Friday preview: Tesco boss likely to face pressure at AGM

17th Jul 2014 14:56

Tesco's Chief Executive Philip Clarke is likely to face questions over the supermarket's efforts to turn round sales and recoup market share on Friday.The company holds its annual general meeting after reporting its worst quarterly figures for 40 years in early June. Tesco has been hurt by competition from discount grocers including Lidl and Aldi which have taken market share from the UK's biggest supermarkets. Earlier in July, Moody's downgraded the group to its second lowest investment grade, baa2, citing "increasingly difficult conditions in the UK retail grocery market".On the macro-economic calendar will be the release of the University of Michigan's consumer confidence data. The sentiment index is seen rising slightly to 83 in July from 82.5 the previous month. It will be an otherwise quiet day to end a busy week that included remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. Friday July 18thINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAlternative NetworksINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBalance of Payments (EU) (09:00)Current Account (EU) (09:00)Leading Indicators (US) (15:00)U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (14:55)GMSThorpe (F.W.)IMSSDCCAGMSAlpha Returns Group, Aurora Investment Trust, British Land Co, DCC, Edinburgh Inv Trust, Fidelity China Special Situations , Findel, Homeserve, Land Securities Group, Syqic, Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust, Volex, Walker Crips GroupTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSRecordUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSTrends in Lending (09:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAberdeen Japan Investment Trust , Maven Income & Growth VCT, MS International, NetDimensions Holding Ltd. (DI), RapidCloud International, Telford Homes, Tex Holdings, Value and Income Trust, Vislink, Wynnstay Properties RD