Non-farm Payrolls (FRA) (07:45)Jobless Rate (JPN)Consumer Prices Index (JPN)Industrial Production (JPN)Bank of Japan Target rate (JPN)Housing Starts (JPN)Construction Orders (JPN)FINALSAltitude Group, Emblaze, Harvey Nash Group, Heritage Oil, Integra Group GDR (Reg S), Photo-Me InternationalANNUAL REPORTBeacon Hill Resources, BlueCrest AllBlue Fund EUR Shares, BlueCrest AllBlue Fund GBP Shares, BlueCrest AllBlue Fund USD Shares, Dillistone, Dolphin Capital Investors, Kenmare Resources, Metalrax Group, North Midland Construction, Plaza CentersIMSSFBD Holdings, Forth PortsEGMSFBD HoldingsAGMSBaillie Gifford Shin Nippon, Barclays, Bayer AG, Davis Service Group, Espirito Santo, FBD Holdings, Forth Ports, Hutchison China Meditech, Johnston Press, London Mining, Molins, Murray International Trust, Parkwood Holdings, Pearson, Westhouse Holdings TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSRentokil InitialUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGFK Consumer Confidence (00:01)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBluehone AIM VCT 2, Filtrona PLC, Omega Insurance Holdings, Tikit, Wynnstay Group